Northanger Abbey
1817 • 245 pages
Ratings113
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings113
Average rating3.8
Northanger Abbey is both a perfectly aimed literary parody and a withering satire of the commercial aspects of marriage among the English gentry at the turn of the nineteenth century. But most of all, it is the story of the initiation into life of its naïve but sweetly appealing heroine, Catherine Morland, a willing victim of the contemporary craze for Gothic literature who is determined to see herself as the heroine of a dark and thrilling romance.
When Catherine is invited to Northanger Abbey, the grand though forbidding ancestral seat of her suitor, Henry Tilney, she finds herself embroiled in a real drama of misapprehension, mistreatment, and mortification, until common sense and humor—and a crucial clarification of Catherine’s financial status—puts all to right. Written in 1798 but not published until after Austen’s death in 1817, Northanger Abbey is characteristically clearheaded and strong, and infinitely subtle in its comedy.
Reviews with the most likes.
Enjoyed this immensely even though the plot was mundane and had 3 different story arcs.
Small review:
This book is just Catherine having a field trip alone with different people. She just bounces from one place to another without a care. Ahh living the dream.Even though I saw the Isabella plot coming from miles away (like it was intended), it was so much fun to read it
I must say I liked this novel. This classic novel is Austen's Gothic parody. Catherine's love for reading the genre and over active imagination adds humor to the novel. There is a great scene where Catherine is snooping and unlocks the mysterious cabinet. Expecting to find something horrible, and finds only laundry bills. You feel embarrass for her but she has to fall a few more times before she learns to control her imagination. Northanger Abbey also deals with situations common to teenagers today. Catherine learns lessons of peer pressure, bullying, and reading people. I was angry by the Thorpe's manipulative, and ambitious ways but, by the end of the novel, Catherine learns to read people.
Favorite Quote: “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not the pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
Full of lulz until they left Bath, then it's all downhill to perfect felicity.
