Clever tale not quite up to Austen's best

books:


	• Northanger Abbey (Barnes & Noble Classics) Jane Austen Barnes & Noble Classics, 2005 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

beginner Jane Austen for young readers

This is not a sophisticated read, but it is fun. Jane Austen wrote this before she wrote anything else and it was rejected, it is a bit adolescent, but fun. A young girl lets her imagination get away with her when she visits friends at an old house. I'm a high school teacher and I would recommend this for young teens who want to progress beyond R L Stine, etc.

very good

I am making my way through all of Austen's book, and this
was the third after Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.
This was the first of her novels and the last one to be published.
However, her writing is most of the time almost as sharp as in
the later novels, and the plot will also not be too much of a
surprise. The novel is, however, not at the level of the previusly
mentioned two, perhaps mainly because the heroine is somewhat
dim, although likeable. The conversations between Mr. Darcy
and Mrs. Bennet are those of equals. However, it is sometimes
painfully obvious in the exchanges between Henry and Katherine
that it is Henry who is the intelectually superior. Although the
plot rambles a bit here and there, this is still a very good read,
and Austen's wit shines through on a number of occasions.

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Clever tale not quite up to Austen's best

Northanger Abbey was Jane Austen's first novel, even though it wasn't published until after she died. While a delightful story, it doesn't quite measure up to Austen's other works. Catherine Morland, 17 and completely innocent, is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with some family friends. Bath, a vacation hotspot in 19th century England, is filled with fashions and eligible young men and women, as well as parents looking to make an agreeable match. Catherine has never left her small village and is accustomed to being surrrounded by people who love her, and so is vulnerable to the tricks and games played by Isabella Thorpe and her brother John. Isabella has formed an attachment to Catherine's older brother James, and John attempts a similar relationship with Catherine. But our dear Catherine has developed feelings for Mr. Tilney. While Mr. Tilney shows the sparkling wit that Mr. Darcy will later become known for, much of the book is told through the narrator's voice which is awkward at times. It wasn't my favorite of Austen's books, that would be Pride and Prejudice, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.

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A must-read

A delightful satire of the gothic genre, Austen's "Northanger Abbey" will delight gothic and Victorian enthusiasts alike.

Dearest Miss Morland...

This excellent first novel by Jane Austen is a must read for Austen fans. Although this novel was the last to be published, Northanger Abbey was the first story she wrote. This first attempt is raw, emotionally driven, and shows the passion of a first time writer. The story is one of mystery, intrigue, and a match made in heaven... that is of course dependent on if society will allow it.

From the balls in Bath to the secrets of Northanger Abbey Catherine Morland lives it all. Her youth and proper upbringing give Catherine the innocence and naiveté that everyone can't help but love in her character. Her truly good-hearted personality allows her to be liked where ever she goes. Catherine, it should also be noted, is a fan of gothic novels and is intrigued by the mysteries and secrets they hold. While on vacation with her wealthy neighbors the Allens, Catherine for the first time gets to experience the society in Bath. There she meets the amiable Mr. John Thorpe and the witty Mr. Henry Tilney. When Catherine is invited to the Tilney's Northanger Abbey, her imagination and the grandeur of Northanger Abbey takes hold of her as she tries to discover the truth behind the death of Mrs. Tilney (Henry's mother).

"Dear Miss Morland, consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained. What have you been judging from? Remember the country and the age in which we live. Remember that we are English: that we are Christians. Consult your own understanding, your own sense of the probable, your own observation of what is passing around you. Does our education prepare us for such atrocities? Do our laws connive at them? Could they be perpetuated without being known in a country like this, where social and literary intercourse is on such a footing, where every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies, and where roads and newspapers lay everything open? Dearest Miss Morland, what ideas have you been admitting?" - Henry Tilney

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reviews: page 1, 2

From cover: "A wonderfully entertaining coming-of-age story, Northanger Abbey is often referred to as Jane Austens Gothic parody. Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers give the story an uncanny air, but one with a decidedly satirical twist. The storys unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henrys mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art. Executed with high-spirited gusto, Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austens novels, yet at its core this delightful novel is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage."

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