Persuasion

Ok, so those of you who know me will know I'm something of a Jane Austen fan. For those you who don't: I'm something of a Jane Austen fan. Well, that's that cleared up - review over, right? No? Oh, alright then... I picked 'Persuasion' because it's proabably my favourite Jane Austen novel - well that or 'Emma'. Or 'Pride and Prejudice'. So, I picked 'Persuasion' because it's one of my three favourite Jane Austen novels...

I like an awful lot about 'Persuasion', though oddly the heroine isn't particularly one of them. I mean, she's ok, but she's just a little bit wet - though not quite as wet as "Mansfield Park"'s Fanny. By contrast, the hero may well be my absolute favourite Austen hero. He's just that little bit more human than Darcy, making him more attractive as a person. I've always felt that Darcy, for all his merits, couldn't have much of a sense of humour, but Captain Wentworth clearly has a strong sense of the absurd.

I enjoyed the way 'Persuasion' was written, as I felt it was slightly more mature than her other novels, probably due (at least in part) to the greater age of her heroine. This, by the way, is a growing attraction for me, as I have a sneaking suspicion that Ann Elliott is the last of Austen's heroines still to be older than me. Which is terrifying.

Well, what else can I tell you? The writing is witty as always, Ann is very sweet (if a little excessively so at times), Frederick is dashing and terribly exciting and the villains are exactly as villainous as they should be! If you like Austen, you'll like it. If you don't like Austen - well, there must be something wrong with you. I'm sorry, but you had to know sometime...