Rating: 
Summary: Dull, dull, dull
Review: While this book touches upon the society of English countryside gentry and their sexist, classist and patriarchical lives, it is quite dull. The plot drags and the characters, though their personalities are developed, don't do much. Nothing interesting happens until the last 50 pages or so. Overall, a good book to fall asleep with.
Rating: 
Summary: Suspenseful; Delightful!
Review: I am an avid fan of Jane Austen's writing. Her wit and social satire are brilliant and still incredibly relevant today. While Mansfield Park does not, to me, surpass her brilliance with Pride and Prejudice, I found I enjoyed this book more than Emma, which I think is slightly overrated. Mansfield Park had me on the edge of my seat for the final third of the book--Jane Austen is a timeless author and a breath of fresh air to those of us who are tired of the sex, violence and lack of originality so prevalent in today's "literature." Three cheers for Jane!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh...
Review: This book seems like a rough draft for her other, better, novels. I'm a man's man-I like Hemingway, professional boxing, and dog fights--but I've always enjoyed Jane Austen. Not with this one. I feel like slapping all of the characters and telling them to shut up. "Stop talking about yourselves!"
Rating: 
Summary: Wordy, but Wonderful
Review: I decided to read this book for a seventh grade English class. I was more than a little overwhelmed when I started reading, so I put it down and got another book. Well I finished that one, so I started this again. It was hard going to read the all the old english, but definitely worth the effort. I love it, and I reccomend anyone to read it, and don't let the language intimidate you.
Rating:
Summary: It just gets better every time you read it!
Review: No matter how many times you read Mansfield Park, it just keeps getting better. I feel that you would find it hard to find any more interesting and realistic characters which engage the loyalties of the reader so brilliantly anywhere in the English language. While perhaps Austen's darkest novel, in that she appears to discuss the issue of morality to agreater degree than in any other novel, it still sparkles with some brilliant satire and humour. Perhaps her greatest work.
Rating:
Summary: Her masterpiece?
Review: This is Jane Austen's most difficult and least sparkling book. It is also, however, very possibly her best. Nowhere else do we see Austen treat immorality and its consequences as she does here. Her "villians" are usually laughable. Here, they are pitiable and deceitful. Fanny Price is certainly not a very entertaining character, but she is a very compelling one. As for those people who say that she is weak, they are correct. She uses all of her strength, however, to her advantage. Yet, she never does anything which would violate her strict moral code. Nowhere is Austen's keen insight into English social structure moral visible than in this ambiguous and moving tale. A wonderful, yet very difficult, book. Read her others first, then, when you think you know who Jane Austen was, read this. You'll be amazed.
Rating:
Summary: A Master Craftsman !
Review: There can be few greater pleasures in the world than reading a Jane Austen novel for the very first time. The country house, the park, the fireside, the ballroom - within the confines of these what a universe of emotions, of meaningful gestures and movements she creates. As well as being a master of language, here Jane Austen displays her mastery of the art of the novel; she teases the reader along one path, only to startle him in the end with an another. This novel confirms view I have long held : There may be novelists greater than Austen, but none so perfect.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a tough one
Review: I guess, if one were to compare Mansfield Park with a book by almost any other author, it would stand out. Unfortunately, however, I compare Mansfield Park with the rest of Jane Austen's oeuvre, namely P&P, Emma, Persuasion, Sense & Sensibility, etc. Against that kind of competition, Mansfield Park is weak. Fanny Price is an insipid wimp who watches life pass her by. I have always found it hard to believe that the woman who gave us Lizzy Bennet, Emma Woodhouse and Elinor Dashwood could have given us Fanny Price. The former do not suffer fools lightly, and Fanny is a fool who enjoys suffering.I do recommend that people read this, but only AFTER reading Austen's other books because Jane Austen at her weakest is superior to most authors at their best.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing ending to a sad, compelling story.
Review: I was very disappointed. In this story Jane Austen developes a character in Fanny Price that is so very pathetic. I felt sorry for her from the beginning and at times wondered why she didn't just committ suicide! There seemed no place where she could find joy, and no people with whom she could be happy. When Fanny finally started to make her own mark in the world the book came to a screeching halt. I felt that the last 20 pages in the book were like a deflated balloon. The style of naration changed. The characterizations changed. I wondered: Did the publisher force Jane to change an original ending to this supposed happy one? Did she succumb to the opinions of others that Fanny must connect with Edmund? I saw no good reason for that ending. It seemed forced, contrived and choppy.
Rating:
Summary: More than a mere domestic drama, even if less fun than P&P!!
Review: Mansfield Park is more than a simplistic domestic Drama - to read it as such is to severely limit the meaning of the novel. There were many underlying themes in this novel - Austen was incapable of writing a mere romance. Her novels were her only voice in the patriarchal society of her time, and in Mansfield Park we can see veiled references to the slavery debate that was raging at the time this novel was written. There are other meanings to be found in Mansfield Park - Jane Austen herself told her sister that her new novel would be of 'a complete change of subject - ordination'. Although this comment was made while the novel was still in progress, if we read Mansfield Park with this intention, the novel contains a complex discussion of the changing role of the church. This is intrinscially linked to the change in popular morality, a movement which is clearly illustrated by the action surrounding the play, Lover's Vows. Even without straying far from the superficial 'domestic drama', Mansfield Park cotains a complex and often witty representation of the contradictions and ironies of human behaviour. These themes must all be considered when attempting to read Mansfield Park for the deeper meaning no doubt intended by Austen. Mansfield Park is undoubtedly more than a mere 'domestic drama'. To read it as boring just because Henry Crawford and Edmund Bertram are not as sexy as Darcy, is to miss out on a bloody interesting read!!
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