astrangerhere's Reviews (1.31k)

It has been at least 10 years since I'd visisted this text, and my opinions have not changed. Not my favorite Austen, because Fanny is not my favorite heroine. The tertiary characters are more interesting to me than Fanny and Edmund. Nonetheless, Austen is still Austen and I will usually love her.

"Simulations are almost always better than real life, and real life gets blamed for the poor showing"

I've read most of Hawthorne's other stories and this was a disappointment. It was the dumbing down of a few myths and generally a bleak and borng book of not-so-very fairy tales for kids. The language was clearly stilted, perhaps because Hawthorne was trying to reign in his verbosity for a younger audience.