Mansfield Park.
I don't think I am worthy enough to write a review for a "Jane Austen" book. But my love for her pen is so much that I could not stop myself.
I read "Pride and Prejudice" when I was 15 year old as part of my English holiday homework. So it was not a choice but chance that I had to open my dictionary after 10 years of purchasing it just to understand all the diction used in this book.
My English teacher was shocked to know that I was able to read a story which was more than 250 year's old. I was pleased and proud in a way, as this was the first and the last occasion of my schooling career that some teacher appreciated me. (Well at least the way she was shocked did make me think so, WELL IF YOU THINK OTHERWISE!! its not my problem, I have very few happy memories of school and am not going to loose them by listening to people who think so.).
I feel humble to admit that if Jane Austen were alive I'd be the first one to ask for her hand. Reading through her characters has always made me feel like I belong to the early Imperial English society (Ok Let me put it straight I love English Babes). I had so loved the character of Lizzy("Elizabeth" - Pride and Prejudice") that for some section of the book made me feel like I have an inclination towards feeling and understanding a women’s emotions. Thanks to Jane for so beautifully putting it across. The cuteness of the character for not liking Mr. Darcy for he having a cold rich attitude and then eventually falling in love with him with the fall of events that prove Mr. Darcy to be wealthy in Character as well.
Story ended happily with "Elizabeth weds Darcy".
Jane had a creativity of writing quotes in her books which are historically still acclaimed by many literates like the one in "Pride and Prejudice"
"It is a fact, universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a considerable fortune must be in need of a wife."
While reading through “Mansfield Park” I did find one similar to the above, which reads so
"But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them"
(You can search for this quote in the book and you will find it there. That means I did read the book).
I bought this way back in 2007 at the Heathrow airport of London. The reason I mentioned the place of buying is that I am damn cheap and usually don’t buy books from Bookstores and prefer buying form the roadside for not more than 20% of the actual price (That proves that I am the king of cheapness).
But I was so attracted with the Author that I did not mind buying it for the cost that would fetch me at least 5 more books.
Fine thanks for your patience till this point. I don’t want to waste much time and here is the summary.
Fanny- Female Lead in full "Miss Fanny Price" daughter of Mr. Price and Mrs. Frances Price.
Lady Bertram - Wife of Mr. Thomas Bertram and sister of Mrs. Frances Price.
Thomas Bertram - Baronet (Basically a kind hearted big shot in the story), He is the richest man in the book
Tom - First Son of Mr and Mrs Bertram.
Edmund- The male lead -Second Son of Mr and Mrs Bertram.
Mary Bertram- Sister to Edmund apparently she is the daughter of Mr and Mrs Bertram.
Julia Bertram - 2nd daughter of Mr and Mrs Bertram.
Mrs Norris- She is the "Lady villain" of the story and sister of Mrs Frances Price and Lady Bertram.
Mr. Henry Crawford- The silent Villain.
Miss Mary Crawford - Mr. Henry Crawford's sister.
Mr.Rushworth - He is like a side actor not much role...The Guy whom Mary Bertram marries and then gives "hath", In other words - "vote for Congress". (I mean she runs away at the end of the story with another man.;)
There are lots of other characters that are irrelevant for this summary.
Miss Fanny Price is the eldest girl child of poor Mr Price and Mrs Frances Price out of a battalion of 8.(I really don’t understand how we Indians became the most populous country). Mr Price must have been a real strong man..:). Mr Price was a big time “Kudka”(Now that in South Indian Slang is a way to call drunkards).
Mr Price had no proper job to feed his kids enough. So Mrs Norris writes a letter to Mr and Mrs Bertram asking them to adopt Fanny to bring down the burden on Mrs Frances Price. So Fanny grows up in a posh locality called the "Mansfield Park" also the title of the book. The Bertram’s totally have 4 kids 2 boys and 2 girls. Edmund the hero is always concerned about Fanny and is nice to her. But mind you they are not in love its just affection till the near end of the book . Fanny lives like a very timid girl as she is fully aware of how nice the Bertram’s have been to her and behaves with utmost respect without ever showing any bad behavior. But Mrs Norris the evil in the story is always cursing Fanny throughout no matter what Fanny does.
So all the kids grow up. .:)
Mr Crawford and Miss Crawford come in the neighborhood of Mansfield Park to see their Aunt Mrs Grant who fixes them up and below is the order
1.Mr. Rushworth to marry Miss Mary Bertram
2.Mr Henry Crawford to marry Miss Julia Bertram
3.Tom to marry Miss Crawford
"CONFUSING" - Well you don’t have to remember that except for Mr Rushworth and Miss Mary Bertram alliance no other alliance happens. Mr Henry Crawford and Miss Julia Bertram don’t get married as he loses interest in her.
Now the actual story starts, Mr Rushworth and Mary Bertram are about to get married and everything is fixed but waste fellow Henry Crawford is putting "Line"(Flirting) with Mary Bertram. Mr. Rushworth sees this complains a little but keeps quiet. Edmund who is a very nice guy throughout hates Henry, as Henry is a "Big mouth"('All fart no shit' kind of attitude).
Fanny too hates Henry apparently for the same reasons as Edmund and Rushworth.
But Henry's "buttering" does not change much and Mr Rushworth and Mary Bertram get married and move to London.
So what happens to Henry? You are right he is DESPERATE and starts to like Fanny. In the meantime Edmund is talking lots with Miss Mary Crawford (Henry's sister) basically he also becomes "Jollu party"(Slang for big time flirt in Local language)
Henry proposes to Fanny but she straight forward asks him to "F@#$ off" (Well actually refuses the offer). Edmund who is fully in love with Miss Mary Crawford wants fanny to marry Henry and forgets all his anger towards Henry. And so does Miss Mary Crawford who writes long letters to Fanny asking her to accept her brother’s proposal. Fanny is slowly trying to think over it when one "Atom Bomb" falls in the story. That is Henry goes to London on some business and instead of handling the business runs away with Mrs Mary Rushworth( Did you understand, he runs away
with Mr Rushworths wife).
Everybody "Thups" (Scolds, Spitting in Local Language) at Henry and Mary Rushworth for being so cheap.
So our Heroine Fanny is saved from the evil coupling. Edmunds father is full tensed after all the events and since he likes Fanny's attitude asks Edmund and Fanny to get married and live happily.
Story ends.
Confusion that I faced: How can Edmund marry Fanny? Damn it. If you see the Indian relationship management Edmund is Fanny's cousin brother. Edmunds mother and Fanny’s mothers are sisters so eventually they are related as brother and sister. I did not understand the twist at the end
My Verdict: Though I have written the summary in short, I took nearly 4 months to complete the book because (I am a bad reader) the book has very descriptively described dramatic sequences for example sitting over the dining table and discussing takes more than "10 pages". I was totally amazed by Jane's ability to narrate a scene so well. I fell in love with Fanny by the time I finished half of the book, such was the description and depiction of her character, there is aura in the way Jane explains her Character "Fanny". While reading the book I thought it to be similar to "Pride and Prejudice" but the final twist of Henry eloping with Mary was shocking, I never expected Jane to show such behavior of her character "Henry". There are so many phrases, which are no more used, in the now famously used English. Jane uses many political events of the 18th and 19th Century to coin a metaphor in the story.
I Love reading her books and decided to buy the remaining books of hers that I haven’t read.
Jane Austen authored 6 books out of which two were published after her death.
Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Mansfield Park (1814)
Emma (1815)
Northanger Abbey (1817) (posthumous)
Persuasion (1817) (posthumous)
About the Author from Wikipedia.
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction set among the gentry have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved
writers in English literature. Amongst scholars and critics, Austen's realism and biting social commentary have cemented her historical importance as a writer.
Austen lived her entire life as part of a small and close-knit family located on the lower fringes of English gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through
her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to Austen's development as a professional writer. Austen's artistic apprenticeship lasted from her teenage years until she was
about thirty-five years old. During this period, she experimented with various literary forms, including the epistolary novel, which she tried and then abandoned, and wrote, and extensively revised three
major novels and began a fourth. From 1811 until 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved success as a
published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began a third, which was eventually titled Sanditon, but died before completing it.
Austen's works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the eighteenth century and are part of the transition to nineteenth-century realism. Austen's plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Like those of Samuel Johnson, one of the strongest influences on her writing, her works are concerned with moral issues.
During Austen's lifetime, because she chose to publish anonymously, her works brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews. Through the mid-nineteenth century, her novels were admired mainly by members of the literary elite. However, the publication of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869 introduced her to a far wider public as an appealing personality and kindled popular interest in her works. By the 1940s, Austen had become widely accepted in academia as a "great English writer". The second half of the twentieth century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship, which explored many aspects of her novels: artistic, ideological, and historical. In popular culture, a Janeite fan culture has developed, centered on Austen's life, her works, and the various film and television adaptations of them.
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