Persuasion - Jane Austen

Persuasion is Jane Austen's last completed novel and was published after her death in 1818. Persuasion follows the story of Anne Elliot, who was persuaded out of an engagement to a poor but ambitious naval officer by her family and close friend who feared the inferiour connections. However, a recent war has enabled him [captain wentworth] to amass a considerable fortune and he has become incredibly successful. This story is about his return into her life, where he seems not to have forgiven her, yet she is still in love with him.

This is the first Jane Austen novel that i have finished (i have been halfway through pride and predudice for sometime), I really enjoyed it, although found it a little slow going with the ye olde language bits and to begin with had to keep going back and reading over bits, but thats probably because im young and unused to it. I thought that the characters were all nice to read about - JA has a way of getting you to enjoy reading about the rediculous and status-obsessed characters in her books (such as anne's sister mary), rather than getting annoyed with them. I also found it interesting reading and learning about the way these people lived in their times and the way they treated each other. It can be a bit of an eye-opener for someone brought up in modern society with virtually equal womens rights and not much of this 'decurum'.

The family relations in the novel are also quite interesting - Anne is i think the second of three daughters, with her 'foolish, spendthrift, baronet' father overlooking her and focusing his attentions upon his eldest daughter Elizabeth because she looked more like him and was still beautiful, unlike anne who had passed her 'bloom' and closer resembled her mother. He saw Anne as a nobody and his other daughter Mary didnt hold much value to him, having been married off to charles musgrove, who was their version of 'alright'. The family finds themself in financial straits and so lease out the house to admiral croft, who also happens to be the husband of the sister of captain wentworth (the guy anne had had an 'understanding' with). This throws their lives together once more.

All in all an enjoyable read, which i cant really find any faults with. I think quite a lot of people enjoy reading persuasion, despite it not being as popular as pride and predudice and sense and sensibility. For anyone who likes Jane Austen but who hasnt read it yet then i'd say give it a go, and for anyone who has seen the film but not read the book; although quite similar its not entirely faithful to the text. Persuasion didnt particularly grab me, as was able to read other books at the same time, but I wouldnt be suprised to see myself re-reading this in a few years, once i've got a few others under my belt.