Others: Overwhelmingly positive Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives; and her imagination and perceptions often lead her astray.
Genres: romance, historical fiction, literary fiction, young adult, classics
Lists: …
Charlotte Brontë
1847 · 489 pages · 37 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveThe novel is set somewhere in the north of England. Jane's childhood at Gateshead Hall, where she is emotionally and physically abused by her aunt and cousins; her education at Lowood School, where she acquires friends and role models but also suffers privations and oppression; her time as the governess of Thornfield Hall, where she falls in love with her Byronic employer, Edward Rochester; her time with the Rivers family, during which her earnest but cold clergyman cousin, St John Rivers, proposes to her. Will she or will she not marry him?
What made the match, strongest first
E.M. Forster
1910 · 341 pages · 6 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveHowards End is a novel by E. M. Forster about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. A strong-willed and intelligent woman refuses to allow the pretensions of her husband's smug English family to ruin her life. Howards End is considered by some to be Forster's masterpiece
What made the match, strongest first
F. Scott Fitzgerald
1920 · 182 pages · 13 reviews
Others: Mostly positiveHere is a novel, glamorous, ironical, compassionate – a marvelous fusion into unity of the curious incongruities of the life of the period – which reveals a hero like no other – one who could live at no other time and in no other place. But he will live as a character, we surmise, as long as the memory of any reader lasts. "There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.... It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again." It is the story of this Jay Gatsby who came so mysteriously to West Egg, of his sumptuous entertainments, and of his love for Daisy Buchanan – a story that ranges from pure lyrical beauty to sheer brutal realism, and is infused with a sense of the strangeness of human circumstance in a heedless universe. It is a magical, living book, blended of irony, romance, and mysticism. --first edition jacket
What made the match, strongest first
Charles Dickens
1800 · 788 pages · 6 reviews
Others: PositiveUpon its publication in 1857, Little Dorrit immediately outsold any of Dickens's previous books. The story of William Dorrit, imprisoned for debt in Marshalsea Prison, and his daughter and helpmate, Amy, or Little Dorrit, the novel charts the progress of the Dorrit family from poverty to riches. In his Introduction, David Gates argues that "intensity of imagination is the gift from which Dickens's other great attributes derive: his eye and ear, his near-universal empathy, his ability to entertain both a sense of the ridiculous and a sense of ultimate significance.
What made the match, strongest first
Stephen Chbosky
1999 · 216 pages · 12 reviews
Others: Mostly positiveThe Perks of Being a Wallflower is a young adult coming-of-age epistolary novel by American writer Stephen Chbosky, which was first published on February 1, 1999, by Pocket Books. Set in the early 1990s, the novel follows Charlie, an introverted observing teenager, through his freshman year of high school in a Pittsburgh suburb. The novel details Charlie's unconventional style of thinking as he navigates between the worlds of adolescence and adulthood, and attempts to deal with poignant questions spurred by his interactions with both his friends and family.
What made the match, strongest first
Mark Twain
1817 · 263 pages · 2 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveMark Twain created the memorable characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn drawing from the experiences of boys he grew up with in Missouri. Set by the Mississippi River in the 1840's, it follows these boys as they get into predicament after predicament. Tom's classic whitewashing of the fence has become part of American legend, and the book paints a nostalgic picture of life in the middle of the nineteenth century. Tom runs away from home to an island in the river, chases Injun Joe and his treasure, and even gets trapped in a cave for days with Becky Thatcher. The book is one of Twain's most beloved stories.
What made the match, strongest first
Loved itI love Emma a lot more than Persuasion, I would say. And I love Emma. And Emma is a really interesting one where again I feel like the more times I read it, the more I spot within it and the more like fascinating things I find within it.
Loved itEmma by Jane Austin is one of my favorite novels of all time... I read it again and I was kind of Blown Away by it.
Loved itEmma in my opinion this is probably my favorite one this one is just so good it is so funny it's so emotional and it's in my opinion I think the easiest to read the most accessible of all of her work it's just a fantastic book
Loved itNow, Jane Austen put her whole austissi into this book. It's an absolute corker. I think it's her Magnum Opus.
Loved ita book that completely rocked my understanding of what jane austen's fiction even is about and that really kept captivated me in the world of its heroine
Mixedi think emma as a novel is a lot of fun but i think it's acceptable enough i can't believe i just did that but it's definitely towards the bottom of jane austen's novels for me i find emma hard to connect with she is a lot of fun
Loved iti will not apologize for loving these books and they are completely my favorite books of hers
Loved itI love the story of Emma trying to matchmake all of her friends and how that kind of ends up becoming a disaster and I just love this story
