Should I keep going with Mansfield Park?

[GatoradeMeBitch]

I've been reading Jane Austen's novels while I'm stuck at home. Emma and Pride & Prejudice I was already familiar with; Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion I knew from the film versions but it was nice to finally read the full stories; and Northanger Abbey was a pleasant surprise, funnier than I expected.

But Mansfield Park reminds me of how I felt about reading classic novels when I was in secondary school. I'm at the part where they're discussing putting on a play. It's so dull. Is it worth persevering with?

I would say it doesn't get any "better", it's a fairly evenly-paced book; if you're not enjoying it now, you won't be enjoying it by the end.

I think for quite a few people, it's their least favourite Austen novel. I believe Fanny was the author's favourite of her heroines, and many of us modern readers struggle to understand that... some of the other characters and their relationships are much more interesting (I think).

What her Lordship said... it's the only one I never 'got'.

I also enjoyed it the least of all the Austens. A trudge.

The play bit just drags on and on.
MP is my least favourite Jane Austen but it’s still good - there’s a bit of scandal coming up if you stick with it, the best but is yet to come.

But yes the play bit is so boring.

I would say categorically no, it's not worth persevering with. Fanny is the worst.

It's one of my favourites.

I thought it was easily the worst of Austen's novels. Boring with a feeble heroine IMO.

Early Mansfield Park relies heavily on the characterisation of Fanny's female relatives rather than any plot as such.

I think it's hard to get excited about the play because we don't understand Fanny's objections to it and how important it is (Sir Thomas's reaction seems completely over the top to modern eyes). All we're left with is the mildly amusing observations of the minor characters (Mr Rushden? is it? with his counting lines) and Fanny's (infuriating) despair over Edmund and Mary's relationship.

More things happen later on, but Fanny doesn't get any less wetpassive.

I think it's worth persevering with, and I'm pretty sure subsequent readings are easier.

I always had a soft spot for Henry and Mary Crawford. Fanny would have been the making of Henry and Edmund and Mary would have saved each other. I wanted Fanny to accept Henry and Mary to stick with Edmund.
I liked Fanny and sympathised so much with her as a young child and teenager after she went to stay with the Bertram family. I loved many bits of the novel.

Aw I like MP.
Fond memories of a tv adaptation years ago with Syvestra leTouzel (?)

If you don’t like it yet, you won’t like it any better layer! You are quite far into the story. Fanny is quite priggish and hard to like.

LATER not layer

Read it for A-Level, so came to like it better than I probably would have otherwise. There's a good sequel (and I normally hate sequels written by other people) by Joan Aiken that follows Susan, Tom and the Crawfords.

I like Mansfield Park to study, but not to read. I wouldn't bother carrying on tbh, if you're bored. Fanny doesn't develop as a character at all, and the 'villains' are far more interesting/sympathetic than the heroes.

Life is too short for Mansfield Park. It will not improve. Fanny is so tedious. I loathed it

It's my least favourite, but then I studied it for GCSE I think? Long time ago! Fanny and Edmund are both so bland. I would say if you're hating it now, it doesn't really get any better. But then again I have to finish any book I start so I'm weird!

Fanny and Edward are both prigs--I like the book for the lively secondary characters. Though to be fair to Fanny, she has a completely different place in that household and would pay a higher price for stepping out of line. The play they are doing would be considered scandalous for people in their position to perform. That said, if the book doesn't work for you, drop it and find another. Reading is supposed to be pleasurable, not a punishment.

It’s probably my least favourite.

You’ve reminded me how much I loved Northanger Abbey. Think I might reread it!

www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/re-reading-mansfield-park-jane-austen-janet-todd/

This is a good article by someone who on her first reading wondered:

"Why would an author who’d made the robust, witty and self-assured Elizabeth Bennet then create so limp and teary a heroine as Fanny, a creeping killjoy who suffers sunstroke from cutting roses in temperate England and fears the “wilderness” of a tame country estate? Until the ending, I assumed her rival Mary Crawford would get the hero – if, bizarrely, she really wanted him."

But goes on to make a fairly passionate case for why the novel is actually great.

It inspired me to re-read it last week (after loathing it as a teen - I couldn't abide all that sitting around on ha-has and snivelling) and I'm enjoying it much more this time round in light of it!

I don’t know why people feel the need to post spoilers on threads like this!? 🙄

When a novel appeared more than 200 years ago and has been adapted a lot for tv and film, the concept of ‘spoilers’ is ludicrous.

I adore MP, but the interest isn’t in a witty, strong or subversive heroine finding her man, but in the depiction of an entire social class via the depiction of one estate the narrative almost never leaves from the pov of a disregarded child-woman — it has brilliant set-pieces like the visit to Sotherton and the home theatricals. I would persevere.

@Hippee, I like Joan Aiken’s Mansfield Revisited too, though I agree with you about modern sequels in general — I love that it reinvents Julia Bertram as a Mrs Norris type and rehabilitates the Crawfords.

I had to read it again after finding it turgid first time round. I enjoyed it much more having given it a second chance.

I did it for A level and quite enjoyed it I empathised with Fanny feeling trapped by the need to placate the feelings of others and being terrified of getting it wrong, as well as her ingrained sense that she had no worth and should just be grateful. There was a lot of my day to day life in her, and I suspect quite a lot of young women at the time would have found her the most relatable of all the heroines.

Not that you have to finish it, of course!

It's my favourite of Jane Austen's novels - I must have read it at least 20 times during the course of my life - so I would be tempted to say 'yes', but if you've already the play bit and are not enjoying it, I'm not sure it will get better for you. The play is one of the most amusing parts of the story in my opinion. The part I like least comes much later - when Fanny is stuck in Portsmouth.

I've read Mansfield Revisited too, and it wasn't bad although I didn't agree with the Julia-becomes-the-new-Mrs-Norris interpretation of the character's development.

I read it for A level and didn’t enjoy it at all, I found it really boring. I revisited it for the first time recently and enjoyed it much more.

I would agree though that if you’re really bored now it won’t get better for you particularly as the play is one of the more interesting bits!