Emma

This was the harder of the two Jane Austen books I read. I don’t think it was the vocabulary or subject matter, it was the writing style. It seemed like it was different than Pride and Prejudice somehow. More complex. I had to put the book away for a while and come back to it  after reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. I did like the character Emma, though. She was kind of awful, but her loyalty to Harriet was very admirable, even if the results of her meddling weren't always the most ideal. The forward stated that Jane Austen wanted to write a character only she could like, and as soon as I started reading Emma I saw what she meant. Emma is loyal, but she is also nosy, and judgmental, and classist, and overly confident in her own abilities. She convinces Harriet that she has to marry above her standing, leading her to turn down the proposal of the guy she winds up marrying in the end. She assumes the reason for Jane Fairfax’s return was to avoid an affair. And then inadvertently spread the rumor. She is flawed, but she grows some, and I really like realistic characters like her that are just a little bit annoying and meddlesome.

One thing that confused me, and this was in Pride and Prejudice as well, was that Jane Austen named a few characters Jane, i'm assuming after herself. I know she originally published her books anonymously, so it was probably for herself. Jane Fairfax and Jane Bennet are similar, I suppose. Both are reserved, Bennet more so, and both are considered to be rather perfect and good by others. Jane Austen isn’t like that at all, judging by her writing and description in the forward. I suppose she may have written the characters like that for the humor then.

I liked Emma for the most part, but it was a rather slow read, and rarely did the story contain actual surprises. It was good, but I prefer Pride and Prejudice.