Genre: Novel
Topics: Gothic Parody, Romance
Review by : Becca Lostinbooks
Download Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen at Project Gutenberg|Librivox|
The Characters
John is egotistical, presumptuous, vindictive, and boring as watching paint dry. To top it off he is as oblivious to Catherine's indifference as Catherine is to Isabella's own egocentricities.
Catherine
is young, innocent, shy, and naive and dense to a fault, but
kind-hearted. She has a huge imagination, which Austen uses to tell the
story.
Henry
is gentlemanly, humorous, and kind. Quite the charming flirt, as
well. And he understands muslin "ever so well", which is apparently
"much to his credit, I'm sure." Okaaaay.
Isabella, in contrast, is an overt flirt, as well as vain, disloyal, and an opportunist.
The Setting
Catherine
was involved in the same Regency world full of dances and proper
socializing that is in every Austen novel. The abbey was the
interesting part, as were Catherine's imaginative scenarios. The
problem, for me, is that while the book makes fun of gothic novels, as
this is a parody of the genre, there is hardly enough time in the gothic
Abbey for Catherine to truly get creeped out and twist logic as much as she does.
The Plot
I
like that Austen did something different with this novel, but I am not
sure I enjoyed it as much as I was hoping. I did not care for the
characters much and I think that took away from some of the enjoyment of
it. Catherine was sweet, but soo annoying. I did hope for the very
obvious ending, but unlike Austen's other novels, I did not enjoy so
much the journey to get there. I think it would've been much more
satisfying if I cared much about Catherine.
I
did like the time Austen spent on whether people should read novels, on
the debate of a good imagination, and the importance of the heart over
wealth.
Have you read Northanger Abbey? What were your thoughts on it?
