Emma by Jane Austen

"...this sweetest and best of all creatures, faultless in spite of all her faults..."

It has been a goal of mine for a long time to read a Jane Austen book, so I was extremely happy when Kimmy chose it as our February Book Club selection. I bought it and started reading right away. It was much more accessible than I expected. I've tried reading Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion before and never made it far in either. But I was immediately caught up in Emma. Then school got busy and I was reading a book a week it seemed just to keep up with homework. Needless to say, I didn't finish in time for Book Club; I was so upset with myself. To be truthful, I rarely finish our group selections. I guess I have a mental block against doing what I'm told. However, I was completely set on finishing this time. As punishment to myself (but also because I didn’t want to hear the ending) I stayed home from Book Club last night and resolved to finish. And I did!

In general, I very much enjoyed this book. I was excited to see the change in Emma as the story progressed. I found her a very interesting character from the start but didn’t like her very much, as a person. However, I was immediately a fan of her relationship with Mr. Knightley. I loved how he kept her in check, not afraid to tell her when she was being difficult or out-of-line. Yet he also sincerely cared about her. So I guess you could say that I guessed the end from the beginning in that regard. The same is true of Jane Fairfax having a secret past with Frank Churchill and Hannah continuing to have feelings for Mr. Martin. Perhaps these things were obvious to everyone from the start; I don’t know. So while I can’t say I found this book particularly suspenseful or surprising, I think it speaks volumes for both the quality of writing and the story that I stayed so invested.

I loved Mr. Woodhouse and all his eccentricities. I loathed Mrs. Eaton. She’s a conceited little beast. Miss Bates was thoroughly entertaining to me, and I loved that she was the cause of the biggest change in Emma’s character. Following Emma’s behavior at Box Hill, I felt so bad for Miss Bates. I loved that Mr. Knightley called Emma out on it. I also loved that Mr. Knightley’s disapproval of the situation had such an effect on her. Emma successfully swallowed her pride (which she rarely had to do), and Miss Bates was as forgiving as I hoped. I was entertained by how well-developed all of the characters were. They felt real to me–I almost felt like I could guess some of their behavior beforehand because I understood them so well. I think that’s rare to find in books.

Needless to say, I loved it. I want my own Mr. Knightley but feel very much as Emma did about marriage throughout most of the book.

Some passages that jumped out at me:

"My being charming, Harriet, is not quite enough to induce me to marry; I must find other people charming–one other person at least."

"As for objects of interest, objects for the affections, which is in truth the great point of inferiority, the want of which is really the great evil to be avoided in not marrying, I shall be very well off, with all the children of a sister I love so much, to care about . . . and though my attachment to none can equal that of a parent, it suits my ideas of comfort better than what is warmer and blinder. My nephews and nieces!"

"But where little minds belong to rich people in authority, I think they have a knack of swelling out, till they are quite as unmanageable as great ones."

"What is right to be done cannot be done too soon."

And my favorite:

"He had ridden home through the rain; and had walked up directly after dinner, to see how this sweetest and best of all creatures, faultless in spite of all her faults, bore the discovery."

*sigh*