It's so sad, too, because it's not like she doesn't write well. But she takes it with deathly seriousness, and Jane Austen just does not do that.
Of the three Joan Aiken I've read, Mansfield Revisited is the least likely to drive anyone nuts; it's enjoyable and well-written and above all, short, so she doesn't have time to really start the character destruction. I mean, Eliza's Daughter...*shudders*
Emma I just hated, but I felt while reading that Jane didn't hate her so much as found her very, very funny. Not--I don't want to say disapproval, but there was a strong sense of Jane Austen thinking Emma really needed to put her elitist little feet on the earth.
Emma improves tremendously if you think of it as Emma having an unrequited crush on Jane Fairfax and an affair with Harriet. A lot of really odd blind spots make sense at that point.
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Of the three Joan Aiken I've read, Mansfield Revisited is the least likely to drive anyone nuts; it's enjoyable and well-written and above all, short, so she doesn't have time to really start the character destruction. I mean, Eliza's Daughter...*shudders*
Emma I just hated, but I felt while reading that Jane didn't hate her so much as found her very, very funny. Not--I don't want to say disapproval, but there was a strong sense of Jane Austen thinking Emma really needed to put her elitist little feet on the earth.
Emma improves tremendously if you think of it as Emma having an unrequited crush on Jane Fairfax and an affair with Harriet. A lot of really odd blind spots make sense at that point.