Emma: Final thoughts

[charlatti]

What did you think of the book overall? How did it compare to other Austen books you've read?

Did you finish? If not, do you plan to finish?


(I'll be back later when I have more time to post my thoughts and more questions, but I thought I'd get the post started in case anyone passes by here.)

[aurora]

Emma is one of my favorites of Jane Austen's books. However, I always feel a little frustrated with her (Emma) when she makes this transformation to wanting to be the perfect little housewife. I try to let it got because of the era in which it was written, but the raging feminist in me has trouble. Maybe it's because I picture Mr. Knightly as being so much older than her and so it's like she's going from being taken care of by her father to being taken care of by another father figure (which I realize is also timely). I just wish she kept a little more spirit instead of falling so neatly into society's expectation for her.

[charlatti]

I did not love Emma as much as other Austen books. It's maybe the class/status difference -- P&P and S&S both deal with characters in unfortunate circumstances, while Emma is the one set above and seeing herself that way. I know we're not necessarily supposed to like Emma, but it's harder for me to care what happens in her little world.

It reminds me of why I don't generally seek out YA relationship fiction. Emma is not so much different from a modern teenage character, where she sees most things from the perspective of how it affects her alone.

[briedrew]

I liked it, but like pp, it's not my favorite of the Austen novels I've read. I find Emma to be a bit snooty and entitled which makes it hard for me to really be on her side. I think some of it is the era it's written in, but some of it I think is just her character.

[rootbeerfloat]

The only other Austen I've read is P&P, which I love, so Emma doesn't compare.

Once I got to the ending, I liked it, but most of the story I found kind of frivolous... and I have a high tolerance for silly love stories. I agree with PP that the age difference between her and Mr. Knightley bothered me slightly, but I actually didn't mind that failling in love was her happy ending. She got to take care of her father, which was important to her, and IMO, the only passion she had was for the people in her life; it's not like she was interested in art or music or teaching, etc.

[charlatti]

How are the movie adaptations? I haven't seen any of them (unless you count Clueless) but google tells me there are four: a 1972 BBC version, Kate Beckinsale as Emma from A&E in 1997, Gwyneth Paltrow in 1996, and a 2009 BBC version with Romola Garai and Michael Gambon as Mr. Woodhouse.

[charlatti]

This is amusingly silly: Who's your match with the Bachelors of Highbury? www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/emma/quiz.html (I got Mr. Knightley.)

[briedrew]

The only movie adaptation I've seen is the one with Gwyneth Paltrow. I thought it was fine, but I kept picturing her as Emma, making odd faces like she did in the movie. I'd be interested in seeing some of the others though.

[rootbeerfloat]

Nov 15, 2012 14:16:42 GMT -5 charlatti said:

This is amusingly silly: Who's your match with the Bachelors of Highbury? www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/emma/quiz.html (I got Mr. Knightley.)

LOL, I got Mr. Knightley, too.

I haven't seen any of the movies, although I knew GP played Emma, and I visualized her as I read the book. This may have made her more annoying than she actually was

[marytini]

I really liked the book. The only other JA I've read is P&P, which is a favorite of mine. I thought Emma was much more readable, but like someone else said, parts were sort of just frivolous.

I've seen the GP movie and it's alright. I started to watch a PBS (I think) version and didn't last 5 minutes.

It's also interesting to me that Emma and P&P are considered YA, because I'd never thought of them that way, until recently. But given their ages, I guess it makes sense.

[charlatti]

Nov 15, 2012 19:42:06 GMT -5 marytini said:

It's also interesting to me that Emma and P&P are considered YA, because I'd never thought of them that way, until recently. But given their ages, I guess it makes sense.

They are? I wouldn't have thought so, and I didn't mean to indicate that when I was talking about YA.