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Lisa of Troy's Reviews > Emma
Emma
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I really wanted to like this, but I didn't. Jane Austen and I do not get along.
Emma apparently has nothing better to do than try to pair her friend Harriet up with essentially any male that is more wealthy than Robert Martin.
This book was so boring. I didn't care about the characters at all. Most of the book was utter non-sense, particularly women talking about unimportant things like apples or using too many apples, Maple Grove. There was talk about how wonderful it is that someone wrote a letter and letter writing habits.
The ending was entirely predictable. The only reason that I didn't give one star is that I thought that this book did raise an interesting point- Does society allow people to be single? Even in 2000's, there is so much pressure to couple off. For those who are single, they are constantly being "set up" with a potential life partner by other people. Can't people choose singleness?
Overall, easy pass for me. Would definitely not be reading this again unless I am having great difficulty sleeping.
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
Emma apparently has nothing better to do than try to pair her friend Harriet up with essentially any male that is more wealthy than Robert Martin.
This book was so boring. I didn't care about the characters at all. Most of the book was utter non-sense, particularly women talking about unimportant things like apples or using too many apples, Maple Grove. There was talk about how wonderful it is that someone wrote a letter and letter writing habits.
The ending was entirely predictable. The only reason that I didn't give one star is that I thought that this book did raise an interesting point- Does society allow people to be single? Even in 2000's, there is so much pressure to couple off. For those who are single, they are constantly being "set up" with a potential life partner by other people. Can't people choose singleness?
Overall, easy pass for me. Would definitely not be reading this again unless I am having great difficulty sleeping.
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
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Emma.
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Reading Progress
November 5, 2020
– Shelved
June 13, 2021
–
Started Reading
July 2, 2021
–
Finished Reading
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Joanna Chu (The ChuseyReader)
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Jul 02, 2021 09:59PM
Sorry to hear you didn't like it. This was how I felt about Rebecca. I'll be giving this one a pass!
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Jane Austen and I don't get along either!
Jane Austin disappoints me too! I felt the very same way you did. I was completely frustrated. 🌸
Kat (Books are Comfort Food) wrote: "Jane Austin disappoints me too! I felt the very same way you did. I was completely frustrated. 🌸"There are so many people who claim to like Jane Austen, but her books perpetuate the worst stereotypes about women. Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre were written in the same time period, and the women are not just talking about nonsense the entire time. In my opinion, Jane Austen is extremely overhyped.
Typically, during this time period, books were released one chapter at a time in a newspaper so I even tried to read this book in smaller chunks, but it still just wasn't good.
Natalie wrote: "Jane Austen and I don't get along either!"Good to know! We might be in a club of two. Seems like everyone else is enraptured by her.
I’m sorry you didn’t like it! I never understood comparing the Brontes against Austen though. Austen was writing during the regency era. She was published in the 1810s to about 1817. The Brontes were published in the Victorian period, specifically around 1847-1848. Two totally different time periods with different rules and customs; two completely different parts of England.
I like this review Lisa! I never warm up to Jane Austen either after reading all her works (except Lady Susan). Mansfield Park is the only one I've ever come close to liking, but the rest are all a string of 2 stars for me.
Gosh, I feel so identified with your thoughts and with the rest of the comments. I thought I was the only one who though this; I’m glad I’m not. This book was just a bunch of poppycock for me 😂 I’ve tried soooo hard with Jane Austen; I want to like her soooo bad. But I just can’t. I started reading this with such high hopes, but I was so desperate to stop reading it. It literally put me to sleep. We need to start a “Jane Austen and I don’t get along� club.
You entirely miss Austen's brilliance of tone; and you also miss her irony about marriage, having herself refused such an offer. She brilliantly satirizes the common societal values. Now, you agree with no less a writer than Mark Twain, who didn't see Austen's irony. And I always told my classes, there are no Americans in Austen-- nor in Shakespeare (excepting possibly Othello, and one upward-mobile guy, Malvolio, who is therefore caged as mad).My advice, Aloudread it, even with a fake Brit accent for your own fun. Yes, it is un-American, assuming class stasis, but Austen is not as conventional as you assume.
The book is dificult for non native speakers of English I admire your honesty
Isn't it funny, Lisa. This was a prescribed text at school. I can still remember my intial thoughts: Geez, no way, ho hum, I'm gonna hate this, why would they force us to read this, where's 'War of the Worlds' when you need it? I was (pleasantly) taken by surprise. Taught me not to judge a book by its author or genre - INSERT SMILEY FACE.
Having said that, I might not gush over it today??
Cheers CB
Enjoyed your review! I think people assume if you are female you must be an Austen fan. I much prefer some good old Bronte angst any day.
"Mr. Elton is so civil." *discuss for several chapters*
Semi unrelated... but there really is such a pressure in society not to be single. So, I'm glad you brought it up in your review. You're either judged by people, like there's something wrong with you, or set up with others constantly.
I absolutely agree with your review! I have just finishing reading this and am glad to know I am not the only one who didn't enjoy this book!
I love Austen, but I definitely recognize that she is not for everyone and I totally respect that! Looking forward to the Oct Dracula read. I am terrible at participating in discussions, but I have been meaning to reread this for a while.
I remember devouring Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice while on a family vacation the summer after seventh grade. I found them so engaging that I read Emma soon after, and if I remember correctly, I liked it the most out of the three. However, now I share your sentiments, Lisa. I tried to reread Pride and Prejudice about a year ago and then to read Northanger Abbey. I found both boring.
Kelsey makes a good point, Austen is very much a product of the Regency Era, 30 years before the Brontes. Austen portrays the limitations of women in her era. There were no professional options. If you didn't marry, you were doomed to take care of your elderly parents. And only males could inherit the estates. Meanwhile, she's an astute observer of human behavior.
I agree with your rating and review. I gave it 2 stars as well and that was probably generous.
I generally love Jane Austen, but this book drove me into the wall. It took me years to finish and I hated every bit of it.
This was my least favorite Austen book. I think the best is Persuasion which was her last completed novel
I'm with you! Jane Austen is not my cup of tea. I've tried multiple times and finally decided to move on.
I couldn't with this book either, Lisa, easily my least favourite of all her books.
I can't help but agree with you. Austen is my favorite author and I love all works except Emma. This is the only book by her that I can't bring myself to read again.
Austen is an overrated and ordinary writer. God save the Brontë sisters!!!
Completely agree. I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice but everything I tried beyond that was so DULL. I felt like I must be missing something.
Fernando, I couldn't agree more! It seems that all that Austen's characters do is sit around and complain about men, doing very little to have their own identity or take any steps to further their own development. I would take Jane Eyre any day over the characters from Austen.
Brave New World has some brilliant and hilarious moments, but I particularly enjoyed having read it so close to having read 1984. The comparisons between the two are great
i have yet to finish this one too... ive never fully made it through an austen book at this time, i feel like she doesn't agree with me too quite yet hahaha. i would HIGHLY recommend the movie with anya taylor joy, it had me laughing and the costumes were so beautiful!
Could tell you didn't read and didn't get it by your second sentence.
thank you. I am so bored with it and I am trying to like it but I have yet to read an Austen book that to me is no more than run on sentences and girls trying to get married.
I love Jane Austen, but this is not my favorite of hers. While I usually love her protagonists, Emma is just not very likable.
You can’t apply modern day ideology to a book written in 1814
Try again. Preferably get hold of Prunella Scales reading it on Audible and suddenly it will all make sense.
