Customer Reviews

Mansfield Revisited

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I have just discovered the Joan Aiken offerings to the Jane Austen collection. Mansfield Revisited is a quick read, with more description of the odious characters and even some redemption of unsatisfactory characters in the Jane Austen original. However, I wonder why the reader is not made privy to the contents of Fanny's letter to Mary Crawford. And though the lady in velvet at Mary's grave site is not a mystery, there is so little information as to her purpose. Her meeting with Henry later seemed to me to cause more stir than the circumstance warranted. It is gratifying that the unpleasant characters do not get on quite so unscathed as they often do in Austen stories. Julia and Miss Yates are hardly to be tolerated and eventually they pay the price for their incivility. Capt. Sarton is introduced and exits so quickly, he seems no more than a throw away character. William Price falling so quickly for the insipid charms of Miss Harley is inexplicable; still she will have 30,000 -- a not inconsiderable sum that brings its own charms. Naturally, Susan Price and Mrs. Osborne must be worthy of our admiration and I enjoyed being with them.

This book is a sequel to Mansfield Park that centers around a blossoming love story between Susan Price and Tom Bertram. Before their love can conquer all, Susan must contend with the prejudices of Mrs. Norris and the return of Mary Crawford. For those who wish to be reacquainted with Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram, you will only be disappointed; Fanny and Edmund have gone to the Bertram's Caribbean estate for the duration of the book. A better book is Aiken's "The Youngest Miss Ward", a prequel to Mansfield Park.

Rest assured I am not an Austen purist disgusted by the whole concept of someone picking up the beloved Austen torch. Far from it; I only require good or at the least entertaining writing and I'm happy. "Mansfield Revisted" does not fullfill these requirements, mostly due to one of the worst endings I have come across in quite a while.
Things start out rather well, actually, as the novel follows the romantic adventures of Fanny's younger sister Susan as she resides at Mansfield while Fanny and her husband are away in Antigua. Many of the old characters return, and I have to give Aiken credit for creditably fleshing out the character of the wicked Mary Crawford. Since the end of Austen's novel, Mary has suffered a great deal, and Aiken does a good job of making her a tad more complex. What she does with Henry Crawford is interesting also; although here Aiken sows the seeds of her novel's undoing. (SPOILER) She sets up Henry to be the romantic hero of her novel, a mildly shocking idea for fans of the original. The next third of the book is devoted to the evolving relationship between him and Susan, and we come to expect the inevitable. And then, in a highly annoying manner, Aiken wimps out and sticks her with another character who has spent the length of the novel being loutish and vulgar, and who at end is redeemed in a completely unbelievable way. I felt extremely sorry for poor Susan, and I don't think that was Aiken's intent. (END SPOILER)
So, while it starts out promising, "Mansfield Revisted" ends badly, leaving a sour taste in the reader's mouth. I do not recommend it, especially not for Austen fans.

Many of Jane Austen readers, while professing great admiration for her works, are unwilling to accept her judgements about such characters as Mary and Henry Crawford. They don't want to believe that someone can be charming, talented and intelligent without being morally good; that these are qualities, not virtues, and like beauty, are as they do. I assume that Jane Aiken falls into this category, since the main point of this story seems to be to reimagine the Crawfords as generous and benevolent. I was wondering why she had introduced such an implausible plotline as the seriously ill Mary Crawford deciding that she wants to be near Mansfield and Fanny Price Bertram, rather then near her sister, Mrs. Grant (who has presumably died in the interim) or her brother Henry. I have too much sympathy with Fanny to like the reversal of Jane Austen's judgement, but I suppose that many people will enjoy the change, except for those who find the new Crawfords too saccharine. Aiken tends to lay it on with a trowel.

Given this, the story is competent and reasonably diverting for the most part. Outside of the Crawfords, Aiken does a good job of maintaining the personalities of the characters that she has appropriated from the original. (Fanny & Edmund only briefly appear.) Aiken introduces two charming, if slightly too good to be true characters in the person of the substitute pastor and his sister. Lady Bertram does manage to make a few apropos statements, which may strike some readers as implausibly forceful, but for the most part, she and Pug stay on the sopha.

I find the romances a bit improbable. It is hard to believe that William Price is so cheerfully accepted by the family of a great heiress, or that he and his fiancee are truly well suited. The story of Susan's engagement is banal. It is a poorly developed version of the plot of at least half the preadolescent romances I read as a child. In several of Aiken's JA sequels I get the feeling that she really isn't interested in writing a romance and the result is this slapdash development.

I wouldn't urge Jane Austen fans to rush out and read it, but if one is looking for something to read, one could do a lot worse.