361 pages

English language

Published July 22, 2014 by Alfred A. Knopf Canada.

ISBN:
9780345809063
OCLC Number:
878183268

View on OpenLibrary

2 stars (1 review)

The summer after university, Emma Woodhouse returns home to the village of Highbury, where she will live with her health-conscious father until she is ready to launch her interior-design business and strike out on her own. In the meantime, she will do what she does best: offer guidance to those less wise in the ways of the world than herself. Happily, this summer brings many new faces to Highbury and into the sphere of Emma's not always perfectly felicitous council: Harriet Smith, a naive teacher's assistant at the ESL school run by the hippie-ish Mrs. Goddard; Frank Churchill, the attractive stepson of Emma's former governess; and, of course, the perfect Jane Fairfax. This Emma is wise, witty, and totally enchanting, and will appeal equally to Sandy's multitude of fans and the enormous community of wildly enthusiastic Austen aficionados.

3 editions

Review of 'Emma' on 'Storygraph'

2 stars

When I started it, I was very hopeful that I would like it, because it seemed like the author understood Austen's Emma. The tone was very sarcastic, and it dealt mainly with the flaws of Mr. Woodhouse and Emma herself. However, as the story progressed, I was more and more disappointed. Emma is a terrible person, there is nothing redeemable about her. In fact, in the end, when she supposedly understood the hurt she caused, she keeps being extremely selfish, and only tries to set up Harriet and Robert Martin so she can have Knightley to herself. Emma and Harriet's whole relationship is weirdly presented here. Emma actively dislikes Harriet, yet decides to help her anyway. But any time they are together, Emma complains about how much she dislikes Harriet, so why would she? Their relationship is also weirdly sexual, to the point where I thought this was a sapphic …

Subjects

  • Young women
  • Fiction
  • Social life and customs
  • Manners and customs

Places

  • England