Reviews
catherine's just every young girl who's ever gone out into the big world and is a little awkward about it
You can't go wrong with Jane Austin. A girl who loves books and scares herself when reading horror? How could I not enjoy!
I love literature about girls loving novels <333
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen has a promising start, and it kept me intrigued for about the first 20 pages until it lost its charm as the story progressed. It quickly becomes dull, lacking a compelling plot and I didn't feel invested to the characters. Not one. And I know many say, "It's satirical; you aren't supposed to like them." Okay, but I don't even like the story itself, so, what now?
One interesting observation related to the book is the notion that readers tend to favour either the Brontë sisters (Emily, Charlotte, and Anne) or Jane Austen - this is mutually exclusive. The remark, based on a TikTok video, suggests that one's preference for one author may lead to a dislike of the others. I didn't believe it at first until I read the comments under the video and a few other videos related to Austen and the Brontë sisters. It turns out many people believed this notion too, and although I've only read one of each author (except Emily), I might be more of a Brontë girl. However, I'm willing to give Jane Austen another chance.
While I didn't find Northanger Abbey as captivating as the works of the Brontë sisters, it's worth noting that Austen's writing style and themes differ significantly from those of the Brontës. It may be worthwhile for me to explore Austen's other novels; "Pride and Prejudice" or "Sense and Sensibility," which are considered among her best works.
This is my second book by Jane Austen, and while the main plot or love story is not as deep or complicated as Pride & Prejudice's, it still was engaging. I liked that our heroine is an ordinary, naive, not-so-beautiful girl, which makes this a kind of common-of-age novel of 18o0s, which is how it's described on the Internet. The satire of gothic novels was pretty on point, considering they were all rage around that time. And the mild commentary on why men shouldn't criticise reading novels, since they read them as much as women. In between around 5-6th chapter, I started getting a very feminist vibe from the text, when it diverged from the core novel to a full fledged outpour of frustration, that I kind of felt all the while reading this story. The banter here unlike Darcy & Elizabeth's was pretty enlightening. I kind of like Henry Tilney more than Darcy here, since he was so forthcoming with his thoughts and opinions over subjects which I want men to talk, and be honest about. Ready to read more of Austen and transport myself to the England of 1800.
It almost feels like it was written yesterday. I love how different every character acts and thinks. Not giving 5 because I thought it would be a bit more gothic but at the same time, having this thought makes me relate so much to the main character.
Teenagers haven't changed.
http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/...
Jane austen rasa lima sekawan
fun play with gothic tropes. lot of political/social commentary underneath the surface
Haloo, Jane spojila gotickú satiru, paródiu na vtedajšie novely, believable romance a kritiku high class do jednej naloženej knihy.
It was funny and addicting, I couldn’t stop reading once I started because it was so suspenseful
It's a good book. Classic
I don't know why I picked this up, I don't really read classics anymore. But I'm glad I did, it was a fun, funny and light story. That Isabella though! I would love to punch her teeth down her throat. What an absolute B - and as far as I'm concerned Isabella's brother can get in the bin and then get in the sea straight after. Catherine had a lucky escape there. Henry's great, by the way. Imagine someone accuses your father of murdering your mother and you still fancy them Now that's love.
Love Jane Austen!
Basing this rating on the full cast audible version, which made the story so much more enjoyable to me. Northanger Abbey has always been my least favorite Jane Austen, but Emma Thompson's narration, the sound effects, and the voice acting of all the characters just made this story more entertaining
DNF at 30%. I tried. I really tried. This book just isn't working for me as I had thought it would. It was an interesting enough start and managed to hold my attention for a little while... But then... I don't know, I lost interest I guess. There must be something wrong with my brain to not enjoy a classic almost everyone seems to be raving about...
This may be my shortest review ever. Have you ever read a book and know what you were reading but it just didn't sink in? This was this kind of read for me. This book started out strong for me and then by the middle I couldn't keep my focus and I didn’t care to know what was going on. I wasn't engaged in the second half of the book like I was at the beginning, which was so disappointing. This is my second read from Jane Austen and so far this is my least favorite book so far. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars.
This is one of the earliest novels Jane Austen wrote, but it was published posthumously due to some publisher issues. Catherine Morland is the youngest heroine in her novels and Jane was 20 years old when she wrote her. Jane speaks in her own voice as the narrator. Catherine reads very young and naive. In the process of this story, she gains some experience and does learn from it, giving a bit of coming of age in this story. Jane is satirizing the hugely popular gothic novels of the time. Catherine is one of Mrs. Radcliffe's greatest fans and is furiously reading The Mysteries of Udolpho and imagining "horrid" things around every corner. The humor and satire is on point. Jane Austen defends novels (and readers and authors) against those who deride them as dangerously corruptive. Catherine goes to Bath with her family friends Mr. and Mrs. Allen so that she can meet people outside of the small village where the Morlands live. She makes some friends and is enchanted by all the society and attractions of Bath. When she gets invited to have an extended visit at her new friend's grand and ancient home, Northanger Abbey, she can't resist. Even more so because she is attracted to her friend's brother. Her imagination runs wild. Mysteries, drama, and betrayals ensue. It is all wrapped up neatly in the end. I did feel the end was a bit sudden and it all really happened off page.
i have long wanted to read a classic, but have been to scared to because i think my brain is not capable of handling the complex language and pacing of story. Northanger Abbey had been in my bookshelf for probably atleast a year and when i finally picked it up it was an amazing read. the first part of the book was entirely a different vibe than the second and the second was definelty more creepy and eerie, i feel like the romance betwen tileny and catherine should have been highlighted more. I LOVE JAMES MORLAND AND NEED A HENRY TILNEY IN MY LIFE. the way tilney helped catherine experience jer emotions to the fullest, always supported her and talked to her in such a flirtatious tone made me blush and giggle. oh how much i hated reading about John Thrope. i loved the way the book romanticized friendship so much. i couldnt have read and understood this without the help of the videos on youtube explaining every chapter in such great detail. i think i want to read all of Jane Austens novels now. I loved the way this book shaded on other general tropes of novels and was so funny and ironical to read as well. honestly i loved the book so very very much and im so happy that i read it!
like somebody else on here said, definitely more of a coming of age story !! didn't like the book all that much at first but it really grew on me towards the end. catherine's bond with eleanor and henry was so precious, i liked reading their conversations a lot ! i wish we could've seen more of their friendship, i was very fond of it.. i also liked catherine as a main character, though sometimes she did get a bit annoying (lol). her imagination caused her to make many mistakes but she learnt the lesson in the end. it's a no brainer that the descriptions were nice too, jane austen is a spectacular writer ! despite all of this, the story was a bit boring at times (especially the half part), the romantic aspect was lacking (which is okay, not every novel needs to be focused on that - but in this case i wish we got more of it) and it just wasnt enjoyable 100% of the time, more like 50-60% ? i guess. still good, but definitely not my favorite :') really enjoyed the ending though (wont say more)
Felt a bit rushed. Also not quite as entertaining as I was told it would be. All in all rather disappointing.
We love a delusional girlie winning
4.5 Stars I am continuing my tradition of starting the year with a Jane Austen novel keeping roughly in line with the 200th anniversaries of their publications. Which brings me this year to Northanger Abbey. Northanger Abbey differs from Austen's other works in some ways possibly because she wrote it first even though it was published later. For me, it is more of a coming of age story than a romance. Although I have always thought that people do Austen's writings a great disservice by viewing them as just romances. Her writing is full of insightful satire and witty reflections on the absurdity of society and people. She captures different personality types with uncanny expertise. Like all of her writing, Northanger Abbey is full of well written, rounded characters even if the characters themselves are not always pleasant. She must have had some very colorful characters in her real life to be able to capture such follies so well on paper. It's a very self aware story but with that lovely tongue-in-cheek sarcasm that make it fun to read. I actually enjoyed the parts where the narrator (presumably as Austen herself) would break in to pontificate about certain things particularly people's views about whether or not to read fiction and what sort to read. Funny that people are still expressing those same arguments two-hundred years later. As I mentioned, this was not so much a romance; at least, not the sort that makes my heart go pitter-patter, pitter-patter. Catherine is frankly a bit of an airhead. A lovable airhead, but still, not the sharpest tool in the shed. And Henry is definitely a know-it-all who tends to be chauvinistic and condescending. I do appreciate that Catherine is a heroine described as being average who is actually average. Not suffering from the troupe of being described as normal and average in order to appeal to all the normal, average readers but then turning out to be extraordinary in some way or another. But I enjoyed watching Catherine's runaway imagination get the better of her. And I enjoyed the setting and the Gothic air to certain parts of the story. This is a classic for a reason. And as usual reading Austen is a great start to any year. RATING FACTORS: Ease of Reading: 4 Stars Writing Style: 5 Stars Characters and Character Development: 5 Stars Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars Level of Captivation: 4 Stars Originality: 5 Stars
Highlights
I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.
“I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature.”
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
And such is your definition of matrimony and dancing. Taken in that light certainly, their resemblance is not striking; but I think I could place them in such a view. You will allow, that in both, man has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal;
All have been, or at least all have believed themselves to be, in danger from the pursuit of someone whom they wished to avoid; and all have been anxious for the attentions of someone whom they wished to please.
Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it.
Oh! It is only a novel![...]only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.
Let us not desert one another; we are an injured body. Although our productions have afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary corporation in the world, no species of composition has been so much decried. From pride, ignorance, or fashion, our foes are almost as many as our readers.
Yes, novels; for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common with novel-writers, of degrading by their contemptuous censure the very performances, to the number of which they are themselves adding—joining with their greatest enemies in bestowing the harshest epithets on such works, and scarcely ever permitting them to be read by their own heroine, who, if she accidentally take up a novel, is sure to turn over its insipid pages with disgust.
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.
To look almost pretty is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain the first fifteen years of her life than a beauty from her cradle can ever receive.
She never could learn or understand anything before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often inattentive, and occasionally stupid.
Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her better for it.
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of diasppointed love.
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
All have been, or at least all have believed themselves to be, in danger from the pursuit of someone who they wish to avoid; and all have been anxious for the attentions of someone who they wished to please.
There’s nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends.
Do not imagine that I often read novels - it is really very well for a novel. Such is the common cant. What are you reading, Miss? Oh! It is only a novel! Replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humor, or conveyed to the world, and the best chosen language.
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.
Her duplicity hurts me more than all; till the very last, ifI reasoned with her, she declared herself as much attached to me as ever, and laughed at my fears. I am ashamed to think how long I bore with it; but if ever man had reason to believe himself loved, I was that man.
There is nothing I would not do for who are really my friends. I have no notion loving people those by halves, it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.