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Emma by Jane Austen
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Member recommendations

  1. susanbooks recommends The Victorian Governess by Kathryn Hughes
  2. Sarasamsara recommends The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki, "Like Austen's novels, The Makioka Sisters traces the daily lives and romances of an upper-class family-- the only difference is that this is pre-war Japan, (see more) not Regency England. Like in one of Austen's works, when you close the novel you feel like you are closing the door on someone's life."
  3. roby72 recommends Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  4. nessreader recommends Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant, "Both Emma and Miss M are about ambitious, capable upper class women who can only express themselves as social hostesses. Both heroines are managing and (see more) bossy - Miss M, a generation younger, is played more for laughs, but there is a strong parallel. And both end in utter satisfaction for heroine and reader alike."
  5. SandSing7 recommends The Scandal of the Season: A Novel by Sophie Gee
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Showing 1-5 of 157 (next | show all)
Considering this book was first published in 1816, it has endured incredibly well; and with good reason. The vocabulary and phrasing may have changed, but the ideas and feelings have not.  ( )
  Tselja | Feb 4, 2010 |
I'm kind of torn on this one. On one hand, I found huge chunks of this book dry, I think largely caused by its formality between the characters. Not necessarily a fault, by any means, I just found the exchanges tedious. On the other hand, I was reacting strongly to Emma and many other characters the whole time; an initial strong dislike of Emma and pity for Harriet, always strongly agreeing with Mr. Knightley in my head, ect. The characters (and my need to finish any book I start) are what kept me turning pages, and I'm glad I stuck with it because I found the third 'book' delightfully twisty and unexpected. Much to my surprise I found myself hurt, on Emma's behalf, to find that Jane had been snubbing her, and hoping she would end up with Mr. So and so, as well as fearful for poor Harriet's heart breaking once again.
I feel like I would read the second half of this book over and over, but I just can not imagine myself attempting the whole length of it cover to cover, so I can really only rate it as a three (or maybe a four...). ( )
  Hoperin | Feb 1, 2010 |
Earlier this week, (Monday, in fact) my friend was beginning to tell me his opinions of the novel I had written for NaNoWriMo this past November. “Have you read Notes from the Underground?” he asked.At this point in time, I didn’t have any idea that we were talking about my novel, so I began to talk about Fyodor’s book instead. I feel comfortable speaking of Dostoevsky on a first name basis because of what was said next:“Your book reminds me a lot of it,” he said.And, inside my head, I’m like, Fucking wow. Dostoevsky, really? My novel? Outside my head, I ask, “How so?”And then Phil, he starts talking about unreliable narrators (specifically the underground man and Holden Caulfield) and how it’s an under-appreciated narration style. With my book, he says, it’s obvious that the narrator is unreliable as he seems like an intelligent fellow, but is prone to fits of psychopathy. It makes you question his entire viewpoint.“Is that good?” I ask, starting to feel protective of this first draft of mine pounded out blindly in thirty days.Which got me thinking about Emma. Emma is about as unreliable as Amazon Super Saver shipping. You don’t really know it until it’s too late, though. She seems really intelligent and insightful, but she’s almost always wrong in the end. You’re completely thrown for a loop……unless you’ve seen Clueless close to one hundred times.When I was in seventh grade, that is just what I did. Nearly every day, I would sit down and pop in my taped-from-a-free-HBO-preview copy and all my troubles would melt away. Why did I feel such a kinship with this movie? It’s hard to say. Watching it was a compulsion of sorts, I guess. My mother is still convinced that I just had the hots for Alicia Silverstone, which (Sorry, Alicia. I like you a lot, but just as a friend.) is simply not true. In hindsight, the movie provided me with an escape from my normal life. The convoluted personal relationships of these over-privileged teenagers seemed to be what my life should be like, but wasn’t. So, I dutifully memorized every line of the goddamned movie.And, as a result, was bored to death by the first three-quarters of the book. There was nothing Jane Austen could do that would be able to one-up Cher and her pals. So it took me weeks to get through this relatively short book. It felt like such a chore just to pick it up each evening.So I didn’t. Not really, anyway. I read the book page by page in between levels of Resident Evil and reruns of Roseanne and The Dog Whisperer. Eventually, I made it past that hump, somewhere around the three hundred page mark, and things started getting good. Emma started feeling things that Cher never could have. And fucking everyone was clueless.But the point is, at least I think this is the point I was trying to make, that Emma is an unreliable narrator. And in the beginning, this is a bad thing because you think the book is just a really boring study of old timey relationships. But once you realize that Emma has no idea what’s going on and that that is going to blow up in her face, that’s when it gets interesting.So…“Is that good?” I ask.“Well, I guess that depends on…blahdy fucking blah," Phil said.Yes, Caris, that’s good indeed. ( )
  anoceandrowning | Jan 21, 2010 |
Though it was a must-read during my English literature class, I would read it over and over again because each character reminds me of someone I know! ( )
  foomy | Jan 19, 2010 |
Emma is a really lovery character. I wonder how fun I have a friend like her, she is a bit persuasive and obstinate though. I love this novel. ( )
  Yukikon | Jan 11, 2010 |
Showing 1-5 of 157 (next | show all)
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Emma (1948TVIMDb)
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Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
Quotations
"I cannot make speeches, Emma...If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more." (Mr. Knightley)
Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.
"I thank you; but I assure you, you are quite mistaken. Mr. Elton and I are very good friends, and nothing more, and she walked on, amusing herself in the consideration of the blunders which often arise from a partial knowledge of circumstances, of the mistakes which people of high pretensions to judgment are for every falling into..." (Emma)
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Unsure if this is an unabridged reading or a dramatization.
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Book description

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0141439580, Paperback)

Of all Jane Austen's heroines, Emma Woodhouse is the most flawed, the most infuriating, and, in the end, the most endearing. Pride and Prejudice's Lizzie Bennet has more wit and sparkle; Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey more imagination; and Sense and Sensibility's Elinor Dashwood certainly more sense--but Emma is lovable precisely because she is so imperfect. Austen only completed six novels in her lifetime, of which five feature young women whose chances for making a good marriage depend greatly on financial issues, and whose prospects if they fail are rather grim. Emma is the exception: "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." One may be tempted to wonder what Austen could possibly find to say about so fortunate a character. The answer is, quite a lot.

For Emma, raised to think well of herself, has such a high opinion of her own worth that it blinds her to the opinions of others. The story revolves around a comedy of errors: Emma befriends Harriet Smith, a young woman of unknown parentage, and attempts to remake her in her own image. Ignoring the gaping difference in their respective fortunes and stations in life, Emma convinces herself and her friend that Harriet should look as high as Emma herself might for a husband--and she zeroes in on an ambitious vicar as the perfect match. At the same time, she reads too much into a flirtation with Frank Churchill, the newly arrived son of family friends, and thoughtlessly starts a rumor about poor but beautiful Jane Fairfax, the beloved niece of two genteelly impoverished elderly ladies in the village. As Emma's fantastically misguided schemes threaten to surge out of control, the voice of reason is provided by Mr. Knightly, the Woodhouse's longtime friend and neighbor. Though Austen herself described Emma as "a heroine whom no one but myself will much like," she endowed her creation with enough charm to see her through her most egregious behavior, and the saving grace of being able to learn from her mistakes. By the end of the novel Harriet, Frank, and Jane are all properly accounted for, Emma is wiser (though certainly not sadder), and the reader has had the satisfaction of enjoying Jane Austen at the height of her powers. --Alix Wilber

(retrieved from Amazon Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:28:24 -0500)

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