Emma; Jane Austen

Emma

by Jane Austen

Personal Review/Comments

In the introduction of the book, it writes of Emma being the "climax of Jane Austen's genius" and is, in some circles, regarded as one of her best works. I personally enjoyed it but not so much the character of the heroine (Emma Woodhouse) who though has very redeemable features is also, for much of the book, silly, snobbish, opinionated, and just simply wrong. However, without totally alienating the reader, Jane Austen draws a clear picture of the social mores of those times and the inherent and accepted class snobbery that was so ingrained then. Mr. Knightley, the hero, is a much more likable character but with only two main "heroes", we have to accept the love and inevitable partnering that happens. This book is definitely readable and enjoyable and though the ending is not as I would personally wish in respect to our standards in these modern days, it was certainly a "perfect" ending for the times in which the story is set.

If you liked Jane Austen's style in Pride and Prejudice, you will definitely appreciate her incomparable style here as well.

Synopsis

The most perfect of Jane Austen’s perfect novels begins with twenty-one-year-old Emma Woodhouse comfortably dominating the social order in the village of Highbury, convinced that she has both the understanding and the right to manage other people’s lives—for their own good, of course. Her well-meant interfering centers on the aloof Jane Fairfax, the dangerously attractive Frank Churchill, the foolish if appealing Harriet Smith, and the ambitious young vicar Mr. Elton—and ends with her complacency shattered, her mind awakened to some of life’s more intractable dilemmas, and her happiness assured.

Austen’s comic imagination was so deft and beautifully fluent that she could use it to probe the deepest human ironies while setting before us a dazzling gallery of characters—some pretentious or ridiculous, some admirable and moving, all utterly true.

Book Review

"Jane Austen is my favorite author! ... Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers." —EM Forster