Ratings7
Average rating3.9
A Penguin Classics edition of three lesser-known Austen works, including Lady Susan, the basis for Whit Stillman's feature film Love and Friendship starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloë Sevigny These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel Lady Susan depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with the affections of several men. In contrast, The Watsons is a delightful fragment, whose spirited heroine - Emma - finds her marriage opportunities limited by poverty and pride. Meanwhile Sanditon, set in a seaside resort, offers a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and spectators, treated by Austen with both amusement and scepticism. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Unfortunately, the one of these three stories that Jane Austen finished is Lady Susan, the least enjoyable of the bunch. Reading The Watsons and Sanditon was bittersweet, because they were enjoyable by only gave a taste of what the novels would have been.
Overall I quite enjoyed this. Lady Susan would be my least favorite of the three, but in general I don't like epistolary novels, so I could see others enjoying it. (The movie wasn't that great to me either; Lady Susan is not very likeable and that made it harder to enjoy.) The Watsons is a good beginning to a story; same with Sanditon. I liked Sanditon best (though don't bother with the show - it's awful!) and wish there were more of it.
-Sandinton ★★★✰✰
-Los Watson: ★★★★✰
-Lady Susan: ★★★★✰