Emma
Book - 1999
Publisher:
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c1999
ISBN:
9780192100306
0192100300
0192100300
Branch Call Number:
Fiction AUSTEN,J
Characteristics:
x, 449 p. ; 17 cm


Opinion
From the critics

Community Activity
Quotes
Add a Quoteg
Geraldine9
Aug 26, 2016
'I never have been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall.'
Mr. Knightley, in fact, was one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse and the only one who ever told her of them. . . .
1
123_its_me
Jul 29, 2012
" I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether to accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him." - Emma to Harriet

Comment
Add a CommentA must read for Austen fans. Emma, our heroine, starts the book as a shallow, pampered prima donna. Through misadventures of her own making, she matures into a lovely young woman. Mr Darcy of Pride & Prejudice gets most of the press as the quintessential Austen hero. I prefer Mr. Knightly in Emma. A much more interesting, flawed and relatable character who may realize too late that Emma is his happy ending.
The 2020 Emma movie with Bill Nighy as Emma,s father is delightful.
Thoroughly delightful. A real pleasure to read. I love Austen's wit and her command of language is worthy of marvel.
Jane Austin helps you feel like you are there, experiencing what Emma is feeling, by the way she writes Ms. Bates' or Mrs. Elton's endless chatter. I myself was exasperated and confused trying to follow some of it. But by the end, when mystery is revealed, everything fell into place and I fully knew why Jane Austin took hours upon hours to explain everything in depth. If you have the time, I highly recommend "Emma."
Not one of my favorites by Austen. It is too predictable . . . and slow to get to the resolution. But I am glad I read it.
Like other Jane Austen novels, this one describes the life of a very narrow class of early 19th century English society: the country gentry. These were landowners whose income depended on rent paid by farmers. They were not members of the titled nobility, but their status as wealthy rentiers dispensed them from doing any work which was performed by servants. They spent their days visiting and gossiping with each other. Within this narrow social class, status was of paramount importance and it is a central theme of the book that the members of this class were constantly comparing themselves with others to decide on who was above and who below. For example at the beginning of the book, Emma counsels her friend Harriet not to marry Robert Martin because she feel Martin is below her and instead to set her sights on Mr. Elton who has higher standing. Mr. Elton, for his part considers Harriet unworthy of him but would find Emma a suitable advancement, while Emma, feeling that Mr. Elson is below her, dismisses him scorfully. I think the word "snob" was coined to describe such people.
Anyway, it's a classic romance novel, pleasurable to read if you like this sort of story and don't mind that the main characters are all snobs. The audiobook version, read by Nadia May, is well done.
Emma, is my 3rd Jane Austin book that I've read. I really enjoyed this story. The author has a wonderful knack for expanding the characters in such a way that the reader feels as though they know them personally.
Emma's growth in the story is exponential from the beginning to the end.
It also made watching the movie so much more enjoyable to read the book first.
One of my favorite Jane Austen novels (who am I kidding? They are all my favorite!), Emma focuses on a young matchmaker whose efforts seem to spiral out of control. What follows is a delightful – and insightful – exploration of romance, friendship, and the responsibilities we have for one another as decent human beings. Emma's fall from grace awakes something in each of us that has us reconsider our own presumptions and actions toward others. As good a social commentary as the rest of Austen's titles, Emma is also a comedic romance that will give you every kind of fuzzy baby bunny and butterflies kinda feeling there is. (And, if you are looking for a film adaptation, the 1996 version is excellent and closely holds to the novel - although I haven't watched the other adaptations to compare... yet.)
This Jane Austen novel is light-hearted and often very perceptive and witty. However, Emma's romance feels unconvincing, flat, and rushed which is strange for such a slow moving story. It was delightful to hear it read by a narrator with a strong British accent.
Among all Jane Austen's splendid works, Emma is the one which gives me the most pleasure simply as a read. Sure, there's plenty of humor here, as the overconfident Emma is constantly misjudging situations, and the understated Mr. Knightley patiently counsels her. But over it all is a glorious text.
a heroine whom no one but the authoress could like........of course that is not true. This is a well loved book.