Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Genre: Classic
People who should read this: People who love Jane Austen and the classics. Period pieces with a bit of romance, gothic influences, and a tiny bit of suspense.
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
Is the Jane Austen challenge over yet?
How many more books do we have left?
Don’t get me wrong. I love Jane Austen, but man, I really want to read something different for a change. Probably why I’m dragging my feet starting the next one, Emma, which is my second to least favorite. Maybe I should skip that one and just read Persuasions, the only book of hers I haven’t read.
Northanger Abbey is a nice jaunt from her other books. Though written so many years ago, there’s a pop culture edge to it with references to different books of the time and the city of Bath. Austen pulls the references out of her hat, seamlessly fitting them into the story, and I loved it. Reading something directly from the period was insightful. It was a glimpse into the real lives of the people, or as much of a real life a fictional character can provide.
What made the book so different from her other ones, were the suspenseful moments she threw in. Locked up wives - maybe where Bronte got her inspiration - and old cabinets full of mysterious papers. It felt like this book was penned by another person’s hand. I mean, the characters even had wants. None of those Mansfield Park problems again. Still, I was not drawn to it like Pride and Prejudice.
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
I’ve noticed a trend since connecting with other Austen fans on Instagram. The first Austen book a person reads tends to be the one they like the most. It’s true for me too. Pride and Prejudice was my first and is still my favorite. And the second book I read, Sense and Sensibility, is my second favorite. I feel like some scientist should research this fact.
Austen narrates the story as if she’s penning the actions of a heroine. She begins by setting up our main character, Catherine, and how one must go out to find herself a hero. It was a nice cheeky twist that set this book apart from her other stories, but she lost that aspect halfway through the story. Not until the end did the narrator come back with silly comments. I had almost forgotten the book had even started that way and, I think if she’d stuck with the nuance, Northanger Abbey would have been a very unique story. But like all her stories, it fell back into the main character trying to find a husband. Maybe that was all there was to life back then? At least Austen gets there in different ways each time. Unless you count the man always having to make some grand gesture to win his heroine's heart. Or all the clergymen.
So yes, Catherine finds a man to steal her heart. Does he pull it off? I guess you’ll just have to read the book to find out.
“If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.”
Northanger Abbey is split into two parts. The first part is set in Bath, where Catherine meets Henry and Isabella, which ultimately sets up for the second part. Or so that’s what I think it was supposed to do. Besides showing a small glimpse of their fast friendship, the first half lays the groundwork that gets Catherine from Bath to Northanger Abbey and gives the reasoning for the weird actions that play out in the last eighth of the story. It isn’t until the second half that we get the gothic spookiness - my favorite part - and if you separated the two parts they read as two separate stories. Each one had its own style and theme. Take out the main characters, a small sliver of the drama, and the two parts don’t line up. It took some thinking to figure out the connections between the two.
“Where the heart is really attached, I know very well how little one can be pleased with the attention of any body else.”
You can’t love them all I guess. Still, I wouldn’t say this wasn’t an enjoyable read. My current rankings would put Northanger Abbey smack in the middle of all Austen’s work. It was a quick and easy read without the drawn out monologues Austen puts in her other books. The language was also more clear, more modern.
Happy Reading
Love Kait
Reading Challenge: 43/100