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Although I suspect everyone reading this blog is well aware of the plot of Emma, just in case
Emma by Jane Austen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Frank Churchill is a ding ding.
I feel like that could be the whole of my review, but I have a little more to say about the novel. :)
Emma is deeply silly in her misconceptions, but I can't help but feel for her; she's discombobulated after Miss Taylor gets married. She's unmoored and lonely and doesn't make the best choices as a result.
I only feel unalloyed sympathy for two people in this novel, and the first is Jane Fairfax. Jane has so few options. To be a governess is to occupy this liminal space that can be quite diminishing and frightening. To be demoted from essentially one of the Campbell family (and a family of consequence) to the help, always occupying this weird space in the intersections of friend, family, and servant--poor Jane! Even if she doesn't truly love Frank Churchill (and I do wonder about that a bit because he's so cruel to her at times), he's pretty much a Prince Charming for her. Why else would she put up with him being such a ding ding?
I also sympathize with Harriet; all her misfortune can be laid squarely at Emma's feet.
But all's well that ends well, and this one does end so very well.
I love this more each time I reread.
View all my reviews

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Frank Churchill is a ding ding.
I feel like that could be the whole of my review, but I have a little more to say about the novel. :)
Emma is deeply silly in her misconceptions, but I can't help but feel for her; she's discombobulated after Miss Taylor gets married. She's unmoored and lonely and doesn't make the best choices as a result.
I only feel unalloyed sympathy for two people in this novel, and the first is Jane Fairfax. Jane has so few options. To be a governess is to occupy this liminal space that can be quite diminishing and frightening. To be demoted from essentially one of the Campbell family (and a family of consequence) to the help, always occupying this weird space in the intersections of friend, family, and servant--poor Jane! Even if she doesn't truly love Frank Churchill (and I do wonder about that a bit because he's so cruel to her at times), he's pretty much a Prince Charming for her. Why else would she put up with him being such a ding ding?
I also sympathize with Harriet; all her misfortune can be laid squarely at Emma's feet.
But all's well that ends well, and this one does end so very well.
I love this more each time I reread.
View all my reviews
no subject
Date: 2018-11-03 08:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-11-03 12:12 pm (UTC)I would never want to live in the 19th century. I don't even want to go back to the 20th. I can't imagine living that sort of circumscribed life.
no subject
Date: 2018-11-03 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-11-04 01:01 am (UTC)