Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⬜
Title: Emma
Author: Jane Austen
Genre: Classic / Romance / Fiction
Author Info: She / Her
Setting: Highbury, England
Month Read: April 2021
Book Type: Hardcover
Publication: 1815
Pages: 474
*April Books and Brews Classics Book Club Pick
"If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more"
No Spoiler Summary:
Emma is Jane Austen at her finest- a tale about a pampered, rich girl trying (and failing as much as she succeeds) to set up her 'friends' and acquaintances with appropriate matches. Emma is shortsighted, and deflects her own loneliness with that of her matchmaking.
As with most romantic Victorian fiction, not a ton happens- but you are transported for almost 500 pages to the gorgeous countryside of Highbury, England- through several different seasons. A lot of walking, a lot of little parties and dances, and a lot of tea awaits you in the pages of this novel.
Review:
Clueless (like 10 Things I Hate About You) is a near perfect adaptation, and a film I've loved since I was a child. Most of the characters are near-duplicates of those we see in the book, and made me love substituting their faces in while I read. Seeing Cher and Josh is exactly the dynamic of Emma and Mr. Knightley, and poor, poor Harriet suffers just as much in both.
I typically struggle to read classics, it's admittedly not really my thing- but there is something so readable about Jane Austen. I'm not sure if her characters can so easily be transported from Victorian England to the 21st Century- because I *know* people who could easily be Emma, Harriet, Miss Bates, Mr. Knightley, etc... or if the stories are just that good. Maybe both can apply?
Recommendation:
For Classic Romances:
*Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
*Wuthering Heights by Elizabeth Brontë
*A Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare
For Contemporary Romances:
*People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
*The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
*The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes by Xio Axelrod
For movie adaptations as good as the books:
*A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
*The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (10 Things I Hate About You)
*Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
*The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
*Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
*The Great Gatsby by F. Scot Fitzgerald
"I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other."
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