Review - Northanger Abbey

[wilderthan]

I really couldn't stand Pride and Prejudice, when I read it, a fact I've made no great pains to disguise. But I was determined to get all the way through a Jane Austen book without chucking it across the room at any point, and Northanger Abbey made this easy on me. The tone of the novel is quite fun, and it was quite easy for me to see the cleverness and wit of the author I'd heard so much about and hadn't liked or noticed very much in Pride and Prejudice. Any complaints I might have about the character -- her ignorance, her silliness -- are sort of necessary for the plot to proceed as it does. I think if the novel had been much longer, I'd have got a bit sick of the tone, but it was just the right length, I think.