Mansfield Park by Jane Austen might just be my least favorite of her novels.
I've read Mansfield Park before. During my junior year of college, I took a class on Miss Jane Austen, and we read all of her novels. Some of them I was surprised to find I enjoyed. Some of them I find that I dislike less now that I've had some distance between us. And some of them I just generally dislike. Mansfield Park falls into that latter category.
So a brief synopsis (with some spoilers if you find Austen's works unpredictable).
Fanny Price gets adopted by her rich aunt and uncle. She has two snotty girl cousins and two boy cousins: one who is snotty, one who is the love interest. After she spends six years growing up with the cousins (from 11 to 17) there are a snotty brother and a snotty sister who move in down the way. The brother (Mr. Crawford) toys with Fanny's cousins hearts. The sister (Miss Crawford) originally wants to catch Fanny's snotty boy cousin, but then decides that Edmund (the love interest) is much more interesting. Edmund falls in love with Miss Crawford but is frequently troubled by her view of the church (since Edmund's going to be a pastor, y'know). There's this whole large chunk about this play which they're going to perform but then they get caught by Fanny's uncle and don't perform at all. Then Fanny's eldest cousin gets married to the stupid but rich guy down the road and takes Fanny's other cousin with them on their honeymoon. Mr. Crawford decides he wants Fanny to fall in love with him and in wooing her, falls in love with her. Fanny doesn't love him because he's a jerk. Miss Crawford decides she can't marry someone as low-class as a pastor. Fanny and Edmund eventually marry.
Okay there's a few other things that happen but that's the gist of it.
Anyway, I had to reread it for a scholarship, and I think I ended up writing on something pretty interesting, but I'm still not thrilled with Mansfield Park.
What about you, lovelies? What's your favorite Austen novel? Do you have one? (I'd suggest Persuasion or Northanger Abbey if it was up to me :D )
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