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What are readers saying about Northanger Abbey?
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Tong posted a review at 2009-09-18 02:35:07.
(Language: English)
 
You may find Northanger Abbey very interesting if you are into satirical storylines. Catherine Morland is a 17 years old heroine who also loves Gothic novels, that is the reasons why she brought along lots of funny and fantastical horror at Northanger Abbey. It is Austin's first novel - not the kind of romantic "Pride and Prejudice" but full of lively effusions and humours. However, the book about Allen's family accompanying Catherine to Bath for season of balls and social delights to meet wealthy young man, or the General Tilney's refusal of his son's proposal to poor Catherine can resembles' Austin's series.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-19 08:25:52.
(Language: English)
...the last of Jane Austen books I hadn't read, mostly because I was unfortunately prejudiced against it by the horrible movie I saw of it. But finally tackling the book, I fell in love with endearing, flighty, honest Catherine Moreland. The teases from her love interest had me laughing heartily throughout. I have long been the naive, gullible dreamer that she was: I only hope I also gain her humility, willingness to change, and acceptance of her quirks. I so admired that in her.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-07-28 07:53:51.
(Language: English)
A delightful Jane Austen read. She is wry and witty, sarcastic and sweet. The story line follows an "anti heroine" Catherine Morland as she travels from her childhood home to Bath and meets with people who are both genuine and fake. Learning to tell the difference and dealing with the consequences show the growth of our main character...who I loved for her charming simplicity.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-11 09:07:07.
(Language: English)
I thought this was a very good book but ended too abruptly. Austen should have elaborated more at the end. I still recommend it though. :o)
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-02 01:24:56.
(Language: English)
This is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, Jane Austen novels. It's the most comedic of any of them , focusing on the story of the young Miss Morland as she is mistaken for a woman of wealth and wooed by men in Bath. The comedy stems mostly from Morland's overactive imagination. She is a reader of "gothic novels" and is always scaring herself with speculation. The story was delightful to read and a sillier heroine has never set foot in an Austen novel. We still have the romance present in Austen's other novels but here it is tempered with a playfulness we haven't seen before. In tone, it is like none of her other novels and can be best likened to Persuasion. This is an incredibly short, incredibly rewarding read and I would recommend it to anyone who is a Jane Austen fan and anyone who hasn't read her work before but would like to try it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-06 06:33:20.
(Language: English)
Absolutely brilliant - Mr Tillney is such a flirt!
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-09-18 03:44:49.
(Language: English)
There are a few major themes in this story, but only a few were really what made me enjoy the story. The intricacies and tedium of high society, the conflicts of marriage for love and marriage for property, the dangers of believing life is the same as fiction, which leads to the maturation of the young into skeptical adulthood, the loss of imagination, innocence and good faith. And of course what ties it all together, the them theme that things are not what they seem at first.Though it has all of these major themes, there is still a underlying theme of romance and falling in love and ultimately for me that makes a great story! :-)
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Mike posted a review at 2009-09-02 02:08:25.
(Language: English)
The one she wrote first got published last. Northager Abbey is many people's favorite Austen since it's the great turning point away from Gothic. The heroine is frightened when visiting her boyfriend's family's home. He ridicules her terror about a, well, Murder Room, and as it turns out, the heroine is right: the boyfriend's father has rejected her as in his own mind too financially poor.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-29 06:38:18.
(Language: English)
queen of dramaturgy indeed...Jane Austen's characters are nicely refined in choices
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-07-06 02:37:53.
(Language: English)
The shortest and one of the most fun of Jane Austen's 6 novels. Besides Austen, a woman named Mrs. Radcliffe was also a famous writer during the late 18th century. The herione in this book becomes a little obsessed with Radcliffe's writings, which are gothic romantic novels, and this book is kind of a parody on that genre. If you're looking for something more similar to Pride and Prejudice, I would recommend either Sense and Sensibility or Persuasion. But Northanger Abbey is still a very enjoyable read that I highly recommend.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-07-09 04:09:38.
(Language: English)
I found Northanger Abbey as the lightest read of all Austen’s novel. I found it interesting but I was not thoroughly amused. I wasn’t engaged and absorbed emotionally as I usually do while reading other Austen novels. Not that it’s not good though, but it just wasn’t as amazing as the others I’ve read. I don’t find it as quite the usual reason of why I love Austen. I was entertained but wasn’t very much moved or deeply touched. I was interested about the gothic aspect that this story tries to deliver. However, that did not happen until the second part (or likely to say, almost reaching the end) of the book. The part where the story takes place in Bath is quite interesting but you can find similar matters in other Austen works. Money, class, marriage, manipulative friends is nothing new. And what’s with the rushed ending??? However, to see that this was one of Austen’s earlier works that she didn’t get the time to revised, I should say that this was a great achievement for a young writer back in those days. Back when gothic romances were very popular, Austen managed to combine some of those elements with her own realistic-yet satirical style. For this, I should give her credit. The characters are interesting but I feel that they weren’t greatly developed. The main heroine—Catherine is an interesting character though. She is a kind but naïve teenage girl who has a great passion in reading gothic romances. It’s funny to see how this character can be overly imaginative: picturing her world around based on her imagination she gets from novels she reads. At some point, this can be entertaining but at some other point, it can be a crucial-serious matter when she couldn’t draw a fine line between what is real and what is not anymore. Interesting idea there!I recently learned from a friend that the author of 'Atonement' is very much inspired by this story/idea. Very interesting fact! Although I don’t consider this as the best from Austen, still I should have to say that I was quite entertained by her humorous-witty style in language. A fun-light read from Austen.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-06 09:32:28.
(Language: English)
Catherine Morland, a spirited young beauty from the country, enters into the debauched society of Bath with dreams and fantasies sparked by her love of gothic romance novels. There she meets two men vying for her affection - the dashing and jealous John Thrope and gentle and sincere Henry Tilney. Despite the advice of her mischievous new friend Isabella, Catherine treats neither as more than a dear friend.That is until Catherine accepts an invitation to Northanger Abbey from Henry's grave father, General Tilney. Her passion for the dark and mysterious feeds her imagination and diabolical villains work their evil...
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-05-26 03:27:15.
(Language: English)
This novel is not one of the author’s best-written pieces of literature, but the subjects and themes that it illuminates are worthy of perennial examination in classrooms and homes. Thus, it is important that it remain in the canon for as long as the sun’s rays shine on the planet. Gothic is obviously a modish topic in Eighteenth-century studies, and Northanger Abbey clearly has something to say about the Gothic. Its references to Anne Radcliffe and its assertions about novels give twenty-first century readers a glimpse of the world in which the novel in question takes place. A good novel not only entertains, but it also ought to serve as a window to the past and into the hearts of fellow humans living in that period. Northanger Abbey does this successfully by taking readers into the heart of a young girl whose heart and dreams were as lost in the world of fiction as the hearts of readers themselves; it is almost a dream within a dream.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-01 09:29:09.
(Language: English)
It started off great in Bath, but I lost interest a little when Catherine went to Northanger Abbey, and the book started getting into the gothic parody stuff. I know that's what it's famous for, but I wanted more of what Austen is famous for: pure, unadulterated Victorian romance. It picked up again once she got over the furniture in her room, but I found the end disappointing too, the way Austen quickly summarized everything to wrap it all up. I much prefer the other Austen I've read, but I certainly didn't feel like this was a waste of time by any means.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-04 01:47:18.
(Language: English)
This is by far the best book Jane Austen wrote. The first book she ever wrote, it's full of the spunk that so many of Austen's young characters have. This is where Austen really gets to show her wit and it is unburdened by the romantic slush that some of her other books have. She manages to work a truely interesting storyline into a brilliant satire on the gothic genre peppered with her own commentaries about the style of writting. The one failing is probably that it was the last of her books to be published, after gothic novels were out of style and so Northanger is not as well known as her other books. I definately recommed reading this
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-08 08:25:11.
(Language: English)
The story's heroine, seventeen year old Catherine Morland, is invited by her neighbours in Fullerton, the Allens, to accompany them to visit Bath for a number of weeks. While, initially, the excitement of experiencing such a place was dampened by her lack of other acquaintances, she is soon introduced to an intriguing young gentleman named Henry Tilney, I like this book because the main character is young and naive and so excited to have adventures. I like the romance in it. I love how the love interest chooses to be with her even though she is poor.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-23 12:30:53.
(Language: English)
Interesting. With this book from Barnes and Noble, they added footnotes. Footnotes!! With classics, I'm used to analyzing the sentences myself and figuring out the meaning or what objects the author is talking about. With the footnotes, I felt I was cheating because I would just glance down and return to reading-- making it go faster. Most of the footnotes are cheesy-- if you read a lot of classical books, you would just roll your eyes and say "well, I already knew what that is!! I'm not stupid" I just think the footnotes is good for people who are new to classical books and does not have much knowledge about their periods. Anyway! This book starts in a scene in Bath. Of course, everybody knows what Bath is, and it basically narrates the lifestyle and the scene of "matching."One thing I regret from reading this book-- too many strong foreshadowing! Miss Austen had used too much that there is only few surprises. I like a book with a lot of surprises!
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-28 05:37:21.
(Language: English)
A gorgeous tale about the education of a young lady left to 'shift for herself' in the social circles of the day. Luckily Catherine Morland is one of Austen's most likeable heroines - she may be a bit immature, and not particularly bright, but she has such a good heart and disposition that you feel that she can never really come to much harm. It feels like Austen really had a lot of fun with this book, building up the oogy-boogy angle and then cutting it down with a few dry lines. The only thing that is missing is a better sense of the other characters - but perhaps that is appropriate given that Catherine is a bit foggy about the world herself.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-04-25 07:55:16.
(Language: English)
A classy cross cut of Bath society all wrapped up in a satire on gothic literature. The main character's naive misunderstandings are touching and, as her imagination gets carried away with her, some hillarious moments unfold. I now feel like visiting some historical buildings in England to recreate her imaginative interpretations of the architecture.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-07-05 10:45:34.
(Language: English)
This is book is delightful. I know that is not surprising to anyone who's read Miss Austen before, but this was my first novel of hers.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-05 05:28:34.
(Language: English)
My least favourite of the Austen novels
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-31 07:43:30.
(Language: English)
Anything by Jane Austen is one of my favorites.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-22 12:36:54.
(Language: English)
This was my first taste of Jane Austen and it really hit me hard! John and Isabella were so obnoxious I was put into a bad mood at certain points in the book over their mistreatment of poor Catherine. The characters were so real and the relationships so perfectly demonstrated. Austen's method of telling the story from her own point of view really personalized the story and drew me in. The only complaint I have is that I found it hard to relate at times because I wasn't nearly so naive as Catherine Morland at seventeen. However, this story is a great testimony to human behavior and judgment.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-03 10:30:33.
(Language: English)
Our teenage years are our most impressionable - Northanger Abbey asks, how are we formed during this critical time? Through the Romantic & Gothic education of Catherine, we see that, although we are subject to societal forces outside our control, our elders typically have good reasons for doing what they do. As we grow out of innocence and acquire knowledge of the virtuous and the lowly, the serious and the satirical, we are finally afforded the opportunity to define ourselves.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-05 10:54:02.
(Language: English)
As an enormous fan of Jane Austen, I know that this is often the least favorite of her 6 novels. Because of this, I had neglected to read it up until the present, reading P&P, S&S, and Emma until the covers wore off. But, let me say what an awful mistake that was! This novel is outstanding from beginning to end, classically Austen! I adored, stood up and cheered when I read, (what I now understand is a famous passage)of the "Defense of the Novel." My only quibble with this book is an aspect that is anachronistic - one of the few social commentaries of Miss Austen's that has become dated. The subject is the very unequal understanding an experience between Catherine Moreland and Henry Tilney. Obviously, it was most common for men in and over their mid-twenties to marry girls in their late teens. But, the disparity between Catherine's innocence and ignorance and Henry's sarcastic wit, experience, and lively intelligence almost makes you wince with embarrassment a few times. I know that Jane Austen meant to convey that Catherine's goodness and sweetness made up for deficiencies in her education and experience, but you can't help but wonder how Henry gets past it. In marriage, she will undoubtedly grow and learn with him as her guide, but you wonder if he wasn't "settling" in proposing marriage to her, or if he was seduced by her physical charms. For the time period, it is even probable that his intellectual dominance may have been an inducement, in and of itself. Still, a modern reader can't shake the feeling that real love can only occur in the meeting of equal minds. All of this kept cycling through my mind as I read the book. But, Catherine gives us a spark of hope here and there, such as in her famous remark, "I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.", which I think reveals a keen wit that is in the infancy of it's development. Undoubtedly, we are meant to latch onto these sparks of brilliance as promises of young Catherine's future wit, which obviously charmed and amused Henry. All in all, I absolutely adored this novel. I can't chastise myself enough for ignoring it all these years. It almost makes me want to read Ms. Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho. Almost. :)
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