Synopsis:
Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen's most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organizes the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect.
My Review:
5/5 stars. This is the second Jane Austen book I’ve read, and I think I liked it more than Pride and Prejudice. P&P was great, but this one had everything P&P had and more. The characters had more depth, it was funnier, and the love interest/romance was better (yes, that may be a hot take)
I listened to this book as an audiobook, the Audible production of it that had Emma Thompson narrating, voice actors, and background sounds. It was interesting. It was almost like a podcast story rather than an audiobook. I liked the background sounds that made it feel more immersive, but at times it was distracting.
The biggest thing about listening to the version I did was that it was somewhat abridged. I didn't know that at first until I looked up a PDF version to follow along and saw that it was cutting out some stuff. I don't know how much was cut out, but I couldn't help but feel that I was missing out on details with the parts they cut out. There were a few small, confusing plot details that might've been explained. At the same time, the length was one of my complaints about P&P, so I don't know whether or not I would've enjoyed Emma as much had I listened to a full version.
The characters in this book are its strongest element. Harriet was one of my favorites early on, but there were lots of standout characters. I'll start with Emma herself. Emma was so stubborn, somewhat selfish, and a little insensitive at times, but I loved her anyway. She was so funny and ultimately had good intentions, and I was rooting for her despite her flaws. I love imperfect characters with depth, and Emma definitely fits that description
Going back to Harriet, I liked how sweet and honest she was. I felt bad for how naïve she was early on, looking up to Emma with everything when she really shouldn't have. I loved her for completely different reasons than I loved Emma.
Another character I liked was Frank Churchill. He seemed like a nice, playful guy. I've seen people say they don't like him, but I don't understand why. I don't get what was so bad about him being secretly engaged to Jane Fairfax.
Now I'll talk about a character I really didn't like. I don't know if Mr. Elton was supposed to be so annoying, but the Audible voice actor gave him a very annoying voice. At first, I thought Mr. Elton was supposed to be likeable, but the scene with him and Emma in the carriage made it clear he was written as more of an antagonist. Speaking of, I don't think I've ever gotten more second-hand embarrassment from a book than I did during the carriage scene. Maybe part of it was because I was listening to instead of just reading it, but it was very cringeworthy.
This book is considered a comedy, and it definitely lived up to that. I found myself laughing out loud so much. A lot of the characters had so much wit. I also loved some of the running jokes like Mr. Woodhouse being obsessed with making sure no one got a cold and Miss Bates being super talkative.
Finally, Emma and Mr. Knightley's relationship, while somewhat rushed, was super cute. I like him as a love interest more than Mr. Darcy. He knew Emma deeply. He was her friend and a close confidant first and then a romantic counterpart. He knew her flaws. I also thought it was realistic that Emma only realized her feelings for him out of jealousy. The whole scene with Mr. Knightley's confession was very cute and romantic.
Content Warning:
Jane Austen's books are about the cleanest romance books you could ever read. The romantic development is purely emotional, with nothing physical ever happening beyond hand-holding. Nothing is even really alluded to. There's also no language or violence.
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