My Thoughts
Emma was a challenging yet rewarding read. It tested my patience, expanded my reading comfort zone, and left me curious to explore more classics — while also appreciating the ease of modern storytelling.
Rating
3 stars
Reflection
I’ve just finished reading Emma by Jane Austen, and I can confidently say it’s been quite a reading journey. This was actually the first classic I’ve ever picked up from the Penguin English Classics collection, so I went into it without any prior experience reading older literature. To be completely honest, it was difficult for me to get into at first. The language, the sentence structure, and even the way the story flows felt so different compared to modern romance novels I’m used to. It took me almost three weeks — nearly a month — to finish, but I’m genuinely happy that I pushed through and completed it. I can definitely understand why Emma receives such mixed reviews. On one hand, Jane Austen is a literary icon and one of the pillars of romance fiction. On the other hand, the book presents a very complicated protagonist — one I personally didn’t like for the majority of the story. Emma, as a character, is incredibly vain and self-assured. She believes she understands the world around her despite living a very sheltered life. What frustrated me most was how people around her — especially the men — seemed to idolize her and view her as this perfect woman, adding another layer to her already self-centered personality. It wasn’t until Mr. Knightley began calling her out on her behavior that I started to appreciate her development as a character. The storyline is complex, and while I found the supporting characters like the Eltons far from likable, I could still understand where they were coming from within the context of the plot. Despite my frustrations with Emma as a character, I did enjoy the book overall. It’s amusing, insightful, and full of subtle commentary on society and human nature. However, reading nearly 500 pages of a character who constantly tests your patience can be exhausting at times. Now that I’ve finished Emma, I’ve been told that I will likely appreciate Pride and Prejudice on a completely different level — which I’m really excited about, especially since I just bought it today.