12/3/22

I read Lady Susan five years ago, and I finally read Sanditon this time. Because I plan on checking out the Masterpiece television drama based on Austen's last novel, I wanted to read the batch of chapters she finished before she died.

I also wanted to get a glimpse of Miss Lambe, the only Black/mixed race character Austen ever created. ( )

Read 22 pages. Couldn't get into it. Taking a break.

Lady Susan is a treat, with a deliciously wicked title character; it's slightly trashy and catty as hell and I really can't recommend it enough.

The Watsons is an abandoned novel of an impoverished woman of respectable family trying to find a suitable match; it's little more than a sketch and most of what's there looks like it would become parts of Austen's major novels. The unfinished Sanditon is a satirical look at a seaside resort and is much more polished than the other two works; it has the seeds of what could have been a masterpiece. ( )

Lady Susan, The Watson’s, Sanditon is an omnibus volume of Jane Austen’s earlier works. She is much more cutting here than in her later, better-known volumes. Lady Susan is a complete beast of a woman: conniving, manipulative, and thoroughly selfish. She attempts to marry her daughter to a much older man, completely against the girl’s will, and tries to match herself up with a true catch. This being Austen, all does end well; the rather mean delight is in seeing Lady Susan fail.

The Watsons is the weakest of the three stories here. Emma Watson has to return to her father’s home after living with a wealthy aunt. The story is unfinished, so we can appreciate Emma’s chagrin at the behavior of her siblings, but that’s all.

Sanditon is full of delicious characters. Lady Denham, in particular, stands out as an unbelievably vain woman who has to be the most important person at all times. The thin plot involves the development of a seaside resort. Although Austen didn’t live to finish the book, it’s clear that this would have been a lighthearted look at the foibles of those attempting to be just a bit more significant than they really are.
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