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Claire's Reviews > Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey
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Claire's review
bookshelves: my-happy-books, five-stars, misc-non-genre-literature, classic-lit
Jun 13, 2007
bookshelves: my-happy-books, five-stars, misc-non-genre-literature, classic-lit
I have a confession to make.
Secretly, I much prefer "Northanger Abbey" and "Mansfield Park" to anything else written by Jane Austen, even "Pride and Prejudice," which we're all supposed to claim as our favorite because it is one of the Greatest Books Ever Written In the English Language. I don't DISLIKE "Pride and Prejudice," but I just don't think it stands up to this one. I'm sorry, but it's true.
"Northanger Abbey" feels like two very different stories that eventually merge into one at the end: the story of feisty, level-headed romance-novel-addict Catherine Morland and her adventures in Bath during the party season, falling in love and making new friends and escaping unpleasant suitors; and the story of Catherine's post-Bath vacation with her new best friend Eleanor back to Eleanor's country home, a huge creepy old place called Northanger Abbey. Catherine's obsession with bloodthirsty Gothic novels leads her to see a mystery or a creepy secret in every room (eventually leading her to suspect Eleanor's grumpy dad of having unceremoniously murdered his own wife, OR, possibly, of locking her up in a hidden dungeon somewhere inside the abbey), and her various misadventures and misunderstandings make for top-shelf farce. But then when a REAL mystery arrives on her doorstep (taking us back into the world of Bath and bringing the two stories together), she realizes that she's been looking at things upside-down and backwards the whole time.
This book has some real,heartfelt drama and romance, but mainly I like it because it's really, really funny. Catherine is awesome and kind of nuts, and the supporting characters run the gamut from really likeable and charming (Eleanor and her brother Henry) to the excruciatingly irritating John and Isabella, who totally beat out both Mrs. Bennet, Aunt Norris, and Lucy Steele in my list of Best-Ever Annoying Jane Austen Characters.
Secretly, I much prefer "Northanger Abbey" and "Mansfield Park" to anything else written by Jane Austen, even "Pride and Prejudice," which we're all supposed to claim as our favorite because it is one of the Greatest Books Ever Written In the English Language. I don't DISLIKE "Pride and Prejudice," but I just don't think it stands up to this one. I'm sorry, but it's true.
"Northanger Abbey" feels like two very different stories that eventually merge into one at the end: the story of feisty, level-headed romance-novel-addict Catherine Morland and her adventures in Bath during the party season, falling in love and making new friends and escaping unpleasant suitors; and the story of Catherine's post-Bath vacation with her new best friend Eleanor back to Eleanor's country home, a huge creepy old place called Northanger Abbey. Catherine's obsession with bloodthirsty Gothic novels leads her to see a mystery or a creepy secret in every room (eventually leading her to suspect Eleanor's grumpy dad of having unceremoniously murdered his own wife, OR, possibly, of locking her up in a hidden dungeon somewhere inside the abbey), and her various misadventures and misunderstandings make for top-shelf farce. But then when a REAL mystery arrives on her doorstep (taking us back into the world of Bath and bringing the two stories together), she realizes that she's been looking at things upside-down and backwards the whole time.
This book has some real,heartfelt drama and romance, but mainly I like it because it's really, really funny. Catherine is awesome and kind of nuts, and the supporting characters run the gamut from really likeable and charming (Eleanor and her brother Henry) to the excruciatingly irritating John and Isabella, who totally beat out both Mrs. Bennet, Aunt Norris, and Lucy Steele in my list of Best-Ever Annoying Jane Austen Characters.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
June 13, 2007
– Shelved
June 13, 2007
– Shelved as:
my-happy-books
June 16, 2008
– Shelved as:
five-stars
March 13, 2015
– Shelved as:
misc-non-genre-literature
March 13, 2015
– Shelved as:
classic-lit
Comments Showing 1-50 of 60 (60 new)
Um, can I scream? Both "Mansfield Park" and "Northanger Abbey" are my favorites as well! I find it hard to understand why they are so under-appreciated. Both Fanny and Catherine are my loves, and while Edmund (and his family, lol) are silly dolts who yet charm me excessively, Henry is the Hero of heroes. He cannot be anything but the funniest thing on wheels.Okay, shall stop.
I wish I had a better appreciation for Mansfield Park. I think Fanny Price is horribly dull. I'm glad to see the more readers love Northanger Abbey perhaps even more so than Pride & Prejudice. I just love how the book is about books. My inner bookworm beams.
I adore N.A.! I don't love the other books any less, of course, but I definitely feel as though Northanger Abbey is under appreciated.
Agree with you, Claire, there is no other book by Austen that combines great humour and drama so perfectly.I have not read "Mansfield Park" but I feel I have to now!
Spot on. I find Northanger Abbey a complete hoot. Easily one of the funniest books I've read. Henry Tilney is a total fox.I bought and read this book in Bath, it was a real treat. Especially with a Sally Lunn bun - booyah!
Oh, wow! Never thought anyone besides myself would claim Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park as her favorite Austens. Glad to hear it, Claire and Talking_rain.I will always defend Northanger, because I love it so, but also because though it isn't as polished as the rest of Austen's output, I think things like the narrative asides and her snark about her own plot are what make the book so charming. And I wish people had a greater appreciation of Henry Tilney. (Fanny Price as well, but I suppose that's a different review.)
Finally someone who appreciates Northanger Abbey. I love how refreshingly different this book is in comparison to Austen's other works.
I too love Northanger Abbey more than Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Tilney is my favourite Austen hero.
Your review sold me to pick up a copy. :-)
and I thought I was the only one. hallelujah! northanger is the loveliest! I adore Mansfield too, but part of me always gets weirded out by old fashioned cousin-loving.
I'm so glad it's your favorite as well! It is by far my favorite Jane Austen book.
I agree with your confession...
Hooray! Nice to find some other people who liked Northanger Abbey best! I think Mansfield Park is the most interesting of hers historically. Northanger is simply the most fun of the Austens - and both of these books have more about wider aspects of her world (literature & related trends in Northanger, current events in Mansfield) than the rest. They're the only two I'd consider re-reading these days - Austen was the first "grown-up" novelist I read but I came to prefer my nineteenth century authors with a wider canvas than the 3 or 4 families in a country village.
Thank you for selling me on Northanger Abbey--I loved it!
Finally someone who says they like Northanger Abbey better! I haven't read all of Austen's novels, but out of the three I've read, I like it the best.
I ADORE Northanger abbey.It's my favorite of J.A books too.But I think Mansfield park is the worst book of J.A
I love the kind-of-nuts Catherine! I love that she's so real a character.
Very interesting.....I had a difficult time getting into Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey after re-reading Pride and Prejudice for the nth-time....so I think this is my wake-up call to put that aside and try again with a fresh and open mind....I appreciate the feedback from all.
Very interesting.....I had a difficult time getting into Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey after re-reading Pride and Prejudice for the nth-time....so I think this is my wake-up call to put that aside and try again with a fresh and open mind....I appreciate the feedback from all.
THANK you. THANK you so much for saying you prefer this to Pride and Prejudice. I like there being more going on than the romance, I suppose, but I think the main reason is that I studied this book for GCSE and liked it more and more as I went more in depth to it (I hated it at first, oddly enough). :)
THANK you. THANK you so much for saying you prefer this to Pride and Prejudice. I like there being more going on than the romance, I suppose, but I think the main reason is that I studied this book for GCSE and liked it more and more as I went more in depth to it (I hated it at first, oddly enough). :)
No I oppose ur idea .Pride And Prejudice was a great deal better than this northanger abbey. I did not earn too much interest while there was interest in every chapter of pride and prejudice
I had no idea what to expect in Northanger Abbey. I was surprised to find in Catherine a sort of Chauncey Gardener character. The lampooning of the excess of sensibility expressed especially by Isabella is merciless, and the early discourse on the status of the novel is quite mordant. About half-way through now, I'm enjoying this novel immensely.
Maybe we read two different books. I didn't catch any romance...
Thank you, Claire. It's nice to know that I'm not the only person here who prefers Northanger to Pride and Prejudice.
Agreed, I much prefer Northanger Abbey to Pride & Prejudice (and Tilney over Darcy!)
I thought I was the only one, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey are streets ahead of her other novels, I like them all but the aforementioned are simply amazing. Good on you Claire.
This one is my favorite as well.
Add me to the club who thinks this is JA麓s most awesome book.
I just re-read this novel after a long time of ignoring it, and came away feeling that I have long under-appreciated it. Your lovely review is just so exactly spot on for me! (Except I must part with you on rating it higher than my beloved P&P, and go with the crowd here, LOL)
I love her more popular books but I agree that Northanger Abbey is far superior. As you say it鈥檚 incredibly funny, and Henry Tilneys charm and sense of humour had me swooning within the first few sentences he speaks in the book. I definitely prefer him as an Austen male lead to anyone else preceding him. And Catherine to me is a shining example of a sweet, slightly sheltered girl who is suddenly thrust into high society and is trying her best to do things right. To me it鈥檚 extremely undervalued and should rank higher amongst the Austen books than it tends to
How funny! Those two are my least favorites. My favorite is Persuasion, followed by P&P, and then Sense and Sensibility ties with Emma for third.
It has always been my favourite, although the later works have more in them, as it were. How anyone who has read it can consider Jane Austen as romantic is beyond me.
Thank you for your review. I have to say "me too", so far. I can remember many years of my beloved Father in his recliner, reading and re-reading his well-loved copies of Jane Austen.
I inherited a good many of them, and I am "trying again", because I must admit that Austen has just not been my cup of tea. I have found a lot of her writing to be just a bit too prissy, and I chafe at the idea that a "woman's lot" is just to "marry well". I know that people think we have evolved beyond that concept but not quite.
We have evolved a bit, but have to keep at it.
I do enjoy her "mystery" aspects and probably enjoy these ones more for that reason. I am also trying again with Emma, because I think that it is a good thing to come back to classics, even if you didn't like them at first.
Thanks for your lovely review, cheers.
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I found it had everything. It was funny, it had mystery and it had romance. It also had a look into the fashions and minds of the young people.
i just finished reading it, but i want to hear your opinion on the very rushed ending, the love between Henry and Catherine born only from gratefulness, i mean he started loving her only because he was pleased she had feelings and a weakness for him? not to mention the absolute horrible way the general treated her in the end... i am not a hater at all, i love Jane Austen and maybe my memory is too fresh but really this novel was so different from the others. i have lots of good points to make about it but i want to hear some opinions on the things i said earlier.
I agree, such a clever, witty, fun read. I feel I will appreciate it more with each re-reading!
Don't forget Miss Bates! By far the most annoying character in my opinion 馃ぃ
Mansfield park is my favorite
The plot is unnecessarily descriptive at times but it does nonetheless give a sense of a chill during the thought of suspicion made by Catherine.
丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 禺蹖賱蹖 亘乇丕賲 噩匕丕亘 賳亘賵丿 賵 賲蹖卮丿 讴賴 亘蹖卮鬲乇 丿乇 賲賵乇丿卮 賳賵卮鬲賴 亘卮賴.賴賲蹖賳 讴賴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳卮 蹖賴 賲賯丿丕乇 鬲賳賵毓 丿丕卮鬲 噩丕賱亘 亘賵丿 賵 倬蹖卮賳賴丕丿 賲蹖讴賳賲 亘乇丕蹖 丌卮賳丕蹖蹖 亘丕 丌爻鬲蹖賳 丕賵賱 讴鬲丕亘 賴丕蹖 丿蹖诏賴 丕卮 乇賵 亘禺賵賳蹖丿 .
I don鈥檛 think you know that the book was really 25% by the author due to Jane Austen not being able to finish the book.It was rewritten and revised many times leading it to be a work of a group of completely different people.
Hristo- This isn鈥檛 the case. Northanger Abbey was originally called Susan and written by Jane between 1798 and 1799. It was sold to a publisher, Crosby, for 拢10 in 1803, but for some reason never published. Jane was able to buy Susan back in 1816. Her brother Henry oversaw it鈥檚 publication, as Northanger Abbey, at the end of 1817 (dated1818), following her death.
I have agree with you. I love NA because it is so funny and Catherine is so kind. MP is my least favorite with Fanny and Edmund my least favorite leading lady and man.
I half agree. Stupid autocorrect.
Elizabeth Bennet is still probably my favorite Austen heroine, but Henry Tilney is my favorite hero.
Anyway, just had to share my happiness, as I seem to see a lot of Northanger Abbey bashing, which makes me sad.