Summer Reading: Persuasion

I am not the voracious reader that my wife is.  I like books and I have lots of them.  Most of which, I accumulated we got married.  I just don't usually spend as much time reading as she does.  Each  summer, I try to read more than I usually do and as I've tried here before, I will try to review each book I finish this Summer.

Today's Review

Persuasion by Jane Austen



My experience when it comes to reading a book adaption of a movie I have seen or seeing a movie version of a book I have read is generally the same.  I tend to like the version which  I have read or seen first better than the one I've experienced second.  This is not necessarily the Case with Jane Austen's Persuasion.

I really enjoy the film Persuasion and have just recently finished the novel.  I am a big  fan of Austen's works generally through the medium of film.  I found that the reading of Persuasion really enhanced my appreciation of the film.  Much of the dialogue in the movie is pulled verbatim from the book.  The only difference being that it was adapted into dialogue from exposition in the original source.  This task is done artfully by the filmmakers and removes any need of a voiceover narration which would have hampered the cinematic presentation.

On the other hand,  a reading of Persuasion gave me new insights and understanding of her characters some that I had grown to love and others I had learned to disdain in my multiple viewings.  Mary, for example, is a much worse sister to Anne on paper than celluloid.  If you have seen the film, you know that is quite an achievement.  There is also more to like about Captain Wentworth, Mrs. Smith and even Lady Russell.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, especially those fond of any Austen work in print or pixel.

Next Time: Post of the Week

You can find this post at both Home School Dad and Your Basic Dave where I am posting concurrently over the summer.