Friday 22 March 2013

Review: Jane Austen's MANSFIELD PARK

For March's book review I thought I'd mention that I recently read Mansfield Park, I'm pretty sure for the first time. I say "pretty sure" because I have seen the BBC miniseries (I think it was a miniseries...) and my memory was possibly getting confused between that and the read. Anyway... I only gave it 3 out of 5 stars, and here's why:

Firstly, it lost a point because it's less awesome than P&P, Persuasion and others. And a second point was lost because Fanny and Edmund, the romantic couple of the story, are first cousins. Ew. ;) Still, I did enjoy the read even if the book I was carting around was really heavy and I couldn't wait to be done with the read due to said heaviness.

Perhaps my lack of adoration for this story isn't helped by the fact that the BBC thing I saw was quite dated, and could hardly compare with the Firth/Ehle combo in P&P (LOVE!). Edmund is a really lovely love interest, though of course the fact that he wants to be a priest doesn't endear him to me all that much. I do think Edmund and Fanny are perfect for each other, but then maybe it's only reasonable since they share FAMILY TRAITS due to being CLOSELY RELATED. Again, ew.

But moving on. ;)

In between watching the TV version and reading the book, I had forgotten some things about the storyline, things I don't even remember seeing in the TV version. Namely I forgot all about the attentions Mr Crawford paid to Fanny, and also about all the trouble Fanny's cousins Maria & Julia got into. Particularly Maria. The main things I remember of the TV version are the part where they are rehearsing for the play, and the part where Fanny Price is really timid and uninteresting as a character. I liked the book version of her better than the TV version (especially at moments when she was getting a bit annoyed - hey, animation!), but she's still not nearly as interesting as other Austen heroines.

So there you go. 3 stars.

11 comments:

  1. I guess the first cousin thing was common at the time, but I agree. Ick.

    Although, I love one movie version of the novel. Apologies for posting a link, but this the easiest way to explain (from imdb): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178737/?ref_=sr_1

    Is this the one you saw? If not, you should check it out. It plays around with the story a bit (makes Fanny less timid), and this helps the story immensely. As long as you ignore the first cousin thing.

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  2. I've completely forgotten this book altogether even though I know I read it. I guess that tells you how memorable it was for me!

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  3. Family traits? Ewwww. It sounds like the book still wins the war of book vs. movie Trisha.

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  4. Loved Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion but haven't yet read Mandfield Park.

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  5. Interesting review! Coming from someone who's only read Persuasion - and loved it. Yet I haven't picked up any of her other books yet...

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  6. The only Austen book I've read is Emma. I'll have to put P and P and Mansfield Park on my to-read list. :)

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  7. I haven't read any Jane Austen books. I'm sadly lacking in the area of classics.

    ......dhole

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  8. First cousins used to be a common match back then and before. Part of the reason why the Royal Families of Europe got hemophilia and such.

    I still need to read Emma and Mansfield park before I can say I read all of them. Planning to do just that, but I'm thinking I'll download copies onto my tablet now. :-D

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  9. Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors, right behind J.K. Rowling. Mansfield Park is a great book.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  10. I think 3 stars is fair for MP. It isn't P&P by a long shot. And it isn't Persuasion, but there are similar elements.

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