As I have mentioned before a couple of times, I am a big fan of reading, and I have been doing a lot more of it lately. But after finishing with the David Mitchell, I didn't know where to go. Should I pick up another of his books? Should I go for a lighter read and pick up a Meg Cabot or Sophie Kinsella? Or should I put aside my preordained notions of authors and go by category - comedy, thriller, suspense or drama? As I was wondering about this, I stumbled across a book that was lurking in Michael's room and decided that it was time to give a classic a try.
I had one of Jane Austen's novel as a setwork in my third year of University, but I never really got into the language of Mansfield Park, and so it ended up gathering dust on my shelf, occasionally been paged through when it came to writing essays but ignored by and large. I had, however, heard great things about her writing and always intended to come back to her one day - maybe not through Mansfield Park, but maybe through Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, one of those books that has had a movie put to them so that I can picture the movie while I read the book and can understand the storyline better. I always figured that I would need the support of a movie to understand Jane Austen, you see. Her language just seemed to complicated otherwise. And then I stumbled across Northanger Abbey. There was no movie put to this work as far as I could tell, or at least not one starring a notable actress like Keira Knightley or Emma Thompson. I was completely on my own for this one, but I decided to take up the challenge.
I was less than five sentences into my reading of the novel when I came across a sentiment of the author that made me burst out laughing (leading to Michael staring at me from across the room with the look of someone worried about another's sanity.)
"Her father was a clergyman, without being neglected, or poor, and a very respectable man, though his name was Richard..."
Anyone who knows me and my experience with men named Richard, will have heard me say (possibly on more than one occasion) that the only sensible nickname for these men is Dick. There is none more appropriate, and the fact that Austen seemed to agree with me led to my already deciding that the two of us would get along. I paged through the rest of the novel, trying to even out my reading of it so that I could enjoy Austen for longer, and would regularly interrupt whatever it was that Michael was doing at the time to inform him of some witty or quirky comment that Austen had made. I found that there was no need for a movie to guide my reading, as I could picture all of the scenes in my mind, could hear the characters voices in my head, could read of the comings and goings of Catherine as though a dear friend were telling me about them. I suddenly found myself swept up in the lifestyle of balls and tearooms and didn't want to leave!
Unfortunately, the novel came to an end all too soon, and I did find bits of it a little predictable, but that didn't take away from my entertainment of the novel in the slightest. On conclusion of the novel, I made a number of decisions. The first was that I would have to read all of Austen's works, next in line being Pride and Prejudice (not because of the movie this time, but because I can imagine how humorous she must have made some parts of it). One of them is quite a bold decision, and it is one that is likely to flop completely or one that I may give up on along the line.
Upon reading the last few pages of the book, it dawned on me that this could very easily be made into a modern adaption for teenagers, something along the lines of 10 Things I Hate About You, as the characters themselves are teenagers (or young adults) and I can just picture how the story could relate. And so, as April is the month for Script Frenzy, I have decided to try and write the screenplay for it myself.For those of you who do not know what Script Frenzy is, you basically have to write a 100 page play, screenplay or anything of the kind in one month. I will update you all on how that goes.
I really like your review. I will definitely be reading all of Jane Austen's books now.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty cool how you manage to make her sound like a friend who was there in the room with you. I found it really interesting following your adventures in Korea and am glad you're still writing articles :)
I like your conversational style of writing, it makes the reader keep wanting to hear more, it too is very conversational, as well as being quite humourous, I often feel as if I am in your shoes just through reading about your experiences, you are really good at painting a scenario in just the right amount of words. Please keep writing!