Name : Persuasion
Writer : Jane Austen
Publishing year : 1817
Language : English
Type : Recommended, Novel
Recommended by : Hala El Alami.
Estimated time : about 8 hours.
Main themes : Social Classes, love and duty, Fortune and Value, Marriage, Merit, Persuasion (or Personal choice vs. Taking advice).
Recommended for : Anyone who wants to read a classical love story spiced up with some critique of the society.
The book in a few words : The struggles of an young adult woman to compromise between the matters of her heart, her family and her society.
The synopsis : When love, duty, family, honor, advice and regret intertwine, the priorities entangle, and the mind becomes to uncertain of guide to follow.
The Rating : Great 8/10
The Review :
It's the first time for me to read a 19th century classical literature work, which is easily different from anything I read so far.
The book is written is an expectedly different style, which was by far my favorite part of the reading experience. Reading an English classic was always on my to-do list (I was thinking more of a Shakespearean work to be initiated to English classics but I wouldn't say no when the order I restrained myself to lead me to read this before), and I must say it's a pleasant sensation. I must confess that the understanding ratio for this reading was clearly lower than my usual (I didn't actually measure it but I'd say 80%) but it didn't lower anyhow my enjoyment ratio. I intend therefore to read more classics, but since they require more concentration to fully understand, I'll content myself to contemporary classics until summer !
So yeah, language was the thing I first noticed. The unfamiliar structures (to me) and the unique style of writing and narrating made for the lack of any action in the novel, which is something I would reproach.
The other thing that stands out in the caricaturistic and unnuanced portrayal of characters. Almost every characters fits perfectly a stereotype of the upper-class English society of the 19th century. With little focus on the depth and the growth of secondary characters, Austen did highlight the uniqueness of the main character (Anne) amidst the undefined, mundane, trivial rest of the actors while also using them for specific ends. The main focus was clearly on Anne and her evolution from a yielding, easily-persuaded character to a more mature, self-conscious one, which meant it was really hard to care for any other character except the main ones.
The book also critiques (but not fully) the idea of social hierarchy through the eyes of Anne who started to see the honor in self-conducting and wholesomeness of mind and manners rather than an mere inheritance that didn't stop her father and sister Elizabeth to be excessively vain and ultimately insignificant.
Anne nonetheless had a high sense of honor and some attachment to materialistic aspect of being of noble inheritance. She was saddened upon relinquishing the propriety to people of less prominent origins and pitied her father and sister for not living to the requirements of their class.
That being said, I don't consider 19th century love stories my cup of coffee (especially with an ending so expected and so morale-oriented like Persuasion's), which made me wonder at times while reading "Why am I reading this ?". Stories that are centered around the struggle of the protagonist to find true love don't really appeal to me ESPECIALLY if the protagonist in question is an upper-class girl with issues regarding honor and social image. I really pictured it at times like a Classic version of "First world problems" memes. I know that's exactly what Romantic fiction is all about (and I'm expecting even more of this when I'll start reading Shakespeare's), but I don't think that's the thing for me. I couldn't enjoy the "issues" dealt with in the novel because they seems too distant and unrelatabe.
All in all, the book was a good read because of its language and the cool observations Anne makes at times, but other that that I find it hard to get fascinated by the prevalence of Love and integrity over Time and ill intentions while the big world we are living in is sinking in a black ocean of universal problems transcending the individuals and their vainglorious, mirror-obsessed parents. (Yeah yeah I know, that's what romantic novels are meant to be for but I don't know why would anyone be interested in reading nobles having upper-class problems .. Sorry Hala :v).
Favorite passages :
I didn't read the book from a PDF so I couldn't copy the passages I liked, but I still remember the last sentence of the before-last chapter and the only sentence I could relate to in the whole thing :
"I must learn to brook being happier than I deserve."
Intentional tease : "A lady, without a family, was the very best preserver of furniture in the world."
The book is written is an expectedly different style, which was by far my favorite part of the reading experience. Reading an English classic was always on my to-do list (I was thinking more of a Shakespearean work to be initiated to English classics but I wouldn't say no when the order I restrained myself to lead me to read this before), and I must say it's a pleasant sensation. I must confess that the understanding ratio for this reading was clearly lower than my usual (I didn't actually measure it but I'd say 80%) but it didn't lower anyhow my enjoyment ratio. I intend therefore to read more classics, but since they require more concentration to fully understand, I'll content myself to contemporary classics until summer !
So yeah, language was the thing I first noticed. The unfamiliar structures (to me) and the unique style of writing and narrating made for the lack of any action in the novel, which is something I would reproach.
The other thing that stands out in the caricaturistic and unnuanced portrayal of characters. Almost every characters fits perfectly a stereotype of the upper-class English society of the 19th century. With little focus on the depth and the growth of secondary characters, Austen did highlight the uniqueness of the main character (Anne) amidst the undefined, mundane, trivial rest of the actors while also using them for specific ends. The main focus was clearly on Anne and her evolution from a yielding, easily-persuaded character to a more mature, self-conscious one, which meant it was really hard to care for any other character except the main ones.
The book also critiques (but not fully) the idea of social hierarchy through the eyes of Anne who started to see the honor in self-conducting and wholesomeness of mind and manners rather than an mere inheritance that didn't stop her father and sister Elizabeth to be excessively vain and ultimately insignificant.
Anne nonetheless had a high sense of honor and some attachment to materialistic aspect of being of noble inheritance. She was saddened upon relinquishing the propriety to people of less prominent origins and pitied her father and sister for not living to the requirements of their class.
That being said, I don't consider 19th century love stories my cup of coffee (especially with an ending so expected and so morale-oriented like Persuasion's), which made me wonder at times while reading "Why am I reading this ?". Stories that are centered around the struggle of the protagonist to find true love don't really appeal to me ESPECIALLY if the protagonist in question is an upper-class girl with issues regarding honor and social image. I really pictured it at times like a Classic version of "First world problems" memes. I know that's exactly what Romantic fiction is all about (and I'm expecting even more of this when I'll start reading Shakespeare's), but I don't think that's the thing for me. I couldn't enjoy the "issues" dealt with in the novel because they seems too distant and unrelatabe.
All in all, the book was a good read because of its language and the cool observations Anne makes at times, but other that that I find it hard to get fascinated by the prevalence of Love and integrity over Time and ill intentions while the big world we are living in is sinking in a black ocean of universal problems transcending the individuals and their vainglorious, mirror-obsessed parents. (Yeah yeah I know, that's what romantic novels are meant to be for but I don't know why would anyone be interested in reading nobles having upper-class problems .. Sorry Hala :v).
Favorite passages :
I didn't read the book from a PDF so I couldn't copy the passages I liked, but I still remember the last sentence of the before-last chapter and the only sentence I could relate to in the whole thing :
"I must learn to brook being happier than I deserve."
Intentional tease : "A lady, without a family, was the very best preserver of furniture in the world."
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