Pages read: 179-257
Chapters read: 24-31
This week was the dramatic conclusion of Northhanger Abbey. It reads a bit like a soap opera minus the erotic passion and kissing. The drive behind relationships tends to be wealth and titles. In the end Catherine gets her man although she has to fret and worry for awhile since they are no cell phones for Henry to call. He must actually drive his carriage to her home if he wants to speak with her. In the end, I am not really sure why he wanted to marry her. Maybe because she was so in love with him and that made him love her or maybe it was to anger his father and teach him a lesson. It seems that eventually everyone in the book lives happily ever after except Isabelle and her wretched brother.
I have learned several things while reading this book. First of all, Jane Austen book's are not as boring as I thought they were. The second thing I learned is that I really like readalongs. They get you to read a challenging book with other people, that you may or may not read alone and it kinda forces you to keep to a schedule and then reflect on what you read. It is kinda like a online book chat. So I am going to read more Austen and participate in more readalongs.
I also plan to read Radcliffe's book The Mysteries of Udolpho soon, while Northhanger is still relatively fresh in my mind. I also want to watch the PBS film adaption of Northhanger Abbey as my reward for reading the book. I would like to thank Jennifer at Reading with Tequila for hosting the readalong. It was fun to participate.
Thanks for joining us! I loved the readalong. I think it definitely helps motivate us to read things we would normally skip and helps us all understand it on a deeper level.
ReplyDeleteI've got N.A. on my netflix queue! I've never watched it so I'm excited.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Catherine and Henry's marriage is another statement - that not every relationship is perfectly crafted and passionate like the one's we read of in books (which is ironic since N.A. is a novel, obviously). Just a thought that came to me now but I am just as perplexed about their relationship as you are.