For those of us who dont like Emma

[Niamh]

I am a big fan of Jane Austen but in reality being a fan doesnt mean one is going to like every book the Author has written. For me this book is Emma. I find most of the characters are flat, selfish disagreeable, unlikeable and a bit boring. And to make matters worse the main character is just iritating. If there are others out there who also didnt like this novel and would like to join me in a discussion about it, please feel free to post your opinion!

[manolia]

Hi Niamh!

I wish i could contribute to the discussion (that will take place) but i haven't read this one yet. I have baught the book a few months ago but other books get in my way all the time. But what you say about Emma sounds familiar, you know.

[Matrim Cuathon]

Emma is my favorite Austen book

[Nightshade]

Emma wasnt written to be likable... the charcter that is, and she wasnt I need to reread all the austens really its been nearly 2 years since Ive read some of them 3 since Ive read Lady Susana.... But I never was that fond of Emmas charcters but as I rember it the great thing about that book is the little things Austen drops in when shes describing people and things. I rember a essay thing I read on it that said that Emma was Austens cry for help .

[Lote-Tree]

I am a big fan of Jane Austen but in reality being a fan doesnt mean one is going to like every book the Author has written. For me this book is Emma. I find most of the characters are flat, selfish disagreeable, unlikeable and a bit boring. And to make matters worse the main character is just iritating. If there are others out there who also didnt like this novel and would like to join me in a discussion about it, please feel free to post your opinion!

Perhaps Emma is what all women want to be but can't?

[Virgil]

Sorry Niamh, I too like Emma. I actually like it more than Rride and Predjudice. I thought it a great novel.

[Niamh]

I think i'm own my own with this one! i know many people that like Emma, but for some reason i Just couldnt enjoy the book like the rest of Austens books. Maybe it had to do with the fact that i couldn't relate to her the same way i can with others.
To Make matters worse for me, after admitting to myself that i didnt like it, i discovered i was going to study it for my leaving certificate examination in English, which made me dislike it even more. Two years of studying a book that i hadnt like much in the first place is kind of a killer of all chances that i'd end up liking it in the future. I even gave it another chance last year when i reread all of austen novels and still i had no feelings for it at the end. I'll always give it a chance, and did only recently see a dramatisation of it, but for me i dont think there will ever be a great love. And deffinately not like the one i have for Persuasion.

[Scheherazade]

Niam,

How old were you when you read Emma? I am wondering if liking Emma and Emma requires some kind of 'earthly' maturity and seasoning... because I know many younger readers who dislike Emma. P&P and EB are easy to like but the issues dealt in Emma are not easy to detect.

Maybe if you gave it another try now, you might like it or, at least, your dislike may not be as strong?

[Lioness_Heart]

Emma is one of my least favourite Austen novels, mostly because I find the main character quite hard to empathise with, whereas I find most of her other heroines easy to relate to. But in a way, that is an important part of her characterissation, so I guess it might be a good thing... I just don't enjoy reading the book as much as some of the others.

[Virgil]

Let me ask this: Is empathizing with the central character important in liking and appreciating a work?

I'm not sure I empathize with Achilles in Homer's Illiad, but I think it's a great work.

[Lioness_Heart]

Let me ask this: Is empathizing with the central character important in liking and appreciating a work?

I'm not sure I empathize with Achilles in Homer's Illiad, but I think it's a great work.

I'm not sure... empathising with them makes the book easier to get into, and easier to understand the character. I find that that often makes the events in the book have a greater impact. Although sometimes, I guess it is better not to be able to empathise with a character, in order to have a more objective view on what is going on. I suppose that it really depends on what kind of book it is...

I think taht it is easier to like a work with a central character that you can empathise with, but that it isn't essential overall.

[Lote-Tree]

Characteristics of Jane Austen's Emma:

Very Pretty
Clever
Intellectual
High Spirited
Wealthy

Though I admit she was born into wealth - apart from that Emma is quite challenging. She is very much an individual. She does not need a man to be women. So in that respects she is admirable and even dignifying.

[Lioness_Heart]

Characteristics of Jane Austen's Emma:

Very Pretty
Clever
Intellectual
High Spirited
Wealthy

Though I admit she was born into wealth - apart from that Emma is quite challenging. She is very much an individual. She does not need a man to be women. So in that respects she is admirable and even dignifying.

But she has lots of negative aspects too: she is interfering, opinionated, and is also in many ways shallow, basing a great deal of emphasis on a person's social status. Although she has many admirable qualities, Jane Austen has made her into a character with many flaws.

[Lote-Tree]

But she has lots of negative aspects too: she is interfering, opinionated, and is also in many ways shallow, basing a great deal of emphasis on a person's social status.

Yes she is not Mother Teresa for sure.

But is being able to have opinions a negative trait?

She lived in a time when men had all the power so her having opinions is quite remarkable thing is it not?

As for shallowness - Can High Spiritedness and Intellect make one shallow? In her time a person's social status was very important...but even now a person's social status is regarded as still important...

[Lioness_Heart]

Yes she is not Mother Teresa for sure.

But is being able to have opinions a negative trait?

She lived in a time when men had all the power so her having opinions is quite remarkable thing is it not?

As for shallowness - Can High Spiritedness and Intellect make one shallow? In her time a person's social status was very important...but even now a person's social status is regarded as still important...

True, but she was opinionated in that she did not base her opinions on fact, and her shallowness is mainly with regard to how judgemental she could be, like with her trying to persuade Harriet not to marry that farmer guy (i've forgotten his name).