5/10/20
 

I’ve always wanted to read Jane Austen and with the new movie coming out I decided that Emma was a good place to start. I read this book as part of an assignment for school so I needed to take annotations which I think made me like it a little less. Overall the story was really good, I liked the events that occurred and the drama of them. I however did not really like the characters. This probably is not a popular opinion, but I found the characters to be sort of stuck up and shallow so I didn’t like them much. I did however very much enjoy Jane Austen’s writing style.

[contains spoilers]

Straight off the bat I was already shipping a Emma and Mr. Knightly. I knew already they’d end up together but I still really enjoyed the development of their relationship. I liked that Mr. Knightly was the one person who saw faults in Emma and would point them out to her. Even though to her it might’ve been insulting it shows that he cares because he knows she can be better. I thought it was funny how both of them were jealous whenever the other was with anyone else. Like when Emma thought Knightly was with Jane and pretended she didn’t care.

Also I definitely got the vibe that Emma was into Harriet at some points but that’s probably just me.

I honestly did not like Harriet. I thought she was naive and a pushover. She had a lot going for her and I wish she would’ve made some decisions for herself. Then again, if I were in her situation I probably would’ve done the same thing so I guess that makes me a hypocrite.

One thing that stood out to me was Emma’s character development. I guess it’s kind of obvious it will happen but it’s still nice. She started off being a manipulative and self-centered person, shown with her relationship with Harriet and Mr. Elton. She was very rude in the beginning and only cared for herself and her social standing. By the end she changed a lot though and was even happy for Harriet and Mr. Martian.

Frank Churchill>>>> I love this guy. I guessed that he and Jane were secretly together and was happy to be right. I could tell they had an attraction to each other and seemed to suit each other very well. I sort of liked him and Emma just because it was cute how Emma had a little infatuation for a time. It definitely would not have worked out though so it was good he was with someone else.

Mrs. Elton was horribly annoying I don’t like her. Same with Mr. Woodhouse. He kept going on and on about his doctor friend and it infuriated me.

[end of spoilers]

Even though some parts of this book made me mad, which honestly is just good story telling, I’m very glad I read it. I will be reading more Jane Austen in the future and am excited to do so.