I want to be an heiress in a Georgian era novel
Break is coming to a close and I'm starting to feel my energy come back. This has been a lazy break for the most part, but I'm glad I allowed myself to rest. I haven't been around aim much or had my phone with me always. So, if I've seemed unavailable, sorry.
Not going to lie, I've been pretty consumed with reading my 943 page book the last couple of weeks. It's a sad state of affairs but besides hanging out with a few people and shopping with my mom, I've been a total book nerd. I can't put "Cecilia: Memoirs of an Heiress" down (been staying up to read until 5:00am some nights). You'd think that a book with so many pages and one written in 1782 would be grueling, but every paragraph brings a new funny/exciting/interesting observation. I wish I could write like that.
While Fanny Burney has similarities to the style of Austen, she brings a different, Dickens-esque, feel to her social satire. Austen avoided subjects such as death and extreme poverty. Fanny Burney masterfully juxtaposes the ridiculousness of the very rich with the suffering and hopelessness of the very poor. More importantly, she deals with the idle rich who squander their fortunes, manipulate others, and worry too much about losing their places in society when their financial state is "ruined." As much as we'd like to think we're nothing like 18th century society, it's chilling to see the similarities. The world has changed around us, but people are still as selfish and worried about "their place in the social world" as ever.
One of my favorite characters in the book is an older man who often talks to Cecilia at social functions. He gives names and descriptions to every "species" of human in the room. There are the "voluables" who talk loudly all the time and claim to "love" everyone but are really more concerned with themselves, the "sensiblists" who pretend they think everything is boring and everything is beneath them (think dude who says things like "Oh, I liked their first album but then they sold out), and many more who translate into modern perfectly.
At the center of the novel is Cecilia. She's an intelligent, genuine girl with a large fortune who has to navigate this ridiculous world and avoid people who want to use her for her money. Amidst all of her male admirers there's only one who, over time, she's fallen in love with. But, a million problems have kept them apart so far. The nice thing about their relationship is the fact that their feelings grew over time and out of mutual respect for each other. That's what I love about novels written in this era. Characters fall in love with people who bring out the best in them. If only we were all smart enough to choose our significant others so rationally.
I totally recommend the book if you're into satire. Don't be scared by the number of pages, there isn't a boring one to be found.
http://www.amazon.com/Cecilia-Memoirs-Heiress-Oxford-Classics/dp/0192839098/sr=1-2/qid=1168227651/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-0619035-9311212?ie=UTF8&s=books
Not going to lie, I've been pretty consumed with reading my 943 page book the last couple of weeks. It's a sad state of affairs but besides hanging out with a few people and shopping with my mom, I've been a total book nerd. I can't put "Cecilia: Memoirs of an Heiress" down (been staying up to read until 5:00am some nights). You'd think that a book with so many pages and one written in 1782 would be grueling, but every paragraph brings a new funny/exciting/interesting observation. I wish I could write like that.
While Fanny Burney has similarities to the style of Austen, she brings a different, Dickens-esque, feel to her social satire. Austen avoided subjects such as death and extreme poverty. Fanny Burney masterfully juxtaposes the ridiculousness of the very rich with the suffering and hopelessness of the very poor. More importantly, she deals with the idle rich who squander their fortunes, manipulate others, and worry too much about losing their places in society when their financial state is "ruined." As much as we'd like to think we're nothing like 18th century society, it's chilling to see the similarities. The world has changed around us, but people are still as selfish and worried about "their place in the social world" as ever.
One of my favorite characters in the book is an older man who often talks to Cecilia at social functions. He gives names and descriptions to every "species" of human in the room. There are the "voluables" who talk loudly all the time and claim to "love" everyone but are really more concerned with themselves, the "sensiblists" who pretend they think everything is boring and everything is beneath them (think dude who says things like "Oh, I liked their first album but then they sold out), and many more who translate into modern perfectly.
At the center of the novel is Cecilia. She's an intelligent, genuine girl with a large fortune who has to navigate this ridiculous world and avoid people who want to use her for her money. Amidst all of her male admirers there's only one who, over time, she's fallen in love with. But, a million problems have kept them apart so far. The nice thing about their relationship is the fact that their feelings grew over time and out of mutual respect for each other. That's what I love about novels written in this era. Characters fall in love with people who bring out the best in them. If only we were all smart enough to choose our significant others so rationally.
I totally recommend the book if you're into satire. Don't be scared by the number of pages, there isn't a boring one to be found.
http://www.amazon.com/Cecilia-Memoirs-Heiress-Oxford-Classics/dp/0192839098/sr=1-2/qid=1168227651/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-0619035-9311212?ie=UTF8&s=books