Rating: 
Summary: The Education of a Proper 19th Century Heroine
Review: This early Austen novel about a society girl's coming of age reads easily with its considerable dialogue, despite the presence of extensive historical vocabulary. Definitely of greater interest to girls than boys NORTHANGER ABBEY introduces readers to 17-year old Catherine Morland, a naïve but morally-honest well-bred young lady. Invited to the fashionable watering hole of Bath by the Allens--kind neighbors serving as hosts and chaperones, Catherine is delighted at this opportunity to seek Adventure away from her calm country home.
Volume I presents Bath in high season where Catherine is formally introduced to and socializes with two families: the Thorpes and the Tilneys, who reveal stark social contrasts among the upper class. Mr. John Thorpe, a friend of her brother's, quickly attaches himself to Catherine, but his vanity, arrogance and deceit soon displease and eventually disgust her. His sister, Isabella, however, proves a dear and immediate friend,
at least during most of Catherine's sojourn in Bath. Soon after she meets the distinguished Tilney family: a stern General, a son who is a Captain, a sweet and modest sister, Eleanor, and the cadet son, Henry. Vol. I concludes with Catherine receiving permission from her parents and the Allens to spend several weeks at the Tilney homestead, a former Abbey.
Eager to explore a real edifice which might have been the setting for a Gothic novel, Catherine is thrilled at this extended invitation. By this time she is very fond of Henry and hopes privately that romance will bloom in the quiet, dignified setting. Unfortunately she expects the worst horrors as a result of her dedicated reading of Mrs. Radcliffe's novels, for
where no mystery exits, Catherine is determined to discover one. Volume Two describes her gracious reception at Northanger, but she soon feels certain to have stumbled upon a secret family shame or even horror. Her imagination may be running away with her, but the General's odd behavior seems to confirm her growing suspicious of dark deeds surrounding the death of the late Mrs. Tileny.
Suddenly, without any explanation, the domineering General orders Catherine thrown out of his home-defying all the rules of hospitality and decency. Henry is not present to protest, so Catherine is dispatched alone--in ignominy and secret tears--back to her unsuspecting family 70 miles away. This tale chronicles the most turbulent year in Catherine's young life, but how much is to be blamed on her excessive devotion to Gothic novels? Or is there a truly sinister plot undermining the hopes of the young lovers? JA uses her characters as mouthpieces to express her decided opinions on the role of fiction, literature and history. This is Austen-lite, with hints of her future work, where her heroines prove better judges of their acquaintances ans their own hearts.
Rating: 
Summary: Early Jane but still worthy
Review: All periods have their literary crazes, the equivalents of "The DaVinci Code" or serial killer books. In Austen's time, it was the Gothic romance, with its beautiful suffering heroines, haunted castles, ghostly visitations, and unspeakable horrors. "Northanger Abbey" is Austen's send-up of this genre, which she combines with a more typical (for her) story of husband hunting and social comedy.
Catherine Moreland is the least accomplished of Austen's heroines. She's pretty enough and gently reared, but the author makes it plain that she's the early 19th century equivalent of an airhead. In typical Austen fashion, Catherine travels to Bath in the care of family friends and quickly becomes best friends with the husband-hunting Isabel Thorpe. She also encounters Henry Tillney and his sister Elinor. Henry and Catherine hit it off, although not without some rough spots created by the actions of Isabel and her family. When Catherine is invited to visit the Tillney's home, the ancient Northanger Abbey, she is delighted as much by the chance of having a Gothic adventure as by spending time with her beloved's family. Making much out of little and using her favorite novels as guides, she immediately begins to investigate the hidden secrets of the place and reads a nefarious purpose into Henry's father's every action. Eventually her eyes are opened to reality, duplicity is exposed in the real world, and Catherine gets her man.
"Northanger Abbey" is one of Jane Austen's earliest works, and many consider it her weakest. Compared to "Pride and Prejudice," it's definitely rough around the edges. But it still has its pleasures. Austen may not have created as admirable a heroine in Catherine as Elizabeth, or Emma, or Anne, but she treats her kindly in the end. Austen's eye for the foibles of those around her is just as sharp as it would be later, and her pen is just as lethal. As for Austen's literary parody, you don't have to have read the early 19th century Gothic novel to appreciate the humor the message. Just think about the effect that many of our novels and movies have on us today--it's basically the same thing. Austen may have been using what was familiar to her audience, but the point remains--art and reality are not the same and those who are too impressionable run the risk of confusing them.
Rating: 
Summary: I Quite Doat on Northanger Abbey!
Review: Every time I read another Jane Austen novel, I get the insanely anachronistic urge to write her a letter, and tell her how I adore her work. I quite doat on Jane Austen!On a winter holiday in the fashionable resort town of Bath, 17-year old Catherine Morland welcomes everyone she meets into her impressionable, if somewhat dense heart. The refreshingly honest Tilneys (Henry and Eleanor) and the unapologetically vain Thorpes (John and Isabella) form her central acquaintances. "Northanger Abbey" is a charming metafiction in which Catherine, living in a prototypical small village, goes innocently into the world, and cannot help but have her perceptions altered. Catherine's obsession with gothic fiction and Austen's 'cliff notes' narrative technique work together to achieve a briskly-paced, and highly amusing story, unlike anything else of hers that I am familiar with. She does indeed satirize gothic fiction, but also uses this forum to poke gentle fun at the very people who read her own novels, and others like them. To that end, the novel is split between two different ways of reading and understanding - that of Catherine and that of her accidental lover, Henry Tilney. Catherine is the all-believing, undiscerning method, willing to equate the superficial with the real. Henry is the more sophisticated intellect, with a view to the underlying realities of situation and personality. One notable result of these competing epistemologies, is Austen's insistence on acknowledging and legitimizing the literary merit of female authors, and the earnest call for female scholastic and social education beyond knitting, dancing, and romance. To have the fullest understanding of "Northanger Abbey," it is advisable to take some time to first read Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udolpho," then compare Catherine to Radcliffe's Emily St. Aubert. Those who dislike "Northanger Abbey" because it is not like "Pride and Prejudice" or "Emma" would place too severe of a limit on the range and depth of Austen's authorial skill. This novel purposely stands on its own as a challenge to the comfort of traditional romance, and is a welcome change of pace.
Rating:
Summary: A hilarious sendup of the Gothic novel
Review: I used to love Gothic novels. I collected out-of-print Victoria Holt paperbacks, I had stuffed animals named after characters in Charlotte and Emily Bronte novels, but ever since I've read Northanger Abbey, I can't read a Gothic novel with a straight face. Jane Austen does a marvelous job of sending up convoluted scary novels (and melodrama in general) in this book, and creates her most masculine and fascinating hero, Henry Tilney. Don't think that Catherine Morland, the heroine, is just a naive kid. Her naivete is a necessary component of the novel, as it allows her to see the wider world with fresh eyes, provide a foil to the more worldly characters, and ultimately capture the heart of the hero. And then there's Henry...he teases, he teaches, he forgives Catherine's regrettable fancies, knowing that he had a hand in encouraging them. He's witty, he's charming, he's kind of a slob, and he wears his greatcoats so well! As in all her novels, Jane Austen provides a great host of hilarious supporting characters, in particular John and Isabella Thorpe and Mrs. Allen. I defy anyone not to laugh at John Thorpe's nonsensical and contradictory comments. One wonders how many such "rattles" wearied Miss Austen's attention to provide such a character study. Great writing, great story, great characters...come to Northanger Abbey with a sense of humor and you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Jane Austen is Funnier Than You Thought
Review: I've always appreciated the wit of Jane Austen. Understated and sly, she manages to portray the inner wit and wisdom of early 18th century upper-class English women quite well. The choice is never to marry or not. The choice is always whom to marry and why.
Unlike her other works, Northanger Abbey is a satire on the gothic "horror" novel so prevalent at the time. Full of suspenseful build-ups and hysterical interruptions, the story revolves around Catherine Morland, as unlikely a heroine as ever graced the pages. Amid the story, Ms. Austen interrupts with witty attacks on Mrs. Radcliffe and other gothic novelists.
As always, Austen's humor is stylish and full of truths. She was perhaps a much happier forerunner to Dorothy Parker, in that she cut right through the sheen and told it like it was, as she knew it.
I'd recommend Northanger Abbey to anyone who enjoys Austen's writings, gothic novels, or sly humor.
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable, but not typical Austen
Review: If you have not read Jane Austen before, don't start with this book! (Start with perhaps Pride and Prejudice or Emma.)
Northanger Abbey was her earliest written novel, but it did not get published until after she died. This book is meant to be a parody. She is making fun of some of other gothic books that were in circulation at that time. The main character gets a little too obsessed with gothic novel reading, and imagines a sinister plot in the abbey becasue her imagination is out of control.
This book is much more juvenille than Austen's other books. I felt like I was reading something for teenagers. (Austen's other books have more depth and maturity to them.)
However, it was an enjoyable, easy read... and as an Austen fan, I wanted to read Austen's earliest work.
Rating:
Summary: Don't expect another "Pride and Prejudice".
Review: In the first chapter of "Northanger Abbey", Jane Austen introduces Catherine Morland and pretends to apologize for having such an unromantic heroine. In the next few chapters, Catherine appears to live up to her creator's apology, while the author appears to forget all about telling us about the abbey for which her novel is named. The presence of the two shockingly audacious and impudent Thorpes--John and Isabella--almost makes up for this. Never did I want to slap and/or kick two fictional characters more. The ways in which they try to foil Catherine's hope of romance with Henry Tilney--and arrange a marriage between the artful Isabella and Catherine's innocent, unsuspecting brother--are enough to make readers gnash their teeth. Ironically, the scenes with the charming Henry and his kind sister Eleanor ramble along in comparison to the explosive scenes "graced" by the outrageous Thorpes. I liked the last twelve chapters better. Actually set in Northanger Abbey, they are a hilarious satire of the nineteenth century Gothic novel. Catherine stumbles into misadventure after misadventure (if I may be so generous as to call them such), thanks to her wild imagination and voracious novel-reading. It is wonderful to be caught in the excitement of a (pseudo) Gothic mystery that readers know is not real, but that they understand _could_ be real. It's the excitement of telling ghost stories around a campfire then trying to get to sleep. Everyone believes that anything could happen, though anything rarely does. It's nice, safe, thrilling fun. In my opinion, Jane Austen was having so much fun herself, in writing these scenes, that she did not sufficiently develop the romance between Catherine and Henry. They have few scenes together and Henry's character is too agreeable to be as interesting as John Thorpe's--or even General Tilney's. (Jane Austen should have apologized for him instead of for Catherine. Henry Tilney is more a Mr. Bingley than a Mr. Darcy.) Despite this, "Northanger Abbey" has the expected happy romantic ending--with the author still giving cheeky asides to the reader. I'd still recommend this book . . . but only after "Pride and Prejudice", of course.
Rating: 
Summary: just not good
Review: Jane Austen enthusiasts (Janeites) tend to re-read "Northanger Abbey" less often than they do her other novels. It nevertheless has several merits. One distinction is that the voice of Jane Austen the narrator is perhaps picked up more clearly here than in her other novels. Here you will find, for example, her minor dissertation in praise of the novel, "... work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of the human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humor are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language". A second quality is the strong sense of location that emanates from its pages. Jane Austen is rarely a travel guide, but here she conducts the reader around the small English city of Bath. A third excellence is its depiction of its "heroine" Catherine Moreland, a 17 year-old who gradually learns that reality is not the same as it's depicted in Mrs Radcliffe's novels. And so it is great fun to read of the novel-reading heroine Catherine finding mortifications and infatuations in Bath. It is fun also to see if "something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way".
Rating:
Summary: just not good
Review: Many of the references Austen made in Northanger Abbey were meant to be satirical towards the gothic writing style prevalent in her time. Certain elements of wordplay in her characters' dialogue will also sound dated to a modern reader. For example, Catherine describes a popular gothic novel as being "Horrible", which can be taken as "Awful" or that the book was scary, which is a way the word was used in the author's time. Having said this, the book is slow, and is not as easy and interesting to read as her other novels, which can be explained by saying that this is her first attempt, and improvement was inevitable. The characters were not well-developed; I didn't understand the love-interest and I didn't believe that these two people were suited for each other. Again, she improved later. If you choose to read this book, try to get an edition with notes on the text.It will help a great deal in clarifying that which is now a centuries-old inside joke.
Rating:
Summary: A clever send-up of Gothic fantasy
Review: One of Jane Austen's best attributes as a writer is her rapier wit and sense of humor, which especially shows itself in her earlier novels, "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility". "Northanger Abbey", which preceded both of them but was published only after her death, is a clever parody of the Gothic novel as written by Anne Radcliffe: full of dark, stormy nights, ancient castles with secret passages and locked rooms hiding unspeakable crimes, damsels in distress, and all the rest. Austen's heroine, Catherine Morland, has read a few too many such books, and we meet her at the age of seventeen, emerging from the chrysalis of adolescence as a passably pretty young woman with her head full of romantic notions and not much else. When she meets the hero of her dreams, Henry Tilney, a surprisingly level-headed young man, Catherine realizes that life as melodrama is a poor second to life in reality. Catherine is fascinated at the prospect of visiting Northanger Abbey -- what mysteries and horrors must be waiting to be discovered -- only to be brought up short by the pedestrian intrusion of real life (a locked cabinet which might have held vials of poison or, even better, a skeleton, turns out to hold nothing more dangerous than a laundry list). "Northanger Abbey" is a good first novel but it is by no means Jane Austen's best, and Catherine is not as interesting a heroine as Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Watson or Elinor Dashwood; she's a somewhat shallow, undeveloped young lady who lacks their depth and their intelligence. But she's a likeable heroine; unlike Fanny Price, Catherine doesn't try to be perfect nor judge others for failing to be so, and unlike Emma Watson, she's not meddling in everyone else's business. She can admit when she's at fault and she has a generous spirit. We like to imagine her as the tomboy Austen pictures her in her childhood, rolling down hills and chasing her brothers and sisters. Austen provided a number of interesting supporting characters: Henry's amiable sister Elinor, his insufferably snobbish and narrow-minded father General Tilney, and the artful, heartless flirt Isabella Thorpe. By the book's end, Catherine has grown up a bit; she sees life as it is and realizes Henry's steady common sense is infinitely preferable to the histrionics of any Gothic hero. Jane Austen's first book was a promising introduction of better things to come.
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