Reviews Standalones

Review | Emma

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Author: Jane Austen.

“Emma is spoiled by being the cleverest of her family.”

Goodreads Synopsis

Emma Woodhouse considers herself the best matchmaker of her small town. However, she soon Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen’s most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organizes the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect.

My Thoughts

I’m not the biggest fan of classics, but Jane Austen holds a special place in my heart (and it doesn’t hurt that I love romance novels). If I’m being honest I didn’t know a thing about this story until the 2020 movie adaption came out, and as soon as I watched it, I fell in love with it.

I am aware that many people don’t like Emma, since they consider her to be selfish and spoiled. However, I’m one of the 0.000001% of people that love her. I am a sucker for characters that change and grow throughout the story and, in my opinion, this is what happened with this character all along the book. It’s true that she is not the most likable person, but she does have a good heart. She believes that she’s always doing the best for people and her intentions aren’t mean, though — obviously –, she’s not always right.

I also love Mr. Knightley. I think he’s a very good love interest that constantly tries to help Emma become the best version of herself. It is important to know that there is an age difference between him and Emma, but this is a topic that turns out to be practically irrelevant, considering that this wasn’t that big of a deal at the time.

Considering that I watched the movie first, I obviously compared many of the things that were changed, and what most stood out to me was the relationship between Emma and Harriet. I believe that the movie did a beautiful job with this because we got to see them become real friends and grow to love each other, something that doesn’t really happen in the book. In spite of this, I have to admit that book Harriet annoyed me VERY much, so I don’t really mind that Austen didn’t explore that relationship further.

Anyone who enjoys romance will love this book, and if you’re not the biggest fan of classics (like me), believe when I say that this is worth it.