Mansfield Park Author:Jane Austen 200th ANNIVERSARY EDITION — Mansfield Park is named for the magnificent, idyllic estate that is home to the wealthy Bertram family and that serves as a powerful symbol of English tradition and stability. The novel?s heroine, Fanny Price?a ?poor relation? living with the Bertrams?is acutely conscious of her inferior status and yet she dares to lov... more »e their son Edmund?from afar. With five marriageable young people on the premises, the peace at Mansfield cannot last. Courtships, entertainments, and intrigues throw the place into turmoil, and Fanny finds herself unwillingly competing with a dazzlingly witty and lovely rival. As Margaret Drabble points out in her incisive Introduction, the house becomes ?full of the energies of discord?sibling rivalry, greed, ambition, illicit sexual passion, and vanity,? and the novel grows ever more engrossing right up to Mansfield?s final scandal and the satisfying conclusion. Unique in its moral design and its brilliant interplay of the forces of tradition and change, Mansfield Park was the first novel of Jane Austen?s maturity, and the first in which the author turned her unerring eye on the concerns of English society at a time of great upheaval.
With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble and an Afterword by Julia Quinn
This may be Jane Austen's most controversial book - readers ask, is Fanny Price too good, too pious, too much of a doormat? Yes, of course she is. But she's grown on me over the years and with each reading of this wonderful, cynical, wise book.
Not Jane Austen's best work, but identifiably hers. She wrote this when young and her lack of polish as an author shows through, but the plot is predictably Austen. The themes---moral good vs evil, persons of substance vs the vapid--are also Austen through and through, as are the characters who feature in this tale of a country family torn by adultery and dishonor. If you've read another Austen and love her, then I recommend this, but don't make this one your first exposure to the joy that is a Jane Austen novel.
This is by far my least favorite Jane Austen book. First off, it's way too long. The massive paragraphs of narration are to blame for that, in my opinion. It could've easily been shortened by a hundred pages, and that would've added a star to my rating. Secondly, none of the characters are likable. Fanny is bland, Edmund is a dolt, Maria and Julia and the Crawfords have horrible morals, Mrs. Norris is abominable, etc, etc. Reading dialogue between them all was torturous. Throughout the whole story I was waiting for Fanny to come out of her shell and do something or stand up for herself, but that never happens, which is a let down.
This edition in particular was really wonderful. From the notes in the back, the introduction, and the appendix, this is how classics should be published.
What red-blooded American woman doesn't like Jane Austin? Her use of language and development of characters is outstanding. Mansfield Park is one of her lesser acclaimed novels, but this is still an incredible novel. The audio book is read well by Maureen O'Brien. The whole experience made my morning commute something to look forward to!