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Summary: Crawfords Live!!
Review: This is my favorite of Jane Austen's books due to that plot that some people find so difficult and boring to follow. Well it's not at all, and is quite fun. The heroine, Fanny Price, can get on you, but the lively Crawfords make up for that. The poor things: they get bashed for being attractive, witty, and charming. Maybe their behaviour is a little risque, but Henry Crawford is one-hundred times more interesting than that prig, Edmund.
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Summary: A great novel.
Review: I find it rather disappointing that people dislike the heroine Fanny for being too weak and sainted. I somehow feel for her shyness, her predicaments and for the moral dilemmas she finds herself in. Let's face it -- not everyone can be an Elizabeth Bennet or an Emma Wodehouse, and it is creditable that Austen decided to make so unprepossessing a girl the heroine of the novel. For all her docility and her weakness, Fanny is an extremely strong character, who is not cowed by peer-pressure into submitting to things that she feels are morally wrong. In fact, for those who care about such things, Fanny is a feminist in her own quiet way. At any rate, the thrust of the novel is primarily moral; to put it rather simplistically, it is country, religious values versus the decadent, immoral city (i.e. London) values. Of course, any book by Jane Austen is incomplete without her trademark irony and wit. It is all there in this book, just a little subdued. My all time favourite character in this book has to be Mrs. Norris -- she's really a nasty, hateful woman and is superly portrayed.
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Summary: One of Austen's best
Review: I have read all of Austen's works and "Mansfield Park" is one of the best. I could usually feel for the main character, Fanny Price, and relate to her. By loving her cousin Edmund so completely, she suffered greatly when Mary Crawford drew his attention and admiration. I would have been rather angry if I were Fanny been left sitting alone for a whole hour while they walked through the woods. Mr. Crawford's love of Fanny rather surprised me, because he didn't deserve her after flirting so mercilessly with her cousins. I was a glad that there was a happy ending. I believe the most satisfying reads (like those by Jane Austen) always have happy endings.
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Summary: a flat boring read...
Review: This book was a major disapointment. I had never read a Jane Austen novel before I read this book and I thought it would be a pleasant experience. I found the book's main character to be flat, and dull, possesing none of the characteristics that make an interesting person or an interesting read. I thought the book would never end and when it did I felt like throwing a party. This novel isn't dark and complex, its just bad and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I hope to have better luck with other Jane Austen titles in the future.
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Summary: I've read 4 of Ms. Austin's books and enjoyed every one.
Review: This book is one of my favorites along with Pride and Prejudice. It is a shame that most of the books today do not have the same quality. I recieved this book as gift and I'm glad to have it. I really enjoyed this book. I hope to read the rest of her works.
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Summary: Not her best
Review: This book is very deep underneath the rather frivolous surface. It is good and I think that at the beginning you get very much caught up in the story. However I also think that it can be very boring near the middle and it made me almost throw away the book in exasperation. While a good book on its own, compared to the other fantastic literary achievements of Jane Austen , it seems lacking in finesse, wit and charm.
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Summary: A nice look into the past
Review: This book entertains me from the beginning to the end. Unlike Jane Austens other books this one wasn't very predictable, at least not for me. I wasn't very sure if it would be a happy ending until I finally read the last page. This book is much better written than Jane's earlier works, she develops the characters much more thoroughly. A drawback of this book must be the character of the main character, she is extremely naive, it was rather difficult for me ( as a feminist-like person ) to relate to her. I was also quite a bit disappointed by the last two pages, I thought the book ended quite abrupt. Still I think this is one of Jane Austens best creations. It gave me a nice look into the past.
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Summary: This is no walk in the park...
Review: I am an avid reader of Jane Austen and the main reason is her use of wit and empowered female characters. Unfortunately, Mansfield Park has neither of these. It is touted as one of Austen's most "complex" and "intricately plotted" works. I enjoy the sense of fun that is so evident in most of her novels, and perhaps, I simply find Mansfield Park to dark for my taste. I could not relate to the main character, Fanny, who, in my opinion, was an extremely naive ninny. While I pleasurably breeze through Austen's other novels in an afternoon, I found Mansfield Park took me several days to read, because of the breaks I took when I became bored with the story. (Something which has never happened to me with any other of her books.) This novel is not a style I find appealing, but, who knows, you just might enjoy it.
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Summary: Spectacular!!!
Review: This is one of the first real "classics" that I read on my own--without having it forced on me by a teacher. It is easy to read and you will be rooting for Fanny throughout the entire book
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Summary: Austen's most controversial novel.
Review: In this somewhat atypical Jane Austen novel, Austen abandons her precise characterization and carefully constructed plots, usually designed to illustrate specific ethical and social dilemmas, and presents a much broader, more complex picture of early nineteenth century life. Though the polite behavior of the middle and upper classes is always a focus of Austen, and this novel is no exception, she is more analytical of society as a whole here, casting a critical eye on moral issues which allow the upper class to perpetuate itself. Fanny Price, the main character, is the daughter of a genteel woman who married for love but soon found herself in poverty. When Fanny's aunt and uncle, the wealthy owners of Mansfield Park, invite Fanny alone, of all the children, to live with them, Fanny enters a new world, where she is educated, clothed, and housed, but always regarded as an "outsider." Through Fanny's two cousins, Maria and Julia, Austen shows the complex interactions of the upper class as they negotiate marriages, try to maintain the family's reputation and wealth, and react to those "beneath" them socially. Fanny, having experienced both poverty and plenty, comments on what she sees, and though she lacks the witty charm of some of Austen's other characters (such as Elizabeth Bennett), she shows an intelligence and conscience lacking among her cousins. Only Edmund, the youngest of the Bertram sons, pays genuine attention to her, and her love for him is real, though secret. This is a darker novel than Austen's others, showing conflicts between late eighteenth century rationalism and the growing romanticism of the nineteenth century. Sir Thomas maintains his wealth through his expedient participation in the slave trade, a business that his sons Thomas and Edmund abhor. Often unfeeling toward his own family, Sir Thomas also shows cruelty toward Fanny when she rejects a marriage he has negotiated for her to a man she does not love. Cousin Maria chooses to marry Rushworth for his fortune, but she succumbs to her passion for someone else, and introduces a romantic, new sexuality into the novel. Unfortunately, Fanny, though sweet and reasonable, is also quiet and predictable, while Edmund, the only other potentially empathetic character, is naïve and often appears to be weak. Austen's light touch and quiet humor, which make her other novels vibrate with life and come to a satisfying ending, are less obvious here, and the abrupt conclusion leaves many questions unanswered. Mary Whipple
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