Lady Susan, Jane Austen
Lady Susan is a weird, weird book.
It's one of the earliest Austen books we still have, apart from the hysterically funny Love and Freindship and some scraps of juvenalia. It's pretty obvious that it's an early book; apart from the fairly stock characters, it ends abruptly when Austen (I think) just got sick of writing it. Still, it's interesting, I think at least partly because Lady Susan is one of the most unlikeable characters I've ever met, and yet she's fascinating. You really want to see what she does next.
The book follows Lady Susan as she visits her brother-in-law and causes chaos for everyone. She's trying to arrange a second marriage for herself while getting her own daughter married to a friend of hers while carrying on a relationship with a married man while attempting to get someone else's daughter jilted while keeping her brother- and sister-in-law in the dark about her intentions, and it's really fascinating to watch her juggle everything. I do wish we'd have gotten a real ending instead of Austen getting tired of the book and solving everything by authorial fiat, but what there is, is fun.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/333244.html. Please comment over there if possible.
It's one of the earliest Austen books we still have, apart from the hysterically funny Love and Freindship and some scraps of juvenalia. It's pretty obvious that it's an early book; apart from the fairly stock characters, it ends abruptly when Austen (I think) just got sick of writing it. Still, it's interesting, I think at least partly because Lady Susan is one of the most unlikeable characters I've ever met, and yet she's fascinating. You really want to see what she does next.
The book follows Lady Susan as she visits her brother-in-law and causes chaos for everyone. She's trying to arrange a second marriage for herself while getting her own daughter married to a friend of hers while carrying on a relationship with a married man while attempting to get someone else's daughter jilted while keeping her brother- and sister-in-law in the dark about her intentions, and it's really fascinating to watch her juggle everything. I do wish we'd have gotten a real ending instead of Austen getting tired of the book and solving everything by authorial fiat, but what there is, is fun.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/333244.html. Please comment over there if possible.