Mansfield Park (1814)

After spending several months roaming around in modern literature the last two weeks back in the classics have seemed by comparison exceptionally laborious. As my wife, who is reading the same novel, will point out to you, reading Austen is more work than pleasure at times. It is not so much that she uses words unfamiliar to us or that the situations she paints are beyond our immediate experience. Truly, the themes of Austen's novels are as familiar as any made-for-TV movie. Instead it is her language which can tend to wear one out. Austen crafts sentences that are so winding and twisting at times that one imagines taking them from the book and wrapping them several times around the Christmas tree. Anyone who has read Austen with care even once should be credited for having passed eyes over the words at least twice in repeated answer to the question, "What did she just say exactly?"

Prolixity aside, Austen's descriptions of the inner workings of the human mind and its motivations are enthralling. Austen gives an almost Dickensian level of attention to her characters and at the end of Mansfield Park one feels like one knows Fanny Price like a sister. Among all of Austen's characters I find Fanny the most personally relatable. Her simultaneous self-doubt and self-assurance are hallmarks of the human experience and I can see myself in exactly her position. It is with regret that I found in the literary criticism the consistent theme that Fanny is a character to be disliked. Her virtue is seen as a pall over the actions of the other characters. Her adherence to social norms is an impediment to the enjoyment of those around her. How sad it is to find that the face in the mirror is not the same seen by society.

In summary, I consider MP one of Austen's finest while the majority of commentators seem to agree on exactly the opposite. Austen's other novels paint life in a sort of blissful haze while MP is frankly and honestly realistic about all the foibles of humanity. Of course in characteristic style her final chapter wraps everything tidily up in happiness for all concerned but the reader must forgive those 10 pages out of 320 which serve to give her readers of the time (and today) what they expect for their heroine. ( )

If this wasn't Austen, and as such peppered with her wonderful turn of phrase, I would probably have hated this. I can't stand a single one of these characters, particularly Fanny. I previously stated that I have a special love for Austen's self-sacrificing characters. Fanny goes too far in that regard. She's a sanctimonious little prig, and I hope she went on to lead a miserable life. ( )

Hmm, enjoyed reading it, but wasn't happy with the solution...
Justice...

I've found that audio books are the best way for me to listen to and actually finish a Jane Austen novel. I chose Mansfield Park first on a bit of a whim. In Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford, Jane says her favorite heroine is Fanny Price. Curious to see why vampire Jane might feel that way, I decided to start there.

Mansfield Park is Austen's third novel. It opens with Fanny Price, age ten, being sent to live with her wealthy cousins at Mansfield Park. Though she is the most quiet and best behaved, she is forever treated as an inferior and an outsider, especially by Mrs. Norris, the middle sister of the three adult sisters who make up Fanny's family (mother and two aunts).

It was not through Fanny, that I found my connection with the novel. Instead, it was Mrs. Norris. She is the prototype for Hyacinth Bucket of Keeping Up Appearances. From there I couldn't help but continue to draw comparisons between the novel and the television comedy.

If Mrs. Norris is Mrs. Bucket, then Fanny is from Daisy's side of the family. She is sent, then, to Violet, the wealthy and successful sister. Of course Hyacinth's family is far more dysfunctional than Fanny's but there's still some odd ball family dynamics. ( )

3.5 stars

Fanny is sent to live with her aunt, uncle and cousins when she is 10 years old. By the way she is treated, it is not kept from her that she seems to be from a lower social class than the family she is now living with. But, she becomes very close friends with (but wants more from) her cousin, Edmund. Of course, Edmund has fallen for someone else, and someone else has fallen for Fanny.

I liked this. I was waffling between a 3.5 and 3.75 stars through most of it, but really due to other stuff going on with me, as I was reading the end, I was having trouble focusing, so it was hard to rate. So, it could have rated slightly higher for me if I'd been reading it at a different time. I still liked it, though. ( )