Customer Reviews

Perfect Happiness

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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I listened on tape, and while the narrator did an admirable job (although her Mr. Woodhouse made me cringe), the book just doesn't ring true. Emma is petty, and from her behavior in this book you'd think she hadn't matured at all before she married Knightley. The discussion of womens' roles is interesting, as is the new character Mrs. Tidmarsh, but then she acts out of keeping with the character as established. I just couldn't buy into it 100%. Time to reread the original again to feel back on track.

Has this author ever read "Emma"?? Apart from the glaring errors (Harriet Smith becomes Harriet "Wilson", Mrs Suckling begins as Serena but later reverts to being Selina as in "Emma"), this book had no sympathy for the characters and exaggerated their bad characteristics - Emma is whining, spineless and unfriendly (always blushing and "Emma cried"), Mr Woodhouse manipulative, Harriet stupid, Frank criminal, Miss Bates conniving, Mr Knightley aloof. It was interesting to have new locations but the book tried too hard to use contemporary detail - too much talk of servants, carriages and ribbons etc, and completely lacked the energy, humanity, empathy and subtlety of Jane Austen's "Emma". And the author even throws herself in as a referenced character!
The language interrupted the flow of the story, analogies, phrases and references were repeated ad nauseum (I think almost every character refered to Highbury as a veritable "Arcadia" at least once!) and the resolution was predictable but it took a long time to get there!
Poor writing aside, if you want to enjoy this book, just imagine it has nothing to do with "Emma"!

What an amazing sequel! I love it when someone comes out with a sequel to a classic. I feel there is never a really good ending to the classics and when an author is able to tie all the loose ends up, I'm happy. If you like Emma you might not like Perfect Happiness, but if you want an ending this one is great!

We finally are getting a sequal to the life of Emma Woodhouse knightley and her loving husband (George). Yippee. The author takes the book from the last sentence in EMMA and questions the true idea of happy-ever-after. A must read for anyone who likes sequals.