MY OPINION: ****
This book took me far too long to finish. While I enjoyed it for the most part, there were times when I would have to put it down for an extended period of time to recharge my brain and get back into it. That being said, this book is a literary masterpiece and is one of the most intricate and complex pieces of literature I've ever read. A lot of people consider this book to be Jane Austen's literary pinnacle and while I still have a forever love for
Pride and Prejudice, this ranks highly in my eye. I plan to finish all of Austen's books before the end of summer (or at least the end of this year, since clearly this book took me too long to complete) but for now, I'd consider this one of her best works, although not my favorite.
I've tried to read this book before in the past and failed and I wasn't keen on restarting again, if we're being quite honest. However, I've decided I want to read more classics and consider Jane Austen to be at the top of my list of favorite classics authors, so why not try to finish all of her books, especially when this one is one of her most esteemed?
Emma is a hard character to love. However, I think her faults and weaknesses made her more realistic and likable in my mind. I'm a very negative and fairly unlikable person as well and I resonated with Emma's personality a lot, although I found her arrogant way of looking down upon others of a lower class than her to be quite irritating. Other than that, her belief that she was always right and her insistence on meddling with others was interesting and fun to read about. Emma makes a lot of poor choices and gives a lot of bad advice to her innocent, naive friend Harriet Smith, but you can't really fault her for it in the end. She only tries to act in what she believes is Harriet's best interests, even though we as readers and the people around Emma can tell that she is wrong.
The book tells a great narrative about class, marriage, wealth, and gender roles, which are very present themes in all of Austen's work that I've read thus far. This book is told from the perspective of a wealthier, more upper class girl, which is different from P&P, and it was interesting to read from that point of view. Emma tries to set people up based on what she believes are good matches, even when society clearly dictates that it's all wrong.
Harriet's family and parents are unknown, making it hard to place her in a higher class like Emma. However, Emma looks past that and tries to set Harriet up with many men far above her status in society, even though by social norms, it'll never work. I liked the role of Harriet's character in this book because it allowed for an important discussion on lineage and status and disparities in marriages that, as Emma points out, can be fixed/made up for by a woman's "beauty" and overall appearance in this time period. I thought that was a very interesting idea because in those ages, women were often only worth what their husbands were worth and the only way to "catch a husband" was through wealth of your own or one's physical attractiveness.
All of the characters in this book are so complex and different and I didn't see them to be the same as each other or any of Austen's other characters from her other work. I liked that individuality and found each character very quirky and endearing (or annoying) each in their own way.
**MILD SPOILERS**
Miss Bates, while many people found her incessant chatter highly aggravating, was one of my favorite characters. She added a lot of flavor to the book that the otherwise fairly dry prose was lacking. I loved her speeches and while she did tend to talk way too much in some areas, I loved that we got all of the gossip and drama about everyone from her. She's like a Mrs. Rachel Lynde from Anne of Green Gables, and I love both of those characters with my whole heart.
Mr. Woodhouse was a tad bit more annoying but I found his obsession with health and physical well-being sort of amusing after I got used to it. It was brought up an excessive amount but I guess that was his main personality trait so what can you do.
Mr. Knightley. Absolute love of my life. Not as top-tier as Mr. Darcy but just as charming. He was the only one able to put Emma in her place and rightfully so. I loved his little speeches and constant criticism of the girl he clearly loved. He was just so perfect and I loved everything about his character.
Mr. Elton is just as insufferable as Mr. Collins. I said it. While it was more of Emma's fault than Mr. Elton's, his behavior after his little confession made him so unlikable. I hated his little sniveling face and I was glad he ended up with an equally insufferable partner.
Frank and Jane were both cut from the same mold and I liked both of them enough. I didn't hate them, though I was very suspicious of Frank. We always seem to have some sneaky male character in Austen's books that end up part of some stunning revelation and I could just tell Frank was gonna be that one.
I loved this book. It was a bit tiresome for the first half, which is why I didn't give it a stellar five stars but the second half was beautiful and really got the plot going. I liked the characters, the slow-burn love story, the writing style, and everything about Mr. Knightley. I don't think it's better than P&P but I'd put it at a tie with S&S. I also watched both more recent movie adaptations of it and loved the 2020 version. I also know Clueless is based on it (which I didn't know before), so I'm planning on rewatching that soon and seeing the parallels.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a classic novel, full of drama and gossip and romance.
Main Character: Emma
Sidekick(s): Mr. Knightley, Harriet, Mr. Woodhouse, Miss Bates, etc
Villain(s): Deception, class, misunderstandings, etc
Classic Elements: This book was written in the 19th century and is full of classic prose.
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