Overview
‘No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her to be born an heroine.’
Catherine Morland loves gothic novels, but – significantly – does no tlive in one. She holidays in Bath with her neighbours, the Allens. Mrs Allen is obsessed by having no companions and the sartorial style of herself and others. And that there’s no one for Catherine to dance with.
Catherine meets Henry Tilney and is charmed by him. He’s funny and cynical in a deadpan way with a focus on the ‘proper way to conduct oneself’. Mrs Allen is reacquainted with Mrs Thorpe, an old school friend and Catherine meets her three daughters and finds a friend in Isabella, who has romantic designs on Catherine’s brother, James.
After 6 weeks, General Tilney invites Catherine to stay at their home, Northanger Abbey, which she fancies as something form a novel. It’s not, despite Catherine attempting to make it fit that mould.
Review
Gothic elements
I’m a fan of gothic fiction and loved the way Austen used this rom-com to play with the literary devices of the time. I’m used to literary huge, over the top family send-offs and enjoyed the fact that Mrs Morland ‘knew so little of Lords and Baronets’ that her caution to her daughter was to wrap up warm.
The tropes were handled with what I’m recognising as Austen’s much famed wit. The trip to the castle which first piques Catherine’s excitement as being an actual from-a-novel castle is dampened when her visit with the Tilneys is ruined because of it. Northanger Abbey itself is a huge disappointment – a feeling I identify with after being disappointed by converted homes that belie a modern touch when entered.
Everywhere Catherine looks for intrigue it will not appear. Even when she forces her way into an old, mysterious trunk and a locked tallboy, neither delivers anything more than domestic storage and forgotten lists.
Relatability
Remove the alcohol and falling over from my teen years and this book is the most relatable classic I’ve read so far. What I’m enjoying about reading these is seeing the same aspects of human nature that we still see today.
John Thorpe’s constant bragging about the speed of his horse and cart can only be mirrored by a 16-year-old boy who refuses to shut up about his beloved Ford something or other. Isabella’s coyness and faux friendship has been lived by this blogger a hundred times over.
Humour
This is mainly directed at anyone who, like me, was told at secondary that Jane Austen is funny but didn’t believe it.
They’re not just saying it. She really is and this novel is so far the best example of her wit I’ve come across. The book is genuinely funny and so easy to read. It’s a good one to start with if you feel like you should start reading Jane Austen’s books.
Quotability
This novel houses some of the most quotable lines I’ve read in one place in years on subjects that cover journalling to the brilliance and necessity of novels to mothers and daughters.
”Only a novel!’…only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of with and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.’
Catherine Morland
Catherine is one of my favourite characters that I’ve recently come across. She’s relatable, sweet and curious, depsite being someone renowned for not being renowned for anything. She reminds me of Penelope, from the novel Penelope by Rebecca Harrington.
A notable mention also for Isabella Thorpe, who I found very entertaining to read about but awful as a person.
Journal Summary
The Escape Artist's Book Journal 