The Three Weissmanns of Westport - Cathleen Schine

Synopsis: Betty Weissmann's husband of 50 years decides to divorce her for a younger woman, so at 75 years-old Betty takes a house in Westport Conn., and her two grown daughters move in with her. Betty decides it's best to consider Joseph dead while he drags out the details of their divorce, "May he rest in peace." Both daughters have had their share of life and love, but handle things entirely differently. Annie is stable, worried about their steadily decreasing funds, and might be in love with the intelligent writer who is the brother of her father's new "friend." Miranda's publishing company is falling apart because she's published memoirs that were entirely made up (ring any bells) and she, again (!), falls head-over-heels for someone she's just met. Can these three women survive together and make a new family out of what is left?

Comments: Oh, the frailty of man - it makes for a universal study of how people act, interact, over react and cope with the changes, mostly unexpected, that life deals you. The Three Weissmanss of Westport was an interesting character study of a limited number of people most with very specific self absorbed motives. Loosely based on the themes of Sense & Sensibility, if you know that story there are some things that you see coming, but the book does not slavishly following the S&S story line so there are divergences along the way. There are some absolutely charming secondary characters, most especially Cousin Lou and Roberts, and some truly despicable characters, but I won't mention them by name as to avoid ruining some well written scenes of pettiness, peevishness and simple immaturity. The language to describe Westport and environs is clear and well conceived at least to the mind of someone such as myself that has no understanding of the coast unless it's on the western shore of England or the Gulf Coast of Florida. Perhaps someone with more intimate knowledge of the area would differ, but I get a sense of the place and that is important to me.

One description of the book calls it "the best tearjerker finale you're likely to read this year," (Publishers Weekly via Amazon), but I find that earlier parts of the books are way more tragic in a human way than the end. Sure the ending is sad-ish in a way, but no where near as devastating as the cruelty that befalls Betty, Annie and Miranda during the course of the few months of the divorce. This book is a journey for three women and those who interact in their lives. I enjoyed it greatly and highly recommend it whether you've read Sense & Sensibility or not. 

Mansfield Park - Jane Austen

Summary: Fanny Price, niece of Sir Thomas and Lady Burtram, is brought to Mansfield Park at 10 years old from the squalor of her home overflowing with noise, many other children and some degree of poverty. The Bertrams, along with Mrs. Norris, Fanny's other aunt, plan to raise her and educate her. She is younger than her cousins, Maria and Julia and even more so than Tom, eldest brother, and Edmund. What is supposed to be good for her has made her very unhappy because she's constantly reminded that she isn't really one of them. The only cousin who sees her unhappiness is Edmund and goes out of his way to make her happy at the age of 10, but also throughout her time at Mansfield Park. Change bring a new family to the neighborhood, Sir Thomas must travel for business, and all the while the Fanny and her cousins are growing up. 

Comments: (some spoilers) There is such a controversy about this book or perhaps more about its heroine, Fanny Price. Most people think she's just too mousy, quiet, boring ... the adjectives go on and on. I'll admit, Elizabeth Bennet ... she isn't. It took me a long time to come around to this story, but I finally think I have gotten somewhere close to understanding it. There is a certain deception that goes along with the story. The deception that surely Fanny Price isn't the heroine is the first one. It must be the bright, bubbly Mary Crawford (a new addition to the neighborhood), but we see too much of her duplicity early in the story for that to be so. Consequently we're just left with Fanny Price as our heroine. Edmund is certainly deceived in Mary Crawford, so for that matter, is Maria Bertram deceived in Henry Crawford, Mary's flirtatious brother. I could go on, but Mansfield Park points out that what is important is what you do and how you think, not just necessarily what you say. The only person who is not deceived is Fanny. She see things, the things that matter and does not let flattery or threats, for that matter, shake her sense of what is right and proper. Now maybe that's boring to us now because what is proper doesn't seem to matter as much to our culture. Maybe this is such a misunderstood text because it does not translate well into the 21st century. 

Another theme to appear in Mansfield Park is the contrast of  The Country with that of  The City. Mary Crawford sees her exile to the country as a dead bore (at least until she spends some time w/Edmund) while Edmund thinks the small character flaws he does see in Mary are from all the time in the city with her society friends. After several noisy bustling weeks at "home," Fanny longs for the green of the country and her real home - Mansfield Park. Maria and Julia long to get to the city to escape their oppressive father, but nothing happens for them there but trouble in Julia's case and ruin in Maria's with Henry Crawford.

Fanny Price is by no means the most exciting or even endearing heroine ever penned by Miss Austen, but she certain teaches a lesson to do what is right, be patient, kind, and grateful and serves as a contrast to all around her.  

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

Summary: Seventeen year-old daughter of a clergyman, Catherine Morland, leaves her small community with friends Mr. and Mrs. Allen for her first trip to Bath. While there Catherine is introduced to the charming Henry Tilney and becomes friends with his sister Eleanor. She also meets the daughter and son of an old friend of Mrs. Allen, Isabella and John Thorpe. General Tilney invites Catherine to spend time with his daughter Eleanor at their home in Northanger Abbey.

Comments (some spoilers): I came to Northanger Abbey rather late... ie. There was nothing left of Miss Austen's to read but this, so I read it. The first time, I wasn't sure what I thought - it seemed a bit silly, but the second time I started to see that Catherine was an experiment. Described early on as basically a tom boy, she was not set out to do great things, but as she grew older, she became a sweet girl who wanted to look for something new. She was so young and so naieve, but she was slowly learning, sometimes the hard way, what the world was about. She's also been very influenced by her recent reading of Gothic novels. She has an internal strength that won't let Isabella or John Thorpe or even her beloved brother make her do the improper thing. She has a devotion to Henry Tilney that of course makes it easy for him to love her and a love of Eleanor Tilney as the type of true friend worth having. Were she a bit older, she might be more like Elizabeth Bennet. If that were the case, she would have seen through Isabella very early on, but Catherine has seen so little of the world, that it just wasn't possible. Just like her inability to understand why Captain Tilney acts in the way that he does when it seems so very clear to her that he is in the wrong. But she also has the ability to manage to get home from Northanger Abbey alone when the time abruptly comes. 

I just love the description of Mrs. Allen. "Mrs. Allen was one of that numerous class of females, whose society can raise no other emotion than surprise at there being any men in the world who could like them well enough to marry them." Her fascination with dress and have aquanticenes in Bath, was amusing.

Henry Tilney is the most charming of Austen's heros. From the very beginning he is witty, fun, smart -- and utterly charming. I can see why so many Janeites are on Team Tilney. No brooding Mr. Darcy, no resentful Captain Wentworth here, just a lovely intelligent guy with a fun sense of humor who can't help but fall in love with Catherine since it's so obvious that she is in love with him.

One of my favorite lines after a conversation between Catherine and Miss Tilney: "This civility was duly returned; and they parted -- on Miss Tilney's side with some knowledge of her new acquaintance's feelings, and on Catherine's, without the smallest consciousness of having explained them."

I've made my feeling clear on Isabella and John Thorpe before, so I won't belabor the point

All in all, I've come to enjoy Northanger Abbey and Catherine and Tilney make a lovely couple.