Emma

A Wonderful and Light Austen Read!

I have always loved "Sense and Sensibility" and wanted to expand into more of Austen's works. This one did not disappoint! It is a fantastic tale with all the usual Austen humor and wittiness that work so well in her stories! In fact, it is now up there with "Sense" as my favorite Austen work! "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." The first sentence in the novel really sets the stage for all the mistakes the main character makes throughout! This novel tells the story of Emma Woodhouse, a privileged young lady who, with nothing else to occupy her time, loves matchmaking among her friends. She loves it so much that she doesn't pay any attention to her true love right under her nose! Of course things don't go the way Emma would like and there are the usual misunderstandings but things work out in the end and everyone ends up with who they are destined to be with. This had been called one of Austen's best works and I can agree with that. I really loved this story. This certainly is the "lightest" of Austen's novels as you will not find any lives ruined or huge scandals that ruin reputations. It is simply (and wonderfully so) the story of a small, English village where the inhabitants really have nothing substantial to occupy their time; none more so than Emma. I think one of the things Austen is so marvelous at is her ability to really focus on her characters and their everyday lives and none of her novels do this as well as Emma. As there is no serious "action" the story must therefore focus on everyday occurrences. You could call this a comedy of manners as the characters revolve within a very strict code of behavior and etiquette where everything should move along very smoothly but of course, because of meddling (mainly Emma's) things always go completely wrong! T...