Persuasion
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3.4 • 474 Ratings
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Publisher Description
A woman of no importance, she manoeuvres in her restricted circumstances as her long-time love Captain Wentworth did in the wars. Even though she is nearly thirty, well past the sell-by bloom of youth, Austen makes her win out for herself and for others like herself, in a regenerated society.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Stevenson has read all of Austen's novels for audiobook, in abridged or unabridged versions, and her experience shows in this delightful production. Though dominated by the intelligent, sweet voice of Anne Elliot the least favored but most worthy of three daughters in a family with an old name but declining fortunes Stevenson provides other characters with memorable voices as well. She reads Anne's haughty father's lines with a mixture of stuffiness and bluster, and Anne's sisters are portrayed with a hilariously flighty, breathy register that makes Austen's contempt for them palpable. Anne's voice is mostly measured and reasonable an expression of her strong mind and spirit but Stevenson imbues her speech with wonderful shades of passion as Anne is reacquainted with Capt. Wentworth, whom she has continued to love despite being forced, years before, to reject him over status issues. Listening to Stevenson, as Anne, describe a sudden encounter with Wentworth, one hardly needs Austen's description of how Anne grows faint Stevenson's perfectly judged and deeply felt reading has already shown that she must have. Even those who have read Austen's novels will find themselves loving this book all over again with Stevenson's evocative rendition ringing richly in their ears.
Customer Reviews
A probable read
If you wish to know what is the whole “I-am-a-crazy-Jane Austen-fan” buzz about, then this is not the book you must place your first 3 to-read list. I suggest you start with Pride n Prejudice, followed by Sense and Sensibility, then Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and then Persuasion would be an appropriate sequence to follow. This is a book where you already know her pattern even if it is just the second or third book you are reading. You don’t want this comparatively smaller book to spoil P&P or S&S for you. If it’s been a while and you wish to read some Austen again but not RE-read anything previous, then you may have a small delight in this short get-together with her writing. Thus, I do not rate it enough.
Beautiful book!
“You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others”
These lines really affected me. The beauty with which Jane Austen writes has captivated me in a way no author ever has! I cannot believe how much I was missing by not reading her work, and now I simply cannot read anything but hers!
Pleasant
Enjoyed reading the book. Yet, it did not feel so wholesome as Pride and Prejudice. Anne Elliot has been established as an intelligent personality yet one doesn’t get the bite of her mind as much. She seems to be more of an observer throughout the novel. And how I wish there was more communication between Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot. There was just one chapter dedicated to their elaborate conversation.
I acknowledge the circumstances of the story yet the yearned for more.
Then again what do I know!
A pleasant read for sure.