Persuasion by Jane Austen

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For July, there's a bonus Rake Appreciation Society book! In celebration of the new movie, there is a bonus live show to discuss Persuasion by Jane Austen! A classic with many iterations, I read the Amazon Classic edition since it was free via Prime Reading (as a prime member) and also included free audio. I read this via audiobook off and on at work. I was able to use this for the Hockey Champions Readathon to cover the forward prompt for Gabriel Landeskog (character that's a leader). It also worked to cover the new to you author prompt for Summer of Swoon and Bath (England or tub) for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo.

Eight years after falling in love and then separating, Anne and Captain Wentworth find each other spending time with the same families in Bath. As the continue bumping into each other throughout various social events, it becomes harder and harder to deny they still have feelings for each other. As Anne struggles with her family, she also finds herself more and more watching every little move Captain Wentworth makes to see if she can tell if he feels the same. When rumors run rampant that Anne is set to marry her cousin, Captain Wentworth shuts down. After overhearing her true feelings, he passes along the most loveliest of love letters.

This is my first Jane Austen and the first classic I've read since college. I did read this via audiobook and I do think that helped me get through some of the flowery language. I also wasn't expecting there to be as much humor in here. It's not a lot, but I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times. With the overall angstiness of the eight years of pining it was unexpected. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of 2nd chance romances, but I think that Jane Austen did really well in really making you feel the pining and loss and hope of Anne. Now this is was technically written as a contemporary when Jane wrote this, but I will be marking it as historical as well as a classic. Now, looking at this strictly as a romance, I do wish that we got more time of them together. The letter that he writes though, there's not may other things I've read that are that swoony. Jane Austen was really setting the standard and all the bars high back in 1817.

I was nervous that I was going to struggle with Persuasion, but I was so pleasantly surprised. It seems like it's a favorite from a lot of the people that came to the live show. Now I do also want to say that there wasn't really much said positively about the new movie. A lot of people recommended the BBC 2007 version though, so I definitely want to check it out at some point.

Have you read Persuasion?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Persuasion, Jane Austen, 4-stars, 1 day, Audiobook, 259 pages, published in 1817, traditionally published