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The Jane Austen binge continues. I must admit that I hit a wall with this one.
Sense and Sensibility moved along so merrily and with great suspense, while Northanger Abbey had a few moments where I thought, "Oh gosh, do I really have to pick this book up again?"

After I finished the novel I started doing more research including reading the introduction by crime writer Val McDermid (I make it a policy never to read introductions as I they often include spoilers), and realized that this was the first novel Austen wrote.

From that lens it all makes sense. The novel has the feeling of being with someone who is trying on various outfits. Austen plays around with the gothic and supernatural, a la Women in White or Frankenstein, with varying degrees of success. Yet her sparkling Austen wit is simmering beneath the surface. This makes for a tone that is a bit uneven: mysterious characters, romantic comedy scenes, moral digression.

You also see the origins of Austen's house fixation (she really likes nice houses); Her overwrought and romanticized description of Northanger Abbey was one of the sections of the book where I needed a breather. There is also a really interesting moral condemnation of romanticism, which I think was Austen's illustration of her female protagonist evolving from a girl to woman. It's a transition that she handles as a first-time novelist, successfully in many areas, but also a bit heavy-handed in others.

However, it's all good work, because you see the foundations of her later beloved characters in these experiments. Isabella, the annoying female who is slippery and selfish speaks more in monologues than Austen's later works has so much meat to her and reincarnates into many of Austen's beloved later characters. Her sketch of the rake is suitable annoying but still a bit unrefined. And as for Mr. Tilney, the love interest, the tension is not quite there, but you have all her other books to look forward to.