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elementarymydear 's review for:
Lady Susan, the Watsons, Sanditon
by Jane Austen
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan who has run out of Jane Austen novels must read this collection of unfinished works.
It’s true! After reading Mansfield Park last year I had completed all six Jane Austen novels and, given that she’s not likely to release a new one any time soon, I turned to the final Jane Austen book on my shelf. All three of the works featured in this book are very different, but each one gives us a little more insight into who Jane Austen was as a writer, as a person, and where her writing career may have gone next had she not died tragically young.
Find this and other reviews on my blog!
Lady Susan
The first story in the collection is the only completed one. It is unusual among Jane Austen’s work in that it is told through the form of letters, rather than prose, the form which she would become so famous for and revolutionise. It reads much more like her juvenilia than one of her published novels, and it’s clear that it’s a writing style that she wasn’t quite as comfortable with. Lady Susan herself is notable for being the oldest Jane Austen heroine in her mid-thirties, and I can’t help but wonder if, following on from Anne Elliot in Persuasion, she may have written more women past their ‘first bloom of youth’ as she got older.
The Watsons
This unfinished novel, written in the middle of Jane Austen’s career, follows a young woman who, having been raised by rich relatives, returns to her more impoverished family. I did struggle to get into this one, the main reason being that I have the exact same name as one of the main characters which was quite jarring to read! Like how Lady Susan is unusual for her age, Emma and Elizabeth Watson are unusual for their relative poverty, much more like the Prices in Mansfield Park. As a result we have a much more grounded story that in many ways is much more modern. You can’t imagine Emma Woodhouse ever answering the door still wearing her curling rags, but it’s part and parcel of everyday life in this story.
Sanditon
Sanditon again stands out from the other two in that Jane Austen probably intended for it to be eventually published. Like The Watsons, from purely a reader’s perspective it was quite difficult to get stuck into the story when you know there’s very little past the exposition, but the town Jane Austen sets up is glorious and vibrant. Sanditon is also the only Austen work to include a Black character, and stands alone with Mansfield Park in beginning to explore the impact slavery and the British empire had on society, the economy, and day-to-day life.
Reading these unfinished novels is bittersweet, and offers us a glimpse into what might have been. It’s also a reminder of the genius that is Jane Austen, the keen eye with which she observed the world, and the sharp wit with which she preserved it for us.
It’s true! After reading Mansfield Park last year I had completed all six Jane Austen novels and, given that she’s not likely to release a new one any time soon, I turned to the final Jane Austen book on my shelf. All three of the works featured in this book are very different, but each one gives us a little more insight into who Jane Austen was as a writer, as a person, and where her writing career may have gone next had she not died tragically young.
Find this and other reviews on my blog!
Lady Susan
The first story in the collection is the only completed one. It is unusual among Jane Austen’s work in that it is told through the form of letters, rather than prose, the form which she would become so famous for and revolutionise. It reads much more like her juvenilia than one of her published novels, and it’s clear that it’s a writing style that she wasn’t quite as comfortable with. Lady Susan herself is notable for being the oldest Jane Austen heroine in her mid-thirties, and I can’t help but wonder if, following on from Anne Elliot in Persuasion, she may have written more women past their ‘first bloom of youth’ as she got older.
The Watsons
This unfinished novel, written in the middle of Jane Austen’s career, follows a young woman who, having been raised by rich relatives, returns to her more impoverished family. I did struggle to get into this one, the main reason being that I have the exact same name as one of the main characters which was quite jarring to read! Like how Lady Susan is unusual for her age, Emma and Elizabeth Watson are unusual for their relative poverty, much more like the Prices in Mansfield Park. As a result we have a much more grounded story that in many ways is much more modern. You can’t imagine Emma Woodhouse ever answering the door still wearing her curling rags, but it’s part and parcel of everyday life in this story.
Sanditon
Sanditon again stands out from the other two in that Jane Austen probably intended for it to be eventually published. Like The Watsons, from purely a reader’s perspective it was quite difficult to get stuck into the story when you know there’s very little past the exposition, but the town Jane Austen sets up is glorious and vibrant. Sanditon is also the only Austen work to include a Black character, and stands alone with Mansfield Park in beginning to explore the impact slavery and the British empire had on society, the economy, and day-to-day life.
Reading these unfinished novels is bittersweet, and offers us a glimpse into what might have been. It’s also a reminder of the genius that is Jane Austen, the keen eye with which she observed the world, and the sharp wit with which she preserved it for us.