Jane Austen, Susan Fraiman, Marilyn Butler, Stephanie (AFT) Laurens, Alfred MacAdam - Northanger Abbey

Pros: Several very entertaining sequences.
Cons: Lacks the elegance and the polish of Austen's later novels.

I'll say it right out at the start of this -- I don't like Northanger Abbey very much, and not at all when I know that there are better novels by Jane Austen out there that I will enjoy far more. Which tends to put the novel in a rather poor ...

Pros: enjoyable, satisfying, with a great heroine and writing style
Cons: lightweight and sugary

Last month I went on a Jane Austen spree. I read all – yes, ALL – of her works, rereading Pride and Prejudice and Emma, and getting acquainted for the first time with all the others. I read them in chronological order, to see how Austen ...

Pros: Catherine; Henry; the send-up of gothic novels
Cons: Minor characters not as fleshed out as in some of her later work

One mark of a good novel, for me, is how often I re-read it. My favorite works of fiction are the ones that I've returned to so often that the characters feel like old friends. Most of Jane Austen's novels fall into that category for me, which is why I ...

Pros: fun satire with interesting people
Cons: not the best of Austen's books

I read Northanger Abbey after finishing another Jane Austen book, Mansfield Park. Mansfield Park was slow, boring and couldn’t really keep my interest, which made reading Northanger Abbey all the more enjoyable, since I found Northanger to be fun,...

Pros: Jane Austen's wit
Cons: Jill Balcon's wimpy voice

Note: This review is on the audiobook version, not on Jane Austen's book itself. As you'll see, there are reasons that I cannot comment on the quality of the actual story of Northanger Abbey

On the Road with Jane Austen
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Pros: A highly amusing satire, not too long
Cons: Characters are a little bland compared to other Jane Austen books.

When Jane Austen was writing her books, the most popular novels were Gothic in nature - damsels in distress, spooky houses, murder and intrigue...you get the idea. Austen is mostly known for books such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and...