The Youngest Miss Ward

Rating:
Summary: Don't read the last 20 or so pages
Review: I found the first 300 or so pages most enjoyable. If you don't read the book as a Jane Austen sequel but rather a stand alone it is most entertaining. UNFORTUNATELY where you wanted this book to go or at the least thought this book would go it didn't. It was almost like Ms. Aiken was cautioned nearing the end of the book she only had 1/2 hour left to finish. So she did giving it no thought. She didn't care that the reader would feel robbed. So sad - I really enjoyed her writing. HOWEVER I will give Ms. Aiken a second chance. Hopefully she will not dissapoint as I really want to like her books, her writing intrigues me.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and enjoyable up to a point
Review: I found this latest book of Joan Aiken's to be a very enjoyable one, with many references to characters and events in Mansfield Park, and an excellent portrayal of the early nineteenth century. For the entire first half or more I was quite caught up in the heroine's life and that of the whole cast of unusual characters, many of which seem to be right out of an Austin novel. It was with some chagrin when I realized, toward the end, that Hattie (the youngest Miss Ward of the title), had slipped into the "Goody Goody" mode, and was becoming somewhat insipid. I mean, really, she goes around solving everyone's problems, and taking all kinds of abuse with never a frown, but is always cheerful and helpful to a fault. The other characters have also fallen into rather neat groups of villians and good guys. However, this would not really have bother me, had the ending not been as it was. I don't wish to give anything away, so I won't comment on the obvious flaws and lack of continuity in many of the storylines and characters. However, some may not be as troubled by the ending or the character of the heroine , and, if interested in this period of history, will certainly enjoy reading The Youngest Miss Ward.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't quite hit the mark of Aiken's previous triumphs
Review: I started out thinking I was in for yet another jewel along the lines of "Jane Fairfax" and "Mansfield Revisited." Aiken certainly starts off in that vein, but halfway thru, the plot turns ridiculous. Hatty became so 'Dickens-like' in her cheerful suffering that I wanted to gag, and the antagonists were also crosses between those found in Bronte and Dickens and not Austen-like at all. Aiken seemed to abandon wit and good humor for pathos and melo-drama. I hope she will not continue on this vein in her future Austen ventures. Aiken is VERY gifted and readable, so it is easy to forgive her for "The Youngest Miss Ward."

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't quite hit the mark of Aiken's previous triumphs
Review: I started out thinking I was in for yet another jewel along the lines of "Jane Fairfax" and "Mansfield Revisited." Aiken certainly starts off in that vein, but halfway thru, the plot turns ridiculous. Hatty became so 'Dickens-like' in her cheerful suffering that I wanted to gag, and the antagonists were also crosses between those found in Bronte and Dickens and not Austen-like at all. Aiken seemed to abandon wit and good humor for pathos and melo-drama. I hope she will not continue on this vein in her future Austen ventures. Aiken is VERY gifted and readable, so it is easy to forgive her for "The Youngest Miss Ward."

Rating:
Summary: Not a Riveting Book, but Enjoyable All the Same
Review: The Youngest Ward is an okay book - not too interesting, but interesting enough to not be able to put it down for another book. The book focuses on Harriet Ward who suffers abuse wherever she goes. The novel takes place during the 1700s. Harriet is 12 when she is forced to go live with her aunt and uncle because she dared to drop her sister's toiletries while climbing the steps. Her mother is too ill to prevent the departure. At her aunt and uncle's house, she is treated nicely by her aunt but brusquely by her uncle. There she meets Lord Camber with whom she falls in love. The love story is not pushed upon the reader because of physical distance. Lord Camber decides to go to America to set up a colony and this distance causes the focus to be on Harriet and how she is sent to different abodes. Her uncle kicks her out of his home because of Harriet's "impropriety" of walking alone with the Lord. She returns to her home to find out that her mother has died and her father has remarried the evil Ursula, who is a cousin of Harriet's. Harriet does have her proposal though; her cousin, Sydney, keeps proposing to Harriet, but Sydney is not a good person so Harriet keeps rebuffing him. Ursula decides to send Harriet to Ursula's former home to work as a governess for her two younger sisters. The environment there is grim and Harriet struggles to educate the two sisters who are quite dim. Although Harriet's life is grim and lonely, she does find solace in writing poetry.

I recommend this book because the trials and tribulations endured by Harriet and her quiet way of rising above her environment and finding personal fulfillment is riveting. The reader keeps wondering where will Harriet end up. I also like the fact that the requisite love story is kept to a bare minimum. There will be a sad twist to this particular story that is wrenching. However, Harriet seems to be aware that life is about enduring suffering and finding solace from within and that the solution to suffering is to find self-fulfillment in an activity that one loves.

Rating:
Summary: plot distortion
Review: This book is a sorry disappointment coming from a talented authoress like Miss Aiken. The lpot is not true to Miss Austen at all, and not a whit of it leads to the plot, structure, theme, language or depth of "Mansfiedl Park". And like all Janeites out ther, let me point out that the youngest Miss Ward's first name is not Harriet (Hatty); it's actually Frances (Fanny). Our Heroine in "Mansfield Park" is Fanny Price, and she is the eldest daughter, and in true Jane Austen fashion, the eldest daughters and sons are usually named for the parents. A disappointemnt indeed, a far cry from what Miss Austen conceptualised.

Rating:
Summary: Respectable read with a sense of Austen's period.
Review: Those who have read and meditated on the themes and events of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen may find this off-shoot by Joan Aiken to be rather intriguing. While the ending may seem a bit forced, the characterizations and the obvious depth of knowledge of the historical period make this enjoyable reading.

The most interesting contrast in the book was that of Lady Ursula, well situated in the class structure but not able to cope with the consequences of her choices, and Harriet Ward, the quintessential poor relation who is better equipped to cope with life's vagaries. The novel provides more food for thought than one might otherwise anticipate.

Rating:
Summary: bad things.
Review: was the book supposed to be written like jane austen?
i sure hope not. (utter failure)
the plot was stretched out over too many pages and interjected with catastrophies. the author appears to have not thought out the plot, at all. that aside-it is readable. until you get to the end, at which you will be infuriated at the further thoughtlessness of the author. a poor attempt at a twisted ending and an "oh well" explaination for the resolution.
the time period is tampered with to an extreme.
do not waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: bad things.
Review: was the book supposed to be written like jane austen?
i sure hope not. (utter failure)
the plot was stretched out over too many pages and interjected with catastrophies. the author appears to have not thought out the plot, at all. that aside-it is readable. until you get to the end, at which you will be infuriated at the further thoughtlessness of the author. a poor attempt at a twisted ending and an "oh well" explaination for the resolution.
the time period is tampered with to an extreme.
do not waste your time.