Emma

Ok I see why it's a classic and has so many adaptations. It was fun and ridiculous. Still, I hope that's not what life was really like in that timeperiod, because people being fixated on the smallest thing and gossiping about it forever sounds like hell.

In other words... good entertainment, but hopefully no reflection of real life.

It's among Jane's longest novels, and I confess I felt the wordcount. I found most of it delightful, but sometimes a fun element (silly hypochondria, planning a ball) gets too repetitive or drawn out, and it loses momentum. This is entertaining and it's interesting to have an Austen hero who's rich and socially dominant - this is well worth reading! I just don't think it's in my “read every 1-2 years” pile.

just watch clueless and read northanger abbey.

i'm kidding, emma's a fun read too, and lots more goes on in it than the other two works. however, upon second read as an adult, i didn't enjoy this as much as i did when i was younger and had read this the first time. it wasn't disappointing per se, but i certainly felt differently towards each character this time around than i had at first. however, this interfered only slightly with my enjoyment of the book.

reading this with cynical goggles might help. also, if you like reading books where you hate literally every character, this becomes more entertaining.