From the Bookshelf of What's the Name of That Book???…

Evelina

Frances Burney

Why we're reading this: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...…more
[close] https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jul 30, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it liked it

Shelves: historical

Written more than thirty years before Austen’s first novel was published, it concerns eighteenth century society rather than nineteenth century. As such, I found myself constantly at a loss. Before reading this book, I thought I had a good handle on the manners of the period. I know the difference between a barouche, a phaeton, and a curricle, and that a lady would never stand up and leave a conversation, and that men knew classical languages and women, only modern. And yet, I was utterly confus ...more

31 likes · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2025 Sara rated it liked it

Shelves: 2025, audio, grace

Picked this up as a buddy read with a friend because it’s widely regarded as being influential on the writing of Jane Austen. It takes a while to understand everyone’s relation to each other and get a feel for what’s happening. I eventually enjoyed it, but it’s very different from modern novels, with a few odd events that don’t seem connected to the main story.

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 04, 2008 Kristin rated it liked it

I had heard that this was very Jane Austen-esque, in fact a novel that Jane would have read and which must have influenced her somewhat. I had mixed feelings about it. I enjoyed it overall, though mostly as an easy read, almost a guilty pleasure. It was romantic in that Edwardian British way that is so much fun and quite funny, I laughed aloud a few times at Captain Mirvan's stunts, but it is also overly sentimental. The constant martyr-like nature of Villars' letters to Evelina, always talking ...more

Like · see review

Oct 06, 2016 Elizabeth marked it as to-read

Recommended by Professor Nancy Parker.

Like · see review

Dec 18, 2010 Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides marked it as decided-not-to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-deficient, cover-missing

I made it about 2/3 of the way through, but I was pushing myself since the halfway point. Evelina is just so ... naive. Ingenue-ish? I have a hard time relating to those sorts of characters.

I can clearly see the influence of this on later authors. I probably had a difficult time continuing partly because I've read so many books in this vein already. The pacing seemed a bit slow. ...more

Like · see review