Jane Austen, Amanda Claybaugh, Julia (AFT) Quinn, John Wiltshire, Gill (RTL) Tavner - Mansfield Park

Pros: at its heart, a good story with some worthy principles
Cons: like its heroine, dull and uninspired

This week on Jane Austen Mania: We continue racing through the library of this famous English authoress’s work. In this episode we explore the 180-degree turn taken with Mansfield Park, Jane’s startling fourth novel! Actually, it’s far ...

Pros: It's excellent dissection of class structure
Cons: It can get so dull and preachy...

A long road led me to Mansfield Park. I happened upon the film Valmont, starring Colin Firth. A few days later, I picked up my old copy of Bridget Jones Diary, which has a section on Colin Firth and the BBC adaptation on Pride and Prejudice in the book...

Pros: A great plot, intriguing characters, and timeless values.
Cons: A rushed ending, and a protagonist who affects some readers like a root canal.

Ask twenty booklovers which is their favorite work by Jane Austen, and eighteen will probably say "Pride and Prejudice". I love "P&P" myself; I've read it umpteen zillion times and can quote whole paragraphs by heart; but as charming as it is, it's not ...

Pros: Interesting Story
Enjoyable to read about English Society of this time
Cons: Fanny is hard to identify with
The ending is rushed

I love reading Jane Austen's books. She's a great author, and I think just the fact that she was able to write and have her books published during the 1800s says something about her. However, this is not one of my favorite Jane Austen books. ...

Pros: Everything except the hurried ending
Cons: Ending is a bit awkward

If you are an avid reader of 19th century English novels, the Mansfield Park will be right up your alley. Though Austen is writing in the tradition of her other longwinded novels, she tells a beautiful story, and the slow moments seem well spent on...

Pros: A peek into another time
Cons: Sentence structure hard going

Poor Fanny, shipped off to stay at Mansfield to be fostered for lack of better word. Fanny is the quiet one who never seems to quite fit in anywhere. Naive to a fault. She is easily duped by Henry Crawford who perceiving her as no easy catch...