Another book read!

I finished Mansfield Park last night. I ended up loving it. I loved the characters...though Fanny Price is a little bit too good to be believed at times. With the terrible parents she had, I have a hard time thinking she could have turned out well even after being taken in by her Bertram relatives. I loved hating the awful Mrs. Norris, who put down poor Fanny at every opportunity. Fanny's gradual acceptance by her aunt and uncle, and her friendship and later love with cousin Edmund made for good reading. I loved seeing the terrible cousins and the Crawford siblings get what they deserved. Like any Austen novel, the right characters end up together, the good characters are successful and happy (like Fanny's brother William) the bad ones are punished (though cousin Tom manages to grow up and behave better).

The tangled love stories were a bit confusing at first. I never liked Charles Crawford, and didn't feel the least bit sorry for him when he truly fell for Fanny and was rejected, and wasn't surprised that he wrecked Maria's marriage. His sister Mary seemed to be nice at first, but turned out to be selfish and greedy- revealed to Edmund at last after Tom's illness (her unspoken but obvious thought that Tom's possible death would mean more wealth for the younger Edmund). It was obvious that Fanny always loved Edmund, and that he would end up loving her despite believing that Mary was the only one for him.

This novel was definitely more serious than Pride and Prejudice or Emma. The ruin of Maria and near-ruin of Julia was more terrible (though not wholly undeserved) than Lydia's elopement in P&P, or the foolish engagement of Edward and Lucy in Sense and Sensibility.

So that was book #52!

Up next- Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen, another one I haven't read before.