Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Although I do love all of Jane Austen's books and especially Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion will forever hold a special place in my heart. First it is because the characters are not so young anymore, they have lived and they have loved, they have a past full of memories, some they cherish and some they regret. And secondly it is because it is about second chances...

Persuasion is mostly the story of a young woman. Not so young by her own time parameters but still young. It's about heartbreak, about how one decision can affect you for years and years. 

When Persuasion starts Anne Elliot meets Captain Wentworth 8 years after she has broken up her engagement with him.I loved how Austen shows Anne's feelings, first anxiety at the meeting, resignation for his indifference, heartbreak because she hasn't forgotten him and her feelings have changed tremondously and finally hope when she starts seeing in him signs of a different emotion. She can't however do much about it. The codes of conduct of the time forbid her to take action in the way we would nowadays and we have to wait and see, feeling her anxiety, if Frederick Wentworth will again declare his feelings for her.

There isn't much witty dialogue like in some other Austen novels but there are such deep emotions in Anne Elliott. I love it when books are character studies, when we really get to know a character and follow him in his thoughts and actions.

There's much more that could be said about Persuasion for me it was Anne and her feelings who made the novel.

Highly recommended!

7 comments:

  1. I love this one!! I agree about the wit being absent, but for me, this shows Austen's incredible range: She didn't rely on "wit" to sell; she used it when it fit the characters. :-)

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  2. Persuasion is and always will be my favourite of Jane Austen's novels, probably because I found this to be a much more emotional story than any of her others. I love the wit and satire of P&P, but there is just something about Persuasion's story of love lost and found again that strikes a chord with me.

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  3. I love 'Persuasion' best of all the Jane Austen books for many of the reasons already mentioned and because I enjoy the influence of the Royal Navy as a backdrop to Capn Wentworth's personality and because Anne is a beautiful person who deserves her dreams to come true after putting up with her family all these years.
    Thanks for posting!

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  4. Rachel, at http://bookssnob.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/persuasions-men/#comments, has been leading a readalong of Persuasion.

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  5. I love this book! Is my favourite Austen book because of the reasons Melissa already stated. :) Besides that, it has the most beautiful letter I have ever read. *sigh*

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  6. This is my favorite Austen and my all-time favorite book. Austen wrote it when she was older, so it's a more mature love story, and even without the wit of P&P, it's just wonderful.

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  7. Wonderful is indeed the word. :-)

    I have often wondered what would JA write after this one...

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