Mansfield Park - Jane Austen

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Adopted into the household of her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, Fanny Price grows up a meek outsider among her cousins in the unaccustomed elegance of Mansfield Park. Soon after Sir Thomas absents himself on estate business in Antigua (the family's investment in slavery and sugar is considered in the Introduction in a new, post-colonial light), Mary Crawford and her brother Henry arrive at Mansfield, bringing with them London glamour, and the seductive taste for flirtation and theatre that precipitates a crisis.

As with all Austen books, you will probably find it hard to not compare it to Pride and Prejudice, this was a let down for me as I was expecting so much. It was a struggle to connect with the characters, and this only happened when I was about halfway through the book. Unlike Pride and Prejudice, the love interest felt forced to me. 

While most of the characters only pursue wealth and status, up to a point where it was quite comical, Fanny Price was a breath of fresh air, she was a little indifferent regarding this, and this actually captured the difference between her and the other characters. 

There were parts where it did drag a little, but it could have been that my heart was just not into the book at the time. I will, of course, re-visit this book in years to come and who knows, by that time it will ring a different tune to me. 

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

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I have listened or watched every adaption of this book but every time I started the book since I was in school, I just thought the language was too difficult and never persevered to finally read it. This time though it was different. I flew through it, the book pulled me in immediately and now I understand why this is one of the most loved classics. Jane Austen had a way to bewitch you with words, they draw you into this story and I couldn’t put it down.

The characters were more detailed and I could understand them better, I fell in love with Mr Darcy, I grew frustrated with Lydia, Mrs Bennet irritated me (in a good way) and all the other characters just crept deeper into my heart. The way they all played their part in this story made you either like or dislike them more and to me, this will be one of my favourite character driven books.

I truly wish I read this book earlier, but then I also believe that if a book doesn’t hook you it is not your time to read you. If I pushed through with all my earlier attempts this wouldn’t have had such an impact on me.

If you struggle reading this one, I would also recommend you spend the money and get the audiobook narrated by Rosamund Pike, she does different voices for each character and it really helped me get into this book. I combined the audiobook with my physical copy and in the end only read the book once I got accustomed to the language.