Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - Review

Book Synopsis:

A wonderfully entertaining coming-of-age story, Northanger Abbey is often referred to as Jane Austen's "Gothic parody." Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers give the story an uncanny air, but one with a decidedly satirical twist.

The story's unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry's mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art.

My Review:

4.5/5 stars. This was, as always with Austen's novels, hilarious and charming. I loved Catherine, Henry Tilney has my whole heart, and the antagonists were appropriately dislikable. I loved how much commentary there was about books themselves, making it feel the most meta of Austen's novels I've read so far. It took them a while to actually get to Northanger Abbey, and even then, it only lasted a few chapters. In the second half, I started to get a tiny bit bored throughout. Those couple of things prevent it from being a full five stars.

Right from the start, even before she had spoken a single word, I loved Catherine Morland. She was such a "normal" protagonist who wasn't exceptionally talented at one skill or the most beautiful girl ever. She also came from a completely normal family with no drama. Her character was great, too. Sometimes, she had a super logical thought-process, but other times she was very naive and let her imagination run too wild. It was entertaining, to say the least.

Henry Tilney now takes the cake, surpassing Mr. Knightley, for favorite Jane Austen man. I love him so much. He was a little annoying, but in an endearing way. He loves reading fiction, he's playful and has a great sense of humor, and he's kind. There's also the smallest age gap between him and Catherine compared to other Austen couples, so that's a plus.

Speaking of books, this one was all about them. The characters bonded over their favorite books, and Jane Austen spoke directly to the reader a few times, sharing her opinions on novels and literature. This is the most she's done that out of all her books I've read. A couple times, these talking-to-the-reader tangents went on a bit too long and took me out of the story, though.

Back to the characters for a moment, I'll talk about one I didn't like. John Thorpe. He was a walking red flag from the moment he said he didn't like reading novels. He was still funny, though, and provided some great comedic scenes.

Finally, I found myself getting a tiny bit bored at times. There wasn't as much action happening in the plot. The title, Northanger Abbey, only describes a few chapters, and the rest of the book doesn't have anything to do with it. If there was just a little bit more happening, this would be a perfect novel.

Content:

Language: D*mn

Sexual Content: None

Violence/Gore: None

Drugs/Alcohol: None