Audible Book Review: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Blurb:

A coming-of-age tale for the young and naïve 17-year-old Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey takes a decidedly comical look at themes of class, family, love and literature. Reveling in the sensationalist - and extremely popular - Gothic fiction of her day, the story follows Catherine out of Bath to the lofty manor of the Tilneys, where her overactive imagination gets to work constructing an absurd and melodramatic explanation for the death of Mrs Tilney, which threatens to jeopardize her newly forged friendships.

This Audible Originals production of Northanger Abbey stars Emma Thompson (Academy Award, Golden Globe, Emmy and BAFTA winner, Love Actually, Harry Potter, Sense and Sensibility), Lily Cole (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Snow White and the Huntsman, St. Trinian's), Douglas Booth (Noah, Great Expectations, The Riot Club), Jeremy Irvine (Warhorse, The Railway Man, Now Is Good), Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark, The Illusionist, Alice in Wonderland) and Ella Purnell (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Never Let Me Go, Kick-Ass 2), amongst others.

My Review:

Let me start by saying that I've tried reading this book 4 times previously and never been successful. It's just so dry on the page, though I've always loved the gothic setting of Northanger Abbey.

That being said, the audible adaptation is fantastic! I liked how this was set up with a cast of narrators so that it played out like a stage play that you couldn't see. It made the story much more enjoyable. 

Catherine is sweet, but very naive - definitely quick to believe whatever people tell her and imagine that the things she reads could truly come into being. I've always hated Isabella Thorpe and her brother, John and I thought their personalities were well portrayed in the audiobook. And then, of course, there is the flirtations Mr. Tinley and his family. 

In case you are wondering, I did finish Northanger Abbey this time. I soaked up Jane Austen's words in this wonderful adaptation. If this were the first time I'd listened to an audiobook, I'd marvel at why I hadn't given them a chance sooner. I really wish more audiobooks were made in this fashion. Sometimes having only one narrator gets boring, it was nice for each character and the narrator to have a distinct voice in this one. 

Overall, I give the story a 4, or perhaps a 3.75 - I feel that sometimes Austen got lost describing rooms and dresses and such which got tedious and boring. But the audiobook I give a solid 5 stars! Well done Audible! 

"What I'm Reading" Wednesday #7

        This week I've let myself get swept away into the world of Jane Austen Themed novels...

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Blurb:

When Jane Mansfield, a gentleman's daughter from Regency England, awakens one morning in twenty-first-century L.A -- in the body of someone named Courtney Stone -- culture shock and chaos ensue. 

Jane must quickly find her way in a world in which everyone thinks she is Courtney: a dizzying world of horseless carriages, unrestricted clothing, and unheard-of liberties for womankind. And then there are all those people talking to the air while holding a small object against their ears. 

The only thing that is familiar -- and the only thing Jane has in common with the woman in whose life she has landed -- is a love for the novels of Jane Austen. But will the wise words of her favorite novelist be enough to guide her through this bewildering new world? And what is she to make of Courtney's attentive friend Wes, who is as attractive and confusing as the man who broke her heart back home? As Courtney's romantic entanglements become her own, Jane wonders: Would she actually be better off back in Regency England -- and will she ever be able to return?

Why I Chose This Book:

I have to confess, I've read this book before. In fact, I read it before I read the first book in the duology, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. My love for Jane Austen attracted me to this book the first time I saw it on the shelf at the local library. I hadn't heard of the author before and was skeptical after trying and failing to read other books written with the Austen theme, but I really enjoyed this the first time and I was drawn to reread it after finally reading Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (more on that later). This is the hilarious story of a 19th Century woman who wakes up in the body of a modern day woman. I love how she has to learn how to use modern technology but the way she talks annoys me a bit... perhaps its just an Austen overload? Gasp! - there is so such thing as too much Austen. 

Who This book is for:

If you are a Jane Austen fan you will enjoy this book, as well as people who like classics with a twist. However, if you've never read anything by Jane Austen, hate the classics / Jane Austen's work, or that sort of thing I'd probably sit this one out. 

Here's are the other Jane Austen themed books I binged on since last week...

Austenland by Shannon Hale

Blurb:

Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man―perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, however, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

What I Thought of This Book:

I read the book after I had already seen the movie starring Keri Russel. I know, I know.. you're sitting in front of your screen reading this and screaming "How could you! You never watch the movie first and then read the book!", but I did and that's that. Yes, the book is different than the movie, the book goes more into Jane's past failed relationships and instead of Jane being anxious to go, she's left the trip to Austenland in her Great-Aunt Carolyn's will. Overall I like both the book and the movie. Jane's experience in Austenland shows us than although living in Jane Austen's time sounds like a fantasy we'd all love to dive into it's not nearly as freeing as our lives as modern women. Kind of like the other book I read this week... 

My rating for Austenland: 5 of 5 Stars

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Blurb:

After nursing a broken engagement with Jane Austen novels and Absolut, Courtney Stone wakes up to find herself not in her Los Angeles bedroom or even in her own body, but inside the bedchamber of a woman in Regency England. Who but an Austen addict like herself could concoct such a fantasy?

Not only is Courtney stuck inside another woman's life, she is forced to pretend she actually is that woman; and despite knowing nothing about her, she manages to fool even the most astute observer. For her borrowed body knows how to speak without slaying the King's English, dance without maiming her partner, and embroider as if possessed by actual domestic skill.

But not even Courtney's level of Austen mania has prepared her for the chamber pots and filthy coaching inns of nineteenth-century England, let alone the realities of being a single woman who must fend off suffocating chaperones, condom-less seducers, and marriages of convenience. Enter the enigmatic Mr. Edgeworth, a suitor who may turn out not to be a familiar species of philanderer after all.

What I Thought of This Book:

I liked this book even better than it's sequel, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict. It's good to go back and see how Courtney fared in Jane's 19th Century world. We're introduced to Jane's social climbing mother, Mrs. Mansfield, who's not far from Mrs. Bennet herself in Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Mansfield, Jane's artistic father who paints in styles far beyond his time, Jane's faithful maid Barnes, her close friend Mary, and the charming man whom Jane wanted at all costs to get away from; Charles Edgeworth. But is Mr. Edgeworth really the cheater Jane thought him to be? Courtney is in for a wild ride in this cute novel, that reminds me a lot of Pride and Prejudice in a way. The only thing I didn't like was the ending... Courtney almost seems to blend into Jane and become her completely. Does that mean that Courtney ceases to exist? That Jane is present in both the past and the present? That doesn't seem at all fair to Courtney, our favourite Absolut-drinking-Jane-Austen-addict.

My Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars