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Summary: Jane Austen's visit to Palo Alto.
Review: How wonderful to live in a small town in Asia! And how wonderful to belong to a small sect, and to spend much of my life performing two-thousand-year-old rituals!What has all of this to do with Mansfield Park? Very little. But it has a lot to do with the modern criticisms of Mansfield Park. People living in the First World, especially in the United States, often forget that there are societies and ways of thinking different from their own. They forget to the extent that they can no longer even imagine such a possibility. In the Western world today, moral absolutism is treated with suspicion, and as something dirty. Maybe rightly, maybe not. But there's no point in reading every novel as if the author shared your point of view, and then staring in bewilderment when you thus find contradictions in it. Fanny Price is morally perfect. She is modest, truthful, and certain of nothing but the difference between right and wrong. She is "a loathsome little priss". So how could Jane Austen have made her her heroine? And if she decided to create a revolting heroine, why didn't she express her opinion of her, as she frequently does in her novels? Did Jane Austen like prissy little Fanny? This is the question which is really bothering the critics. Well, maybe she did. Maybe Jane Austen herself believed in moral absolutes. There's nothing in her letters or novels to make me think that this is impossible. 'But how could an intelligent, sensitive woman think like that?' Why not? I've spent my life studying moral philosophy, and have not yet seen a logical proof for the impossibility of moral absolutes. It would be unusual for an intelligent, sensitive woman who grew up in Twentieth-Century America to believe in such things. Intelligent people in the United States today are taught to look at many sides of moral issues. But Jane Austen didn't grow up in the United States today. She grew up in a family outwardly very similar to the Bertrams, in a town much like theirs. It is not even clear that Jane Austen herself placed a high value on deep thought and fine moral distinctions. The fact that she enjoyed using them herself is neither here nor there. She may have liked and admired Fanny Price. I like and admire Fanny Price, too. (According to hearsay adduced by Claire Tomalin, so did Cassandra Austen. Tomalin also quotes some words of Jane Austen which point in the same direction, but I don't know the source.) I wouldn't like to have Fanny Price around, because I wouldn't want my every move supervised by the morals-police. But at a great distance, as a character in a novel, I like her. Because I can imagine a different world, where absolute goodness is absolutely good. I have no problem with Jane Austen's attitude toward Fanny Price. It's quite possible that Jane Austen could also imagine absolute good. It would be strange if an associate professor from Palo Alto thought in such terms. But Miss Austen wasn't an associate professor from Palo Alto. She was a clergyman's daughter from Hampshire. And she is allowed to think differently from the associate professor. Or from me. Like many of the critics, I'm not too fond of Mansfield Park. Without Miss Austen's habitual biting wit, her view of society is oppressive. And I can't make any sense of the business with the theatricals. Which annoys me. But I have no complaints against Fanny Price.
Rating: 
Summary: Mansfield Park
Review: "The nonsense and folly of people's stepping out of their rank and trying to appear above themselves, makes me think it right to give you a hint Fanny, now that you are going into company without any of us." Fanny's Aunt Norris said this and it resembles how Fanny was treated when she first moved from her low-classed home, to her uncle's high classed home. Because of this, Fanny was mistreated and looked down upon by most for a great deal of the book, until a few finally saw what a wonderful person she was, and the views of her family members slowly began to change. The story takes place in England during the Victorian age. Fanny is a ten-year-old girl that goes to live with her uncle, and aunt, and cousins. Fanny spends the whole story trying to live up to the standards that have been produced for her at her new home at Mansfield Park. Because she went from a lower classed home to a higher classed home, she had to learn the ways of a high classed young lady, which entitled her becoming educated, learning to be a proper lady, and learning proper manners and class. Fanny spends the novel seeking happiness and love, which she had been missing throughout her life. Austen does a wonderful job of making it a point that a person that was not born in a low classed family could experience as much, if not more happiness as one that was born into a high classed family. Fanny had two female cousins, Julia and Maria, who were both somewhat cruel to her when they were younger. They looked down on Fanny, as if she did not deserve to live in the house as them. They did not feel that Fanny would ever have the chance to experience the love and happiness that they were to experience because she was of a lower social class. However in the end, Fanny found the most happiness of all, and Maria had done something that was unacceptable of such a high classed young woman, and was never to have respect of dignity again. Austen wrote this novel beautifully in a way that many could enjoy it, however there are some objections. There are times in the novel when Austen goes into great detail, which you might find unnecessary at first, however she does this for a reason. The information that is given to you is always important, because an author doesn't write anything for no reason, there is always a purpose. These details are crucial in making everything fit together in the end, which Austen does very well. Also, the characters get very confusing at times, and paying attention to the details will make it a lot easier to understand. To overcome these difficulties, just keep in mind that if you skim past the details, the best part of the book will have been lost. The names of the characters get confusing at times, so to keep from the confusion, write down all the characters and their full names and who they are married to. This will give you a good reference to look at. Austen does a wonderful job of making Fanny make somewhat of a difference in everyone's life. Fanny proved to everyone that happiness could be found without doing what was socially expected of people. She followed her heart instead of doing what was expected of her, which brought her great happiness. She proved to people that happiness is about love, not what you have or whom you are married to. She became so happy because she grew up in both and upper and lower classed homes, so she knows what both are like. She was taught to enjoy what she had because it may be gone someday.
Rating:
Summary: Not My favorite but Still Glad I read it!
Review: This is my least favorite of Jane Austen's novels. I am glad that I read it of course and I would be tempted to pick it up someday again and see if I think differently of it. It's strange because you never fully connect or actually like the heroine. It's the only book I've ever read where I was hoping the main male character ended up with the heroine's competition! Likeable book, unlikeable heroine would be my way of summing it up.
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Summary: Dark and Appealing
Review: As Jane Austen's most controversial novel, Mansfield Park continues to occupy an inveterate place in literature for its dark charm, its slow yet steady rhythm, its dry yet sharp and ironic humor, and of course fabulous charaterization built on extensive description all within a country challenged by progress. Readers become acquainted with Fanny Price, a victorian era Cinderella so it appeared--plucked from her family in destitude to be allowed to blossom at her wealthy uncle's house, Mansfield Park. Of course being passive, steadfast, timid...certainlly lacking the very fierce which makes Emma and Marrianne among other Austen heroine memorable. Yet withstanding the seductive charm of fortune and of consequence, Fanny Price resists the wooing of a stranger Mr. CRawford who puzzles everyone with his light gallantry and dark desires. A soulmate since childhood, Fanny's cousin Edmund yields in to Miss Crawford, who is all but a nonessential part of Mr. Crawford's scheme of stolen pleasure. Henry Crawford, certainlly one of the darknest characters ever portrayed, more so then Willoughbe (excuse the sp.) is too caught up in the sensual delights of his incessant conquests (including Fanny's 2 pretty cousins) that even though he ackowledges the good influence Fanny's purity has on his heart, he is too deeply sunken in his web of "play" to rise and face truth of love. Yes, Henry Crawford did love Fanny with his heart, at least the pure part of it, unlike Edmund who loves Fanny only out of brotherly affection. But Fanny, whose steady character makes her an unlikely candidate to Crawford's actual reformation, refuses Crawford's sincerity and thus almost pushes him back into his bottomless hold of scheme. The storm thus takes place in the heart of London's upper society, casting its shadow on the peaceful Mansfield Park community and shattering everything Sir Thomas has persevered in building up--with fortune, and with consequence...a mention of slave trade as well. Mary Crawford is a complex player, tainted by a society blindly wooing money and status, that even Edmund is not able to save the good side of her. Apart from Henry's scheme, Edmund is forced to refocus and, voila, there is Fanny (no matter how distasteful cousin-courtship is to many). The movie adaptation of this tale certainlly emphasizes the fighting nature of Fanny which is rarely detected on pages. Yet what IS acknowledged and admired in the quiet little herione, is the perseverance so rare in a world on the verge of revolution.
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Summary: Favorite Austen
Review: I saw a preview about two months ago for an intriguing-looking film called Mansfield Park, later that day I went to the library and saw the book by Jane Austen there on the shelves. I decided I should read the book before I saw the movie, I started the book on a Monday night and through school and choir practice finished it that Thursday. I was enthralled, Austen had captured me as I reader, I loved Fanny's unassuming gentle qualities, she was a complex character, so very different from any other heroine I'd encountered. I have since gone through Austen's other novels and with the exception of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey have found them to be a disappointment after Mansfield Park. I think Mansfield was/is Austen at her finest.
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Summary: Austen at her worst
Review: Mansfield Park is by far the worst book by Jane Austen. I am an avid Austen fan, and have enjoyed all of her books, except this one. I had two main complaints with this book. One, Fanny Price is the most annoying heroine. She is far too complacent. She accepts the bad treatment she recieves from her cousins and aunts with no complaints. It's as if she feels it is all she deserves! Also annoying is the fact that she is so delicate and ill all of the time. To have such a colourless creature as the central character of a book is a mistake. Second, the ending was horrible. It's as if Austen suddenly realized the book was way too long, and she had a deadline to meet. After torturing the reader for so long, she sums up Edmund and Fanny's relationship in just one chapter! If only she had edited the majority of the book, and nailed the ending better.
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Summary: A different side to Austen nonetheless entertaining
Review: After reading all of her other works beforehand, 'Mansfield Park' struck me, like many readers, as almost told by a different person from the Austen we know. It is darker, much more humourless (the scenes of comedy are much less evenly spread, and even then they are tainted despairingly sarcastic rather than her usual warm irony), and with a very different heroine. It would appear a quieter, if more intelligent version of Harriet Smith from 'Emma' has taken centre stage here--that is, meek little Fanny Price. Don't despair. It's brilliant as always. To begin with, this time Austen's novel contains much more 'action'--what I mean by that is her prose actually describes her characters doing things, even with a touch of ! dramatic climax! to them, something she'd never done before. (Apart from a few scenes of Lydia's wedding in "Pride and Prejudice", Austen's novels usually just contain large blocks of dialogue between characters with the occasioanl longer expositional block detailing the passage of time.) The arrival of Sir Thomas, for example, at the end of volume one, is, surprisingly, thrillingly done with no small amount of adrenaline shocked into the reader, knowing what exploits he will catch his children in the middle of. The humour is a sad loss, but then in this novel Austen deals with more 'racy' topics than her usual, which she probably felt deserved even more severe treatment than she would normally dispense to her characters through her razor-sharp tools of irony. The moral quotent, therefore, is much higher than normal--then again Austen never featured a married woman's affair before, did she? The last thing other readers complain about is the lack of any attractive characters in the novel, save Fanny's older brother, William Price (I'd agree there--he was delicious!). Many people dislike and even detest little fanny, after the 'spirited' and 'lively' exploits of Elizabeth Bennet and her kin. Notice how often the word 'lively' is linked to the poisonous Miss Crawford in this novel, and I think you'll see she was trying to make no small point about how dangerous an over-'spirited' girl could get! I don't understand this hate of Fanny. Is it just because she's a disappointment from Eliza? Because she's morally invincible? Because she turns down the dashing hero (Henry Crawford) to marry boring but steadfast old Edmund? I can't find sufficient evidence to hate her in ANY of the above. She's a pleasant, intelligent, charmingly emotional little girl--certainly a pleasant change from that spoiled brat Emma Woodhouse. My concluding statement is this: MP is a very enjoyable novel, if somewhat different from Austen's other works. Even if you come away wishing Fanny Price would drop dead on her pious little head, you should still read it. It's moral lessons are important, it's characters are vital additions to Austen's repetoire, and it reveals a very important shift in Austen's attitude in later life. Read it, please.
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Summary: One of Jane Austen's best
Review: Mansfield Park is a complex book with situations that cause one to sit back and think about what has been presented to her/him. I found the first half to be a bit slow and was wondering where the charatcter development and plot line would all lead. However, I was rewarded as I read the second half and saw how the character development and siutations of the first half led to each character's fate. This book is definitely not for everyone, since it is darker, more serious (and subversive) compared to Austen's other works. especially if you are uncomfortable with subversive situations.
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Summary: Profound, timeless, rewarding.
Review: Austen's ability to switch heroines from spoiled, pampered ones like Emma Woodhouse, likeable, witty ones like Elizabeth Bennet, to such a quiet, unassuming, modest-beyond-belief one such as Fanny Price is fantastic. Most writers of present-day tend to stereotype their heroines after a certain style, but the heroines Austen has are diverse and each not without a certain charm. Fanny is certainly very different, more after the style of Anne Elliot in 'Persuasion' and a symbol of her later, more intense works. The plot itself can appear boring at first, but don't be deceived by impatient readers who think so. There's a gulf between dull and profound, and an even bigger gap between priggish and principled. Fanny is the latter, and Mansfield Park is the latter of the former comparison. The characters are vividly sketched, and each of them represents something very deep--Henry the actor is the 'improver' who would persuade Maria Bertram into climbing over the ha-ha instead of waiting for her intended Mr Rushworth; Mrs Norris the manager who assumes herself important in Mansfield and thinks everything managed by her could not be managed better by anybody else, and who makes her own bad decisions look good until the true consequences of them emerge. Even 'Pride and Prejudice''s excellently portrayed Lady de Bourgh pales beside the realistic villainy of Mrs. Norris. This story is also a personal representation of the rural quietude of England being slowly but surely industrialized, and old values and traditions were being overwhelmed; Jane Austen's Regency world was being lost at that time to changes, and this book is also a reflection of her opinions of that time and period. This book echoes the theme of the tortoise and the hare--the slow and steady win the race. The Cinderella theme is there too, with the ugly sisters' true beauty marred by a bad upbringing, and the stepmother really the way I'd always imagined her to be--presumptively taking over the inert real mother. See if you can identify who I mean in the story. What else is there to say? Fascinating.
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Summary: By far the greatest of Austen's works¿
Review: darker and unromantic as it is. It surpasses all of her other novels because of its depth, and attention given to the psychology of the characters.Among important issues touched upon are religion, slavery (tho' not mentioned directly), incest, adultery, even landscaping. Austen entertained me with Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey, but has never before impressed me so as in MP. The Norton ed. is the best (Claudia Johnson)and includes many valuable commentaries, related essays, and a copy of "Lovers' Vows" which plays a central part in the book. Be forewarned, however, the heroine is by no means likeable.
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