Thursday, January 14, 2021
Review: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Author: Jane Austen
Publish Date: December 1st 1817
"Jane Austen's first novel—published posthumously in 1818—tells the story of Catherine Morland and her dangerously sweet nature, innocence, and sometime self-delusion. Though Austen's fallible heroine is repeatedly drawn into scrapes while vacationing at Bath and during her subsequent visit to Northanger Abbey, Catherine eventually triumphs, blossoming into a discerning woman who learns truths about love, life, and the heady power of literature. The satirical novel pokes fun at the gothic novel while earnestly emphasizing caution to the female sex."
StoryLine: Possibly the most I’ve ever enjoyed a classic, and definitely the most humorous I’ve found a classic. I was surprised by just how long the book took to get to the setting usually attributed to the novel. Literally halfway through the book the Abbey is mentioned for the first time and it’s not until about 2/3s of the way into the book that we actually see the Abbey. And the satirical gothic mystery that is often pitched as plot of this book was but a small chunk of the book. The ending also felt pretty rushed and basically wrapped up like the end of an early 2000s movie (I.e. the cast throw their grad caps up and the camera freeze frames on each in turn and text on the screen says who went on to end world hunger and who got married, etc).
But the novel was still quite funny and it was fun to see the satirical look at society at the time, especially through the lenses of our hopelessly ill equipped, gullible, naive MC.
Characters: As this is a satire, many of the characters were charactures, but that didn't make them any less enjoyable to read about. The MC Catherine grew up pretty isolated from high society, but her love of reading novels has given her this incorrect sense of society and what it takes to be a hero (as in the main character of a novel). When she finally gets an opportunity to go to a Bath and join high society for a period, she is completely ill-prepared and doesn't even know it. Poor Catherine is so genuine and upfront and straight talking, and she doesn't even question that everyone else is as well. Time after time we watch Catherine misinterpret situations because she thinks that people say what they mean. It took Catherine sooo long to realize that part of high society is always double speaking and exagerating and embellishing. Even by the end, Catherine still doesn't fully grasp it, but she at least starts to learn who she should and shouldn't trust.
All the side characters were either fun to read or fun to hate. The Thorpes are peak form of the cliche of high society. Catherine's brother James was hilariously clueless. Mrs. Allen was peak at what happens after decades of being on the fringe of society. She was also clueless, but tried to make up for not fitting in by trying to look the part. Eleanor was so sweet and kind. And, my favorite, Henry. He was funny but still more earnest than, say, the Thorpes. I adored Henry and Catherine's banter.
4.5/5 Stars
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