Book Review: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen


Northanger Abbey introduces us to Catherine Morland. A young lady who is about to take her first journey away from her somewhat sheltered home and start meeting young eligible bachelors. 

It’s in the style of books from the era that characters are described to the reader in detail before the story itself truly begins. It’s something that’s not done anymore, it goes against the more modern idea of ‘show, don’t tell’, but I find it quite refreshing. I’ve been given a description of Catherine, our heroine, before we start and now I know all about, not just her appearance, but her personality and her traits. Moving into the story it means I already have my expectations in place of how she’s going to behave. 

I found it a quite amusing book, I get the feeling that many of the characters were written somewhat tongue-in-cheek. John Thorpe and his complete ignorance of Catherine’s feelings towards him are somewhat cringe-worthy. Mr and Mrs Allen are adorable caricatures of well-meaning neighbours. But I especially enjoyed Henry’s gentle teasing of Catherine. 

Another stylistic choice that’s very reminiscent of the era is the insertion of the author into the story. They interpose and comment and foreshadow what’s going to happen. They become another character in the story, expressing their opinion and views.

I enjoyed Catherine’s journey. Despite not being a very smart girl, she’s got an overactive imagination which takes the reader on some interesting flights of fancy. I especially liked the digressions around reading novels. The author had some interesting, and passionate, points to make about the value of novels. I’ve now added ‘Udolpho’ to my TBR list because, like Catherine, I need to know what’s behind the veil. 

The only part I wasn’t happy with was the ending. I found everything was wrapped up too abruptly. Some of the explanations given for characters actions and behaviours seemed rushed and tacked on. It felt like either the author got bored and decided to just finish up as quickly as possible, or she was told that she’d reached her page limit and needed to wrap it all up. 

Hasty ending aside, Northanger Abbey was an enjoyable foray into the life of Catherine Morland. There’s a lot of girly chit-chat, but this is balanced by the humour of the other characters, and I couldn’t help but be seduced by all the book talk. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

Northanger Abbey meets criteria 1 (A book published posthumously) for the 2018 Read Harder Challenge.

Have you read Northanger Abbey? Did you enjoy it? Let me know in the comments below!

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