Northanger Abbey
Ratings249
Average rating3.8
A wonderfully entertaining coming-of-age story, Northanger Abbey is often referred to as Jane Austen's "Gothic parody." Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers give the story an uncanny air, but one with a decidedly satirical twist.
The story's unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry's mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art.
Executed with high-spirited gusto, Northanger Abbey is a lighthearted, yet unsentimental commentary on love and marriage.
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Full of lulz until they left Bath, then it's all downhill to perfect felicity.
Enjoyed this immensely even though the plot was mundane and had 3 different story arcs.
Small review:
This book is just Catherine having a field trip alone with different people. She just bounces from one place to another without a care. Ahh living the dream.Even though I saw the Isabella plot coming from miles away (like it was intended), it was so much fun to read it
I must say I liked this novel. This classic novel is Austen's Gothic parody. Catherine's love for reading the genre and over active imagination adds humor to the novel. There is a great scene where Catherine is snooping and unlocks the mysterious cabinet. Expecting to find something horrible, and finds only laundry bills. You feel embarrass for her but she has to fall a few more times before she learns to control her imagination. Northanger Abbey also deals with situations common to teenagers today. Catherine learns lessons of peer pressure, bullying, and reading people. I was angry by the Thorpe's manipulative, and ambitious ways but, by the end of the novel, Catherine learns to read people.
Favorite Quote: “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not the pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
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