Chapters 1-5

Before I begin the post, I wanted to alert my dear readers to the fact that yes, I will be posting spoilers to the plot of the books I am and will be reading. I will be very clear about when and where I will be posting these portions of my review. In case you are really interested in actually reading Jane Austen's Persuasion in the near future, please note any SPOILER ALERT labels that I will be incorporating into these posts.

On to the post.

I purchased Persuasion for an astounding $4.95 at my local Border's down the street from work. I was very excited about the beginning of my project. So excited, in fact, that I sat down and read the first few pages when I got back to my desk. And promptly had to look up three words. One of those words is "Baronetage" (noun) meaning a book that self-absorbed nobleman like to read in order to revel in the fact that their family has been in the upper classes of society since X century and have been granted X number of honors from HRM. I then needed to look up "solicitude" thinking that it had to do with being solitary, but because of the confusing sentence that resulted from inserting "solitary" in place of solicitude, it led me to discover that solicitude actually means "care or concern for someone or something." Fascinating.

I put the book down until the end of the day and read in on my way home on the T, and felt completely superior to everyone in my car because my book had "Jane Austen" on the cover.

SPOILER ALERT! SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU SEE "END SPOILER ALERT"

Persuasion started off as any good Victorian-era book should with a brief description of the heritage of the main family, the Elliot's. Sir Walter Elliot married a woman named Elizabeth Stevenson on July 15, 1784, who bore him three daughters and then died. The three daughters, in order of birth, are Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary. As the narcissistic and shallow man that he is, Sir Elliot bases his daughters' worth on their looks, and so the three daughters, ranked according to Sir Elliot's preferences are: Elizabeth, Mary, Anne. Elizabeth, close to 30, has yet to marry. However, she was meant to marry the family's heir (still need to figure that one out- I think this guy, William Walter Elliot, is the heir because Sir Walter Elliot, the father, had no sons.) but that plan went up in smoke when William Elliot ran off with a younger and more attractive young lady. A thoroughly embarrassed Elizabeth was scorned; this might account for her atrocious behavior of mis-treating Anne. Mary, the youngest, married a young country squire, Mr. Charles Musgrove, whose family is very rich. Mary is, for lack of a better word, a complete Debbie Downer- she must have had bi-polar disorder because she would be gay and lively one day, and dark and dreary and unable to stand anyone the next. She was only briefly introduced in this portion of the book, so I'm sure there will be more on her later. Anne, the middle child, is the obvious protagonist of the story. Her life reads as any rejected middle-daughter: pretty when a young teenager, but whose "bloom" extinguished. This might have something to do with her failed love life (see below). Anne is also an extremely intelligent, curious, and all around cool lady. I would like to sit around and have a cup of tea with her any day.

Austen continues on to introduce the Elliot's doting and slightly self-absorbed neighbor, Lady Russell. Lady Russell, a widow, takes great pride in being closely associated with this local nobility of the region (Kellynch Hall, county Somerset). Lady Russell also takes great care in maintaining the family's reputation. When the Elliot family finds themselves in dire financial straits due to an outlandish lifestyle with no major income, the bulk of the story's action begins. Lady Russell takes charge to insure that the Elliot's do not fall out of grace, thus securing her own future as an indispensable friend to the family.

Austen sets the stage for the coming plot and describes, in horrifically familiar detail, the family's living outside of their income and the impending economic doom (Recession 2008 anyone?) In order to drag the Elliot's out of financial ruin, the family's lawyer friend, Mr. Shepherd, arranges for an Admiral Croft, recently on leave after the end of whatever war the British were engaged in with the French at the time (the Admiral served in the Battle of Trafalgar, for those history buffs out there), to lease the house, while the Elliot's go to Bath to reduce their costs while still managing to maintain a modicum of dignity.

When Anne learns of the news that Admiral Croft will be renting her house, she is immediately transported to her younger and wilder days of nineteen and a brief romance with a young Captain in the Navy, who happens to be the brother of the Admiral's wife. Anne fell in love with this man, Captain Wentworth, and he asked for her hand in marriage. However, Sir Elliot, believing that Anne should not make such a low brow match simply for love, forbade it. Thus, Captain Wentworth left Anne with a broken heart and went on to make his (immense) fortune. Typical.

Another character, by the name of Mrs. Clay (a widow), and who is the daughter of Mr. Shepherd, has shown her freckled face (to the distress of Sir Elliot, who has big issues with freckles) and who is quickly beginning to make some trouble for the family, in ways that have not yet been revealed. But Lady Russell is deeply distressed about it, I can tell you that.

END SPOILER ALERT


This is where I will now begin my reviewing of the portion of the book I've read so far. As for the accessibility of the book, I would give it an 80%, and that is because the style of writing is more difficult than your run of the mill Sophie Kinsella or whoever-wrote-the-Twilight-series. This fact thus directly affects the accessibility of the book. The language is so expressive and detailed because it had to be. There were no televisions, computers, or radios to dumb it down with CGI or 3-D for the masses. These books were read by only a fraction of the population; those people wealthy enough to send their children to school and who had enough time to read a book. So the books of this era are largely inaccessible to our era for three reasons:

1) the author needed to paint a picture of the characters and places in order to draw in her readers and maintain interest because there were no silver screens to be had (When a book is the only thing you have in front of you, you really want it to excite and transport you to another world, to forget the fact that your maid burned your favorite shift and you have to go visit that superbly idiotic man down the road for another round of "will you marry me's.")

2) the books were catering to the highest denominator of society; these people could read, and read well and,

3) the 21st century society simply does not express itself in the same intense and immediate way. Needless to say, in our era of text-messaging and OMG'ing, Jane Austen's expansive vocabulary would probably make most of our next generation ROFL. Personally, I find Austen's descriptions of places and people to be quite addictive, and I enjoy rolling words like "reprobates", "re-trench", and "solicitude" off of my tongue.

On a separate note, I find this book to be completely entertaining. When I get past the vocab lessons, the plot is quite simple: scorned middle daughter who is far superior in every way to the rest of her family (who is only described for sheer entertainment factor) has a lover's-conundrum that will hopefully end with getting her long-lost love back and shoving it down her family's throat. Or at least that's what I hope she does. Knowing Austen, she'll probably have Anne end up happy and promise to support her dog of a father and low-life of a sister out of the kindness of her heart. Oh well. On to some more Persuasion.