Emma, our last month’s novel for The Jane Austen Book Club seemed to be less impressive compared to our first read, Persuasion. I must admit that it incidentally was harder for me to dig Emma because I was so bitten by the Cullen virus that time (or until now?!).
I so admire Sinta for being so on time with our reading schedule. If there’s an early bird award, that would surely go to her. (I’ve started drafting the mechanics for the December contest. I’ll announce it next month). Like her, there was a time when I was so confused that I didn’t know who Emma would end up with. As to her favorite quote in the book, she wrote:
Emma is a light read compared to Persuasion, our last month’s novel. But surprisingly, I had a hard time absorbing the story. I suspect it’s because it’s a “rebound book” for me. Consider my Twilight series (4 books) addiction and then the abrupt shift to Emma.
I can see myself in some of Emma’s ways. I mean, trying to be worry-free most of the time (minus the brat side). But moreso, when she does matchmaking and playing cupid. Although, I do it all for the fun of that moment. I never significantly persuade my friends in their decisions. At times, I became the middlegal for the miscommunications. Gladly, they worked.
Me, yes. By the book. Reading Persuasion has been a good starter novel for the members of our online Jane Austen Book Club. This was JA’s last novel and at some point I agree that this could have been titled The Elliots instead.
Like Sinta and Sheng, I also had to adjust in dealing with the first few chapters. Unlike Odette who is used to reading classics. She even had JA’s biography before she got started with Persuasion. Odette wrote:
I thought jane was a writer distinct from that of her contemporaries, and to understand her novels, i might as well try to learn more of her.
I totally agree when she added,
and now, indulge me to my favorite quote in the book (not about our heroine though, but well, please indulge me anyway, as i fiercely believe it to be true!) : it sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before…”
Persuasion may probably depict the story of any grown up. I think that at some point in our lives, we’ve been persuaded long enough. Socially, spiritually, and significantly and usually – emotionally.
Persuasion mainly revolved about the intertwined lives in relation to Anne Elliot. It is interesting to note that in one chapter, she was described as “She was just Anne”. Yes, she is. A sensible woman, have been persuaded to break an engagement, and holds an old flame in her heart.
Anne Elliot was persuaded by an elder family friend, Lady Russel to break off her engagement with Frederick Wenthworth because he is deemed not acceptable per family’s standards. After 8 years, they met again. And the rest followed. The story may seem simple. But Jane Austen really has her way of telling it in a classic and engaging way.
Truly, my dear young friends, you are a chosen generation. I hope you will never forget it. I hope you will never take it for granted. I hope there will grow in your hearts an overpowering sense of gratitude to God, who has made it possible for you to come upon the earth in this marvelous season of the world's history. - Gordon B. Hinckley -
(I’ve started drafting the mechanics for the December contest. I’ll announce it next month). Like her, there was a time when I was so confused that I didn’t know who Emma would end up with. As to her favorite quote in the book, she wrote:
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