I wanted to finish this novel so much! When we got our course syllabus at the beginning of the year I was excited that this novel was included because ever since years ago when I read Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (my favourite novel ever by the way- Jane rocks!) I have always wanted to read this. I have tried different times before only getting part way through, but without motivation I got bored and set it aside.
I didn’t get as far as I wanted to in this insanely long novel and I am late writing in my blog as class is tomorrow (to understand why, please read proceeding blog article and you will see). I wanted to be a good girl, ahead of things and read the whole novel to be prepared for class. Sigh, naturally that didn’t happen. But at least I can comment on the parts I did read!
Once getting into the novel, I must say that I find it an enjoyable read (and will continue reading as much as I can too). I find a lot of the details about the characters lives interesting like the greed of the wealthy but not so interesting the annoying details given about every last thing (just my opinion I’m sure). I could feel the isolation as they traveled, and the fear from the dangers surrounding them. It was not exactly a “scary” read, but I can feel some of the gothic elements there like the isolation of the dark woods, a fiddle playing ghost, fire gypsies and the fear of travelling (especially at night). I think we take it for granted that we have cars with locks keeping us safe, street sign guiding which way to go and street lights that light the way for us at night. It must have been virtually impossible for them to travel without daylight.
I do find how woman were practically helpless and totally relied on men scary. Life can change any second, just like Emily’s, and a woman could be left alone and powerless easily. *Shudder* that I find terrifying. I knew it was true that woman could not govern their futures themselves, but by reading about Emily’s downward battle against fate put it more into perspective for me. It must have been dangerous to be born a woman. Emily did play the part of weak heroine well though. I remember laughing out loud towards the beginning of the novel when “Receiving no answer, he went to the carriage, and found her sunk on the seat in a fainting fit” (pg 38 in my book). I know it isn’t exactly hilarious, but just the image of her lying with the back of her hand across her forehead like a terrible actress trying to dramatically swoon makes me giggle.
Just on an after- thought, I wanted to comment on how it seemed like every second word that I read was the word “twilight”. Now, that could be because Ann Radcliffe really liked that word, or because of the New Moon movie that is out and my fascination with that word shows what a totally obsessed twilight freak I am. Sigh, that is probably what it is 
