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Home > Books > Fiction > Classics > N Classics > Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

User Reviews

for Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

Rating Summary based on 8 reviews

  • 5 Stars
    		4
  • 4 Stars
    		4
  • 3 Stars
    		0
  • 2 Stars
    		0
  • 1 Star
    		0

Detailed rating

  • Characters
  • How does it compare to other works by the same author?
  • How does it compare to similar books?
  • Readability
  • Story
  		• 4.5
  		• 4.4
  		• 4.5
  		• 4.4
  		• 4.3
Previous page Next page Page 1 of 1 | 1 to 8 out of 8 Review(s)
  • 55 of 55 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Discerna

    Discerna

    4 Stars A Fine Romance in its time? 23/03/2004
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages A light entertaining read with gentle humour

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Preoccupations peculiar to the period in which it was written

    I have very vivid memories of being introduced to the major novels of Jane Austen at school: being compelled to read them painfully slowly, being required to look up any unfamiliar vocabulary in a dictionary, and being expected to discuss the characters and their actions in depth. I struggled my way through “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma” in this way with very little understanding let alone enjoyment and a tremendous feeling of inadequacy when asked any questions about my reading. If anyone had hinted to me then that at a later time in life I might choose to read a Jane Austen novel for ... more
  • 46 of 46 Ciao users found the following review helpful
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    Level 8 Absinthe_Fairy

    Member since 03/01/2011

    Reviews written: 1019

    5 Stars A thorough knowledge of human nature 14/12/2011
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Very funny and readable Austen novel

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Not quite as accomplished as her later work

    A couple of Christmases ago I received a box set of hardback Jane Austen novels, and have been in the process of reading and reviewing them. Northanger Abbey has an interesting history. It was the first of Jane Austen's longer novels to be completed, towards the end of the eighteenth century, and it was in fact sold to a London bookseller in 1803 with a view to publication. However it was not published until 1818, alongside Jane Austen's final novel Persuasion, after the author's death and long after the Gothic tales parodied by the novel had gone out of fashion. The book tells the story of ... more
  • 25 of 25 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of oldchem

    oldchem

    5 Stars No Mr Darcy here !! 05/07/2009
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages A charming and humerous book with some entertaining characters.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Second half of the bok is not as good as the first

    NORTHANGER ABBEY JANE AUSTEN Think of Jane Austin and thoughts like 'women's book' and 'A level book' spring to mind. Recent period dramas on TV and films have made the stories of Jane Austin a lot more popular - but for me Northanger Abbey has always been my favourite. The book was written when Jane Austen was in her late teens or early 20s, It was finished in 1803 but wasn't published for another 13 years - by which time the author was dead. I first read Northanger Abbey when I was at school after I had studied Pride and Prejudice - Pride and Prejudice was read and studied as part of my ... more
  • 11 of 11 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of crapitoche

    crapitoche

    4 Stars a bitter satire 24/09/2001
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages lots

    Disadvantages Disadvantages too ironic ?

    Jane Austen is a real pain for foreign students, because there are many problems. First, there is the language, though it is relatively easy to understand. Then, there are so many levels of understanding that we can get lost. In the novel, Catherine Morland is a young woman, in her 20's, she is beautiful, clever, generous, and so on, but also naive. She lives in the country, and is sent to Bath, where she meets a lot of people. First, she meets Isabella, who is a bombastic, and silly young lady. They are great friends, because Catherine feels admiration for such a shallow shining friend ... more
  • 8 of 11 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of zimgirl17

    Level 1 zimgirl17

    Member since 10/06/2007

    Reviews written: 1

    5 Stars Austen's Best 11/07/2012
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Readable, timeless, humorous.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages May be lost on some people.

    Although Pride and Prejudice is perhaps Austen's most popular novel, widely loved for its romance and gentle mocking tone, Northanger Abbey, for me, outshines it. Where Pride and Prejudice parodies the nature of matchmaking in high society at the time, Northanger Abbey lampoons it, in the most tongue in cheek way possible. The characters are more ridiculous, more caricatured than in Pride and Prejudice, although still believable, and as always with Austen, beautifully constructed on the page. Northanger Abbey also parodies the Romantic Gothic writing that was popular at the time, directly ... more
  • 21 of 33 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of MAFARRIMOND

    Level 9 MAFARRIMOND

    Member since 07/12/2002

    Reviews written: 272

    4 Stars Ironic critique of the gothic novel 17/04/2004
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Detailed portrayal of Bath in 19th Century.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Poor storyline. Unlikable characters.

    Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest novels although it was not published until after her death. Dominated by the contemporary interest in gothic and romantic books and their readers, Austen makes an ironic dig at the overly romantic and unrealistic styles of writing. Written with tongue in cheek, Austen incorporates into her novel the gothic characteristics of large ruined buildings, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers but with ta satiral twist at its conclusion. The central character, Catherine Moorland is compared to the heroines of romantic ... more
  • 3 of 8 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of penguin_too

    penguin_too

    5 Stars Class 14/08/2000
    User recommends the product
    Northanger Abbey is the novel which set me on my love affair with Jane Austen. So much so that I devoured all of her novels and wanted more. It is a novel which I could read again and again as it is a such a tame story by today's standards and Jane Austen was having quite a dig at social structures and literature to boot. It is only when I dug deeper into the context of the story, I realised how much fun Jane Austen must have been having poking fun at the author's of the gothic novel! I would definitely recommend it as it has a compelling story and close attention will be rewarded as she write ... more
  • 2 of 15 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of mgriffit22

    mgriffit22

    4 Stars Refreshingly personal period piece 10/11/2005
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Enjoyable use of language, and interesting changes in central character

    Disadvantages Disadvantages May be less appealing to people wanting faster pace

    Driving fom Norfolk to the Midlands on a dull Sunday afternoon, with the car radio fixed on BBC Radio 4 and unable to switch over in case it woke my (sleeping) partner in the passenger seat, I was mesmerised by the first instalment of their production of this book. So much so that I had to rush out and buy a copy, reading it avidly and recalling the embarrassment of my own callow youth - mistakes made, divided loyalties, unconscious growth of personality through behaving as a loved one would wish. The intricacies of growing up are truly timeless, as is the author's perception of character, and ... more
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