Book Review: Emma by Jane Austen

Reading a classic feels like using a time machine. For once, you wake up in a time that is far different from the present. You are suddenly brought to a place with carriages, letters, and ball rooms. Somehow, it makes you experience living in a village with a number of people you should all get to know as you get through the book. It’s fun, I must say. (*insert English accent)

But it’s a difficult read– I should be honest with that– especially in the beginning. But then you get used to it– to the characters’ manner of speaking, to their way of life, their behavior, and even their predicaments. And I can say what concerns them, especially in the matters of the heart, is not totally different from the present. We are as troubled as them! They’d go around the bush before they admit their feelings. And that sucks because I read half of the book, before they admit the truth! 🤦 Maybe that’s really how slow things were before… which required a lot of patience especially that they only communicated through letters or personal encounters. (Or maybe that’s what really novels do, to stay chaotic until the last part)

Emma Woodhouse is a character I find admirable but a bit of annoying. I like how she is written– she’s young, clever, sassy, and independent. But she is sometimes confined to her own opinion and judgment. She was written with flaws. But those epic fails she committed made the novel comical. She was also consistent with her principles. I like how she didn’t accept anything lesser than what she deserves. However, I didn’t see the revelation of love coming. Or maybe I’m just as naive as Emma. We’re both surprised. Looking back, all the clues were there! 🤦

The love advices in this novel are on point even if it was written in the 1800s.

Quote:

“Men of sense, whatever you may choose to say, do not want silly wives.”

PS. I guess I’ll be posting another blog for all the quotes related to love and relationships in general. 🙆

(Book 3 of 2020)