Sunday 11 May 2014

Review: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

I had mentioned before that I am currently extremely busy with uni. That's why I have not been putting up any reviews. I have read a few books, mostly for courses, and reviews of those will be written, but I'm afraid they won't be too elaborate. I am going to be writing them in the order in which I read them, and I've decided that today I can spend a little time writing the first one.


Title: Manfield Park
Author: Jane Austen
Pages: 472
My Rating: 2/5 stars

As an English student, disliking Jane Austen's writing is a very unpopular opinion. Everybody seems to love her writing style and the character she creates. That's why I, at first, felt ashamed not liking this novel, or others I've read. Thinking about it though, and discussing it with a friend who didn't like it either, reminded me that I am allowed to have my own views. I hoped that the lecture in which we discussed Mansfield Park would help me appreciate it more, but honestly, it only made it worse.
     First of all, I found the novel confusing. This was probably due to my inability to concentrate long enough to even remember some characters. When Austen writes a great amount of pages about why someone may or may not have a headache, I get bored and tend to skip parts or just stop reading. This results in me reading the same passage over and over again, which means I will only get more bored and confused.
     Now, there is our heroine, Fanny. Can we even call her a heroine? She is the most submissive character I've ever read about. Besides, she's very predictable and therefore boring.
     In order for a book to get a two star rating, there must be some things it did do right, I hear you think. Of course, there were some parts which I truly enjoyed, and some bits of writing which I found very interesting. Unfortunately, often in the middle of a beautiful scene, either a character does something annoying, or it just gets weird, and that's why this novel is, to me, not worth any more than two stars.

No comments:

Post a Comment