Mansfield Park in The Dusty Bookshelf

Nov 07, 2010 Ruth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I am glad that I pushed through and read the whole book, Mansfield Park. It was so different from any portrayal on film or television. Screenwriters and directors always try to make Fanny Price into an Elizabeth Bennett wannabe. But she's not! And that's OK. Her character, with all its faults, is consistent and makes sense. I can understand why today's readers are not immediately drawn to Fanny Price. Spunky is not an adjective I'd associate with Fanny, but she is steadfast and constant. She is ...more

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Sep 20, 2014 Karen rated it liked it

My last Jane Austen novel. Like so many other young girls, my first was Pride and Prejudice, spurred on by visions of the dashing Colin Firth. I finished the other four in college, in between re-readings of P&P (gets better with age, if you ask me). For some reason, I could never get to Mansfield Park. It didn't help that in Jane Austen Book Club they always totally pan it. What I will say about this book is: it wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't my least favorite. That title is reserved for Pers My last Jane Austen novel. Like so many other young girls, my first was Pride and Prejudice, spurred on by visions of the dashing Colin Firth. I finished the other four in college, in between re-readings of P&P (gets better with age, if you ask me). For some reason, I could never get to Mansfield Park. It didn't help that in Jane Austen Book Club they always totally pan it. What I will say about this book is: it wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't my least favorite. That title is reserved for Persuasion. Just couldn't get into that one. At least with this one there was some juicy scandal at the end. But seriously, it was right at the end. Until then, it was rather dull. I have been reading this one since the summer, mostly on my phone, which is not super great, but it's much nicer to have something to read than nothing. In the past week or so I decided to nut up and just finish it, but it still took quite a while to get to the good stuff.

This is kind of a tough read. Fanny has nothing to recommend her to a modern audience like Lizzy, with her sparkling wit and self-deprecation, or Emma, with her foibles and follies. Fanny is, in short, boring. She is so good and quiet and well-behaved that even when people aren't behaving that badly around her, it seems like they are. But people start behaving pretty badly after a while, so that's at least enough to keep some interest. Fanny can't even speak most of the time because she's so painfully hindered by her own sensitivities and decorousness. It's enough to make you want to slap her. Or maybe that's just because I'm kind of more of a Mary Crawford, for better or for worse. There are people out there who are so completely inhibited by their fears and emotions, and Fanny Price is the embodiment of them. The rest of the cast of characters are not too awesome. Edmund's annoyingly somber and self-righteous (not in the nice teasing way of Mr. Knightley or the meant-to-be-pricked way of Mr. Darcy). Maria, Julia, Mrs. Norris, Lady Bertram, Henry Crawford, and Mary Crawford are all petty, flawed, self-absorbed characters meant to be the moral foils of Fanny and Edmund, who don't so much shine by comparison as make everything seem too much like a morality play. Which it is, I just don't enjoy it.

There is some wildly juicy scandal in the last fifty pages (I was actually so shocked I gasped aloud!) which made some of the dullness of the rest of the novel not so bad. But still not the best of her novels.

However, I am thrilled to finally have read them all. Woo. Now go read P&P. ...more

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Jan 14, 2011 Autumn rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, own-e-book, book-club, dusty-shelf

I really wanted to give this five stars, it's my favorite of Austen's novels excepting Northanger Abbey, but the idea that Fanny was oh, so fortunately raised by those who would be her family, that her husband influenced her opinions, temper, and worldview is beyond creepy. I can get over the cousin aspect but the molding of the perfect wife very nearly ruined it for me. ...more

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