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Rating: 
Summary: Jane Austen boxed
Review: I eagerly waited for this box set to arrive and when it did, I listened to all four audiobook productions back to back. The productions themselves were excellent and the narrators captured the essence of the period in question. Naxos audiobooks is one of my favorite audio producers and I intend to buy as much of their line as possible. Now onto Jane Austen. I think Jane Austen falls under the category of writers which either you love or hate. On the surface taken each work on the whole, it would appear this woman has nothing to say. All her books revolve around marriage and it seems that she spends 3 to 4 hundred pages trying to pair a man and a woman up. Her strong points of course is in her style. Northanger Abbey did cause me to laugh out loud at certain points and how can you not notice the fiery wit of Emma? She also has a good grasp of character development and knows how to set the mood. Yet in both Northanger Abbey and Emma nothing much happens, one keeps hoping for a scandle a murder or theft. We simply have this charming girl, rich and good looking running around the country side gossiping and not doing much else. In Northanger Abbey Catherine appears as a complete dullard in some cases. its like I'm nothing without a man. Waht I found amusing was the slight but apparent condesention towards Catherine by those around her. The woman was such an air head she didn't even notice it. My favorite of the three novels included in this box set was Mansfield park; here surprise surprise, something actually happens, something more then gossip and flirting goes on and Austen tackles more themes here then in the previous two other novels. I have to say however for the record, i can't stand Fanny Price and simply adore mary Crawford. Of course the two Burtrom girls are delicious as well. It would have been nice to see Mary however have a little fun with Tom or Edward. The ending to Mansfield Park had to be a bit of a shocker for those polite days and I think Mary Crawford is the liberated feminist in the book even though Jane Austen wasn't exactly aiming for that. Now the biography. It was okay, but at times it read like a long list of wedding and birth announcements not to mention obituaries as well. the biography to be frank talks more about the Austen family then about the writer herself. Personally this is due to the fact, that Ms. Jane Austen lead a rather dull existance. Her days were filled with writing, corresponding with family and friends and travelling from one house to another. It was disappointing in fact that the biography gave no insight to what triggered Austen's imagination. Nor where any of the novels analyzed. One interesting fact is that Jane Austen herself though wrote about love and marriage and was surrounded by family who kept getting married, she herself never did, nor was she ever touched by a man. In a way I guess this explains why her lead female characters are such prudes at times.Having said the above, I did enjoy this box set very much and plan to purchase the second one which comes out this fall and contains her other three novels plus a novel called Lady Susan which I think she never finished. heres to Amazon who was the first to make the second box set available for pre order. on the whole I would recommend this box set if you love to listen to audiobooks and especially classics. Its beautiful and a keep sake for years to come. Bravo to Naxos. As for Jane austen I think she was talented, but I consider George Eliot a far better writer then her.
Rating:
Summary: Jane Austen boxed
Review: I eagerly waited for this box set to arrive and when it did, I listened to all four audiobook productions back to back. The productions themselves were excellent and the narrators captured the essence of the period in question. Naxos audiobooks is one of my favorite audio producers and I intend to buy as much of their line as possible. Now onto Jane Austen. I think Jane Austen falls under the category of writers which either you love or hate. On the surface taken each work on the whole, it would appear this woman has nothing to say. All her books revolve around marriage and it seems that she spends 3 to 4 hundred pages trying to pair a man and a woman up. Her strong points of course is in her style. Northanger Abbey did cause me to laugh out loud at certain points and how can you not notice the fiery wit of Emma? She also has a good grasp of character development and knows how to set the mood. Yet in both Northanger Abbey and Emma nothing much happens, one keeps hoping for a scandle a murder or theft. We simply have this charming girl, rich and good looking running around the country side gossiping and not doing much else. In Northanger Abbey Catherine appears as a complete dullard in some cases. its like I'm nothing without a man. Waht I found amusing was the slight but apparent condesention towards Catherine by those around her. The woman was such an air head she didn't even notice it. My favorite of the three novels included in this box set was Mansfield park; here surprise surprise, something actually happens, something more then gossip and flirting goes on and Austen tackles more themes here then in the previous two other novels. I have to say however for the record, i can't stand Fanny Price and simply adore mary Crawford. Of course the two Burtrom girls are delicious as well. It would have been nice to see Mary however have a little fun with Tom or Edward. The ending to Mansfield Park had to be a bit of a shocker for those polite days and I think Mary Crawford is the liberated feminist in the book even though Jane Austen wasn't exactly aiming for that. Now the biography. It was okay, but at times it read like a long list of wedding and birth announcements not to mention obituaries as well. the biography to be frank talks more about the Austen family then about the writer herself. Personally this is due to the fact, that Ms. Jane Austen lead a rather dull existance. Her days were filled with writing, corresponding with family and friends and travelling from one house to another. It was disappointing in fact that the biography gave no insight to what triggered Austen's imagination. Nor where any of the novels analyzed. One interesting fact is that Jane Austen herself though wrote about love and marriage and was surrounded by family who kept getting married, she herself never did, nor was she ever touched by a man. In a way I guess this explains why her lead female characters are such prudes at times. Having said the above, I did enjoy this box set very much and plan to purchase the second one which comes out this fall and contains her other three novels plus a novel called Lady Susan which I think she never finished. heres to Amazon who was the first to make the second box set available for pre order. on the whole I would recommend this box set if you love to listen to audiobooks and especially classics. Its beautiful and a keep sake for years to come. Bravo to Naxos. As for Jane austen I think she was talented, but I consider George Eliot a far better writer then her.
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