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98 of 101 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jane Austen's Masterpiece & Final Novel!, July 11, 2005
"Persuasion" is a great literary work, and, to my mind, Jane Austen's finest book. This was her final completed novel before her death, and was published posthumously. As is often the case with Ms. Austen's fiction, "Persuasion" deals with the social issues of the times and paints a fascinating portrait of Regency England, especially when dealing with the class system. Rigid social barriers existed - and everyone wanted to marry "up" to a higher station - and, of course, into wealth. This is also a very poignant and passionate story of love, disappointment, loss and redemption. The point Austen makes here, is that one should not ever be persuaded to abandon core values and beliefs, especially for ignoble goals. There are consequences, always.
Gillian Beer writes a fascinating Introduction in this Penguin Classic Edition, in which she discusses Miss Austen's portrayal of the double-edged nature of persuasion. This complete and unabridged edition also contains a biography of the author, an Afterword, a new chronology and full textual notes.
Sir Walter Elliot, Lord of Kellynch Hall, is an extravagant, self-aggrandizing snob, and a bit of a dandy to boot. He has been a widower for many years and spends money beyond his means to increase his social stature. His eldest daughter, who he dotes on, is as conceited and spoiled as he is. The youngest daughter, Anne, is an intelligent, sensitive, capable and unassuming woman in her late twenties when the story opens. She had been quite pretty at one time, but life's disappointments have taken their toll and her looks are fading. She and her sister are both spinsters. Anne had once been very much in love with a young, and as yet untried, navel officer. A woman who had been a close friend to Anne's mother, persuaded Anne to "break the connection," convincing her that she could make a much better match. After much consideration, Anne did not follow her heart or her better instincts, and she and her young officer, Frederick Wentworth, separated. She has never again found the mutual love or companionship that she had with him. Anne's older sister never married either, because she hadn't found anyone good enough! She still hopes, however, for an earl or a viscount.
The Elliot family is forced to financially retrench because of their extravagance. They lease Kellynch Hall to...of all people...Wentworth's sister and her husband. Elliot, his oldest daughter and her companion, move to a smaller lodging in Bath for the season, leaving Anne to pack up their belongings before joining them. She gets the Cinderella treatment throughout the book. Anne decides to first visit with her middle sister, an abominably spoiled, whiny hypochondriac, Mrs. Musgrove. She has made a good, but not brilliant match to a local squire. Her husband, Charles Muskgrove, his parents, and their two younger, eligible daughters, Louisa and Henrietta, are delightful. They all tolerate Mrs. Muskgrove, barely, and adore Anne. It is at the Muskgrove estate that Anne meets Frederick Wentworth again, after his absence of seven years. He is in the neighborhood, because his sister is now in the area, residing at Kellynch, of course. Wentworth is now a Captain in the Royal Navy and quite wealthy. When their eyes meet for the first time, you can absolutely feel Anne's longing and remorse. He is aloof with Anne, although civil. The man was hurtfully rejected once before and it appears that he still feels her snub. Now Wentworth is on the marriage market and Louisa sets her cap for him. Accidents and various adventures ensue, from the resorts of Lyme and Bath to the Muskgrove estate, bringing Anne and Wentworth closer together. The passion between the two is sooo palpable, although Very understated, (this is Regency England after all). I think this is Ms. Austen at her most passionate. Some scholars say that she modeled Anne Elliot after herself.
This remarkable novel, and the issues it tackles, is just as germane today as it was when written. And the romance...well, no one does romance better than Jane Austen.
JANA
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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quintessential Austen, December 10, 2006
Certainly one of the greatest literary minds of all time is that of Jane Austen, an author who has been much-maligned by her unfair modern association with "chick-lit" (it's nice that "Bridget Jones' Diary" was based on "Pride and Prejudice," but that should not reflect unduly on Austen's work). The trick is that while Austen's novels do tend to center on a romantic plot they are imbued with many other facets that make them so much more than trifling entertainments. Sharp social commentary is particularly prevalent in all of her novels, perhaps none more-so than her final work, "Persuasion" -- with its deft handling of a woman's place in society and of the difficulties imposed by class barriers. Its focus is on Anne Elliot, middle child of the pretentious Sir Walter, who has no use for her in his life -- choosing to favor his eldest daughter Elizabeth (who, truly, takes after her father in all selfish respects) and to offer regard to his youngest, Mary, at least as a woman who has fulfilled her purpose by marrying satisfactorily. Years earlier Lady Russell, a family friend who became a sort of surrogate parent to Anne after her mother's death, persuaded Anne to break her engagement to her beloved Frederick Wentworth, believing him to be an inferior sort of person who would only make Anne miserable in time. Now, eight years later, Wentworth is a successful captain in the British navy who has proven that he would have been a more than worthy match for Anne in situation as well as affection. But when he comes back into her life, Anne must live with the consequences of her earlier decision as Wentworth appears to have moved on -- actively seeking a wife right under Anne's nose. Anne also finds herself being courted by her cousin William, who would be a perfectly sensible match for her, but since her heart still belongs to Captain Wentworth she cannot bear to consider it. The plot conventions will be familiar to fans of Austen, but that does not detract from the sharpness and enjoyability of the tale in the slightest. The keen observations are on target, and "Persuasion" has the added benefit of having some of the best characters in the Austen canon this side of "Pride and Prejudice". Anne proves to be a heroine worthy of Elizabeth Bennet's approval, and Captain Wentworth an amiable counterpoint to the steelier Mr. Darcy. Mary's histrionics are reminiscent of the wailings of Mrs. Bennet, providing blissful comic relief without becoming too overbearing. Best of all, naturally, is the omnipresent Austen wit -- an incomparable achievement in all of her novels, on fine display here in "Persuasion". Anyone who has not yet experienced Jane Austen is missing out on some enjoyable and delightfully thought-provoking reading, and should get started as soon as possible.
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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
" I am half agony, half hope . . .", April 9, 2006
PERSUASION, the last novel that Jane Austen completed before her death in 1818, tells the story of one Anne Elliot, the second daughter of a baronet who has spent his waythrough his fortune and has nothing but his title to lean on.
When she was 21 years old, Anne fell in love with and was engaged to Frederick Wentworth, a young captain in the Navy. Her belated mother's best friend, Lady Russell, dissapproves of the match as being below Anne, due to Anne's claim to nobility, and Anne cancels the engagement, much to her and and Captain Wentworth's grief.
Nearly eight year's have passed since she broke off her engagement to Captain Wentworth when she, Lady Russell, and a Mr. Shepherd, a friend of her father's, are forced to pose and intervention and tell her father that he must quit his estate and find someone to lease it to, or he will be sent tot he poorhouse. Her father, his only pride being in his social position and personal appearance, relents, but only if they can find suitable tenants - which they do in Admiral Croft and his wife, the sister of Captain Wentworth.
Anne thinks that her broken heart has mended, until she sees him again. unfortunately, he is now attached to another . . . and yet Anne sees clues in his behavior that he may be hers once again. Anne and Wentworth must negotiate their past, their different social classes, and proper behavior to find their way back to one another.
What sets PERSUASION appart from Austens' other novels is how modern it seems in comparison. Austen takes more liberty with point of view in this novel, the characters have much richer inner lives than the Bennet's or Dashwood's ever did.
This novel is highly recommended to anyone who would enjoy Jane Austen. Though the ending is predictable, it does not always seem so, and therefore the novel was a very suspenseful read.
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