Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Janitors 2 and Persuasion


I wrote a review of Janitors 2 for the Deseret News .  .  . here’s the link. Fun, fun!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865564355/Whitesides-weaves-magic-in-second-book-of-Janitors-series.html


I also recently reread Jane Austen’s Persuasion. I’m not going to attempt a critique of a Jane Austen novel, but I’ll share a little synopsis. It’s an entertaining read!

Anne Elliot is a sweet, well-mannered young woman burdened with a vain, foolish father (I love this description: “Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character”) and two deplorable sisters. (Deplorable is an Austen-y word.) I have to smile that at “seven and twenty” Anne has lost her “bloom” (good looks) . . . makes me feel pretty haggard and I am not yet one and forty. (I love the quaint, early 19th century language.) (Sorry for all the parentheses.)

Eight years previous, Anne “formed an attachment” with the dashing Frederick Wentworth, a young man without name or fortune. They would have married, but young Anne was advised to end the attachment. Well, as you can guess, they meet again but under very different circumstances. Captain Wentworth has made his fortune and can now hold his own in Anne’s social circle.

Gentle, modest Anne still loves Captain Wentworth, but because she spurned him he believes she isn’t interested. He is now a worthy catch for Anne's unmarried sister and sisters-in-law. The attention he pays to the other young ladies is painful for Anne, and she doubts she will ever win him back.

Mr. Elliot (a cousin with suspicious motives), Mrs. Clay (an intruder into the family circle with a protruding tooth), and Lady Russell (Anne’s friend) round out the cast of leading characters.

Anne’s father and complaining sisters are priceless.

Love Jane Austen. Sigh.

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