★★★★★ 5
AND MY WIFE THINKS SHE KNOWS HER AUSTEN! HA!
Jane Austen has a lot of fans. I am one of them. My wife is another. People have been arguing the merits of Austen's novels for quite a number of years now; some people love her work, others do not. This is as it should be. We can take this premise of love/hate Austen a step further though. It has been my experience over the years that there is conflict even among those who love this writer's work and that everyone seems to have their favorite novel. This is also only right.
The problem is though that I have found people who read Jane Austen are also a very opinionated lot and quite often harsh words are spoken when discussing the strengths, merits, flaws, dislikes, etc. of Austen's various works. Alas, I have to report to you that this is the case in our household; a normally peaceful place filled with tranquility and marital bliss...about 49 years of it...thank you very much!
Yes, we are a family torn asunder. My wife (silly girl) feels that Emma is Austen's best work, while I, who am far more knowledgeable of such matters, prefer her novel, Pride and Prejudice...of which I am sure most of you will agree....me, not her, i.e. my mistaken wife. (Emma, bless her heart, is such an aggravating little twit).
Anyway, this is really not a review of Emma, the work (I will admit that it is a very fine read worthy of multiple readings ever few years), but rather that of the actual book edition on sale here. I felt sorry for my wife when I saw her ragged copy stuffed into one of her already overly stuffed bookshelves and felt a new edition was in order. I bought this one for her.
For the asking price of this book, including S&H, I cannot for the life of me figure out why people are disgruntled and unhappy with it. It is very well bound, the font is extremely readable, the quality of paper is quite good, the dust jacket is extremely attractive and all the pages were present. I check the binding very closely when the book arrived, and again, for what I paid for this thing, it was excellent! Trust me...I know about such things. Hey folks, this is not advertized nor is it a leather bound first edition! This is a workable, useful book for everyday use.
Now I have both this work and P&P down loaded to my Kindle. The chances of my wife ever using one of these reading machines are as about as likely as pigs flying next mayday. It ain't going to happen. Therefore, she now has a new hardback book; one that will quite likely outlast both of us; It did not cost me a fortune. She can read her copy; I can read mine and the war between us that has been going on since we were in our early teens can continue.
Bottom line...this is a good buy. And I must tell you, my wife was delighted with it.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
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Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2011
