Emma (spoilers)
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- ALynnPowers
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Re: Emma (spoilers)
- PashaRu
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There is so much to dislike about the book. Overall, character portrayal was weak. I'm not sure who I was supposed to like and dislike, except for the Eltons. Was I supposed to like Emma? I didn't. For the entire book, I had a hard time getting a handle on who she is supposed to be. Was I supposed to see some personal growth in her? I didn't. Right up to the end, she remained essentially the same proud, selfish, spoiled young woman. Her sudden change of opinion toward Jane - I didn't buy it. Her sudden change toward Mr. Martin - I didn't buy it. These plot points seemed baseless and simply convenient ways to get to a happy ending. The other characters were weakly portrayed as well, except maybe for Mr. Woodhouse and Frank Churchill. I was ambivalent about Knightley, Jane F., Harriet, The Bateses, pretty much everyone. The characters were just not well drawn. Knightley never came across as the strong character I wanted him to be. Jane F. was not strongly portrayed, and I never really got to know her. We were told that Harriet is a sweet, pretty, innocent young thing, but she seemed to fall in love with a new man every 10 chapters.
And I was 2/3 of the way through the book before I actually became slightly interested in any of these people or their lives. Slightly. No plot to speak of, just uppity wealthy people consumed with the idea of romance and marriage and frequently talking about each other behind each others' backs. Wonderful. I wouldn't want them as my circle of friends, that's for sure. And the writing style/narrative was quite underwhelming. A lesson on how to make uninteresting events seem even less interesting.
I do believe that if this book was submitted to a publisher in today's world, it would be summarily rejected. There would have to be some major changes for this to be accepted by a publisher. Plot, character portrayal, balance of narrative vs. dialogue (especially in the first half of the book), and the dialogue itself are all problematic.
I agree, I would give this book 2 of 5. Even though that rating is not allowed here, too bad. It is what is is.
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In answer to the question if I liked the movie Emma. I felt that that Gwyneth Paltrow portrayed Emma perfectly she is silly and immature but towards the end starts to mature. I liked the movie!
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