Customer Reviews

Mr Knightley's Diary

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although I had heard of some of Amanda Grange's previous books, such as Mr. Darcy's Diary, I had never read them. Recently, I got the chance to read a copy of Grange's Mr. Knightley's Diary and found that it is a fantastic take on Jane Austen's Emma.

I haven't read Emma in probably a couple of years, so it was refreshing to read the story through Mr. Knightley's eyes. He's a very interesting character and I don't know him as well as Mr. Darcy.

Grange takes the reader into Knightley's (should I be so bold as to address him as such? Emma might not like it.) world and enables us to go with him when he is absent from Highbury. Readers of Emma will remember that Knightley misses Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston's wedding because he is in London. In Mr. Knightley's Diary, the reader is with him! We get to find out what he is doing when he is not with Emma. Haven't you always been curious?

The diary spans just over a year and recounts any number of events found in the original novel in a slightly different, more masculine way. Knightley is constantly worrying about Emma's behavior, hoping she will be more mature and leave off matchmaking, and trying to decide if, and who, he should marry. Just as Emma tries to pair Harriet with various gentlemen, Knightley meets several women (including Jane Fairfax) and tries to see if he feels any sparks with them. Of course, as we all know, in the end only Emma will do.

Our favorite (and not-so-favorite) secondary characters still play largely in this novel, though through Knightley's eyes. Mr. Woodhouse is still the same old valetudinarian that we all love (and wish would stop saying that cake is bad for one's health!). Mr. Elton and his wife, as always, quite irritating, though Knightley is polite. He finds Frank Churchill to be somewhat suspect, rather than the charming gentleman the ladies believe him to be. We also see more of Knightley's brother John and his wife, Emma's sister. I was quite glad to read more about them, as they are not a huge part of Emma.

I highly recommend Mr. Knightley's Diary to all Jane Austen fans. It was a very enjoyable take on a beloved book.

Mr. Knightley's Diary was just a little slow and tedious for me. I don't think this can all be put at the feet of Amanda Grange except in her choice of subjects. Anyone who has ever read EMMA by Jane Austen knows that Knightley is not as often at the forefront of that novel as some other Austen lead male characters. This caused Ms Grange to use her imagination to a much greater extent in giving us Mr. Knightley's thoughts and even some of his words.

It became rather boring reading about him dining in someone else's home practically every night. This was the major way Ms Grange conveyed the action for this book and is, indeed, how it happened in EMMA. The saving grace for EMMA was that we saw many, many more character interactions for that main character and since she was the lead in the book, we got much more actual conversation. I wish I had counted how many times Knightley was portrayed as walking to Hartfield. Surely it must have numbered close to a hundred because the book covered a full year in the lives of these characters.

Also, Mr. Woodhouse and his continual grousing just plain got on my nerves. I don't remember having that reaction to him in EMMA so I'm not quite sure why he irritated me so sorely in this book, but he did.

Somehow this book did not portray any passion and not very much feeling for me. If I had never read EMMA, this book would not tempt me to pick it up. I read Mr. Darcy's Diary by this author and rated it 4 solid, lovely stars. This one is O.K., but the stars are mostly given out of appreciation for previous books written by this author. I just don't think she had enough material to work with. Mr. Knightley is certainly no Darcy or Wentworth!

I pre-ordered this and have been so looking forward to reading the POV of Mr. Knightley, unfortunately he wasn't as captivating as the hero's in Mr. Darcy's Diary or even Captain Wentworth's. He didn't have much of a sense of humor either. I didn't feel much angst or sympathy for him because his love for Emma didn't become apparent even to himself until more than 2/3 way through. I felt Mr. Knightley was a more complicated character than what was conveyed here in this Diary. Nonetheless, it is interesting and for those that want a quick reminder of Emma or just have to have all the latest Jane Austenesque novel, this book is worth the purchase and certainly will compliment any collection. It's certainly not my favorite of Grange's diary novels but I liked it/not loved it.

This is a great book! I just wanted to share, that I read all the reviews right before I bought the book, and I was a little worried that I'd hate it. My advice is: Read the book, and create your own opinion. Personally, I thought it was a good read. People say that it mostly revolves around Mr. Knightley's dinner parties, etc., but you all need to realize what time period this is. Going to dinner parties WAS an amazing enjoyment, and one of the few public appearances that they would make. I believe that this author DOES stay true to the novel. It is written in a slightly different language, for instance, not in Jane Austen's fancy words, but this is basically Mr. Knightley's thought process. If he seems a bit short with Mr. Woodhouse in his thinking process, put yourself in his place! : ) Especially considering that if this was indeed Mr. Knightley's diary, he'd be more open that if he openly addressed Mr. Woodhouse with how annoying he is. A bonus about this book: It has many good conversations between Emma and Mr. Knightley, that stick to Jane Austen's style, and the time period, yet provide lots of enjoyment reading their banter.

You know, I didn't hate this book. I thought it couldn't possibly live up to the original and in many ways it doesn't. No writer alive could live up to Jane Austen; however, if you loved Emma and are looking for a way to extend the experience a bit, this book fills the bill. Grange attempts to add surprise to a well-known plot primarily in her handling of some of the minor characters. Since it wasn't too hard to see where she was headed with them it's debatable whether she achieved her object. I found it interesting though that her evident sympathy for Miss Bates leads her to a more sentimental conclusion than Austen would have permitted. The book is rather lacking in dramatic tension, though it's interesting to see some events through Knightly's eyes. His antipathy for Mrs. Elton seems a bit overdone -- certainly it never appears in the original novel, except in his comment about Emma choosing better for Mr. Elton than he chose for himself. If you liked Emma and want to ramble around Highbury again, this is a pleasant read. If you're looking for Jane Austen, you'll likely be disappointed.

I have just finished reading Mr. Knightley's Diary by Amanda Grange and Emma by Jane Austen for my ninth grade honors English class summer reading assignment. I selected these books out of a list that we got to choose from because it was a romantic and a historical fiction type of a story. It also sounded like Jane Austin's book Pride and Prejudice and I really liked that book too.

In the book Mr. Knightley's Diary it is put into a scene in the 19th century in the quiet village of Highbury where Emma Woodhouse and her widower father lives. Mr. Knightley, between his very busy life managing his estate, finds that he has feelings for Emma. When Mr. Churchill arrives throughout the story and catches Emma's attention everything starts getting to be pure jealousy. Emma is also trying to arrange marriages but at the same time but doesn't know that Mr. Elton, the man she is setting her friend Harriet up with, really is in love with her. Emma goes throughout both stories and is arranging marriages that really weren't what people wanted to happen. In the end everyone ends up with who they truly loves and live happily ever after. Also in Emma the same sort of thing is happening but the main point of view is coming from Emma, not Mr. Knightley. I thought it was really fun to read both of the books to see the two opinions of two of the main characters were. It was really cool to see how both Mr. Knightley and Emma thought when Emma thought she was in love with Mr. Churchill and to see what Mr. Knightley was thinking of the whole thing. I also like how every one ended up with who I thought they would end up with throughout the story. I recommend if you were to read one of these, you should read both of them because it really makes a big difference.

It impacted me as a reader to see both points of view based on the same story. I had never really thought of reading two sequel books that way. It is kind of like you have to know both sides of the story until you really know what is going on with everything, at least that is how it is for me. I have enjoyed reading these books a lot this summer and I hope you will get a chance too!

This little book is an ideal appendage to the TV movie of "Emma". Mr Knightley is a gentleman in his thirties, living on a large and prosperous estate and unmarried. Now that he has reached this age, he realises that it's time that he married and produced an heir, but, strangely to him, cannot help but compare other ladies to his neighbour, 21 year old Emma,the irritating, headstrong daughter of an elderly gentleman who is obsessed with his health and that of everyone else. Emma is an inveterate matchmaker, determined to pair up all of the unattached men and women of her acquaintance. This, of course, causes problems because of her well intentioned meddling but she is quite determined to remain single while pairing up others. It's a quick and charming read, especially for lovers of Jane Austen.

Experience Jane Austen's Emma (Penguin Classics) through the eyes of her hero.

MR. KNIGHTLEY'S DIARY takes us through a year of his life as he writes about his estate life, visiting with the neighbors, dinner parties he must attend, and his daily encounters with Emma.

These encounters range from enjoyable moments, to moments where he wishes her to grow as a person, and finally to things he wishes would happen between the two of them.

If you're a Jane Austen fan or you've read Emma (Penguin Classics), then this latest Jane Austen diary from the male perspective is a must read.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

I didn't expect the quality of the prose or the depth of the writing to be equal to those of Jane Austen, but I did expect them to be as good as one would expect from any standard work of writing for adults. In this I was disappointed.

Still, it was a somewhat entertaining read. It seemed kind of pointless that so much of it was the exact same events told in Emma but less eloquently from the perspective of someone else in the same room (although at least, since Jane Austen thought of them, they make an interesting story), but the events and characters that were unique to this book were more interesting. I did enjoy seeing how Mr. Knightly might have come to realize his feelings for Emma, and I enjoyed the sweet (if improbable) relationship for one of the few characters from Emma who doesn't end up married in that book.

It's not a great book, or even a really good one, but it was an easy and somewhat enjoyable read. I plan to read at least one other book in the series (if you can call it a series), with the hope that it will diverge a bit more from what Austen already showed us, but even if it doesn't it will still probably be pleasant.

I've always found Mr. Knightley to be an appealing character, but it's not necessarily easy to make a nice person interesting. Written from Knightley's perspective on the events of Jane Austen's _Emma_, Amanda Grange does a fine job of filling in our knowledge of the character and what his life would be like, and particularly of letting us hear his view on pivotal scenes from the original novel; further, the author masterfully writes the gradual realization by Knightley that he loves Emma. Nice writing, believable. Perhaps not as elegant as the source material, but what is? I will read other books by this author.