“A fondness for reading, properly directed, must be an education in itself.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
…and we do remain quite fond of reading, even though we thought we'd NEVER, EVER, EVER get out of Mansfield Park alive!
Where last we left off, we both had barely entered the world of MP, and whilst I chose to stay there, INSIDE THE CRAZY PARK ALL WEEKEND, the grandd' and her husband and friends had headed north for a long weekend, not north enough to encounter the fires, but we were all under, very humbling and palpable smoky skies.
ME/LAST THURS: I wouldn't call this a spoiler alert but ... be glad you are getting respite ... by the time you get to chap 13 new dude arrives, an actor, and a play is going to be put on ... so now ... we have to keep track of all the characters plus the characters they'll be playing. Throw your book in a river!
HER: Oh, Jesus! So many people.
ME: All but Jesus. Clever though, a story inside a story as they work on the play … and then back to the story … but also tedious and I might die! Everyone just needs to either hook up or break up already! How is the air …
HER: It is cool, but confusing (the book, not the air). They love to dance around things, for sure, and refer to people in different ways, eveyr time, especially the narrator. Air is breathable but still hazy.
ME: Cool and confusing for sure. I am to chap22 and kind of to less of a "book burning" feeling and more of a love/hate feeling now as I continue. And uber-nutty, because in our heads, we are the narrator, and so WE are driving ourselves batty. Can't even blame Jane! Poor trees, poor everyone and everything. Stay safe. Try for monstrous fun.
HER: I'm a monstrous Mrs. Norris Hater.
FRIDAY ME: Plodding right along betwixt and between the drudgery of some housekeeping today. Made it to chap33 ... still more reading before I retire for the night. Clear skies and clouds here, better breathing tho the rest of the world continues to burn. I hope you are enjoying to the utmost felicity but do not overdue it and get yourself "knocked up." ...to which I have to say the cousin sister uglies were ripping on Fanny all the time, but the men including Eddie and Sir Tom always mention how knocked up she is, or on the verge of being so! Was she really that infirm and delicate?
HER: I'm just starting 13. It is mentioned all the time how weak she is. I'm getting so annoyed by miss Mary. She literally said forgive me because I'm selfish. And why is Edmund so enamored with her when she's shitting on what he wants to do with his life. Like, girl said you'd be nothing! And is saying how stupid it is!
ME: I am assuming it's poor nutrition before she came to them like she's anemic or something. They just never give it a break. Two seconds after I texted you about it, somebody pointed it out again. I almost googled to see if she lives until the end of the book, but I never spoil endings for myself.
Keep note of your Mary rage because later you can be even more pissed off. If I can read 65 more pages before bed, I can be to the exact middle of our giant 50pound/1200page PainAusten Complete Set!!!!!!!!! Whose idea was it to buy this cement block of a book?!?!? Our hands and wrists are going to be so knocked up and we will have achieved no felicity trying to hold this brick! [Keeping in mind that grandg' packed it up with all her gear for the up-north getaway. Readers be driven by the love of reading!]
HER: They also make her overdo it when Edmund isn't around. I mean, if I spend hours in the sun and had to walk however long in the hot sun I'd be down and out with a headache too! I'm not surprised Mary will piss me off more. I just feel it. She's a monstrous bitch.
ME: They make her overdo it and be Lady Bertram's constant companion.
HER: Literally, they treat the girl like a servant!
ME: I was monstrous ready to burn this book in the beginning, but now the momentum is certainly there. The beginning was boggyboggyboggy ... speaking of which ... forevermore we do not use the word marsh ... it's "water meadow" … just saying, forevermore!
HER: It's getting more interesting, for sure. Haha, love that. Water meadow is fun.
ME: And servant-ish … she does live in the attic and can't even have a fire up there. Hopefully, not a spoiler if you haven't got to that mention yet.
HER: That's crazy, forgot about that. They want her to freeze!
ME: I will take Symbolism for $5,000 please!
HER: [laugh emoji]
ME: Now remember, as you continue to read, if you get stressed, "tranquillise yourself"
SATURDAY ME: Finished! Much to discuss. Ha! [letting her carry on with her weekend/sending me great pics of the great wild north. In the meantime, to clean my brain out, I read two other books: Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves and Fights! by Scott McClanahan … HIGHLY recommmend both!]
SUNDAY HER: Henry Crawford is a vicious horrid man. Planning to try to get Fanny to fall for him for his amusement just so he can leave her heartbroken???
ME: You shall seethe to the very end. What page are you on?
HER: About to finish Chapter 24.
ME: Well, I suggest you stay hydrated. At the beginning of Chap24 one of my highlighter annotations is: "Henry must have Fanny now-- based on her up-and-coming beauty and her pretty little mouth--in the event that she "might" have something to say. GRRRRRRRR!" And at first Mary says the only reason he thinks she is pretty is because of her dress -- because Mary is a shithead, and also said that because the sisters are no longer around, who is he to compare Fanny to in the first place ... also because she is a bitch!
I have voodoo dolls for both Mary and Henry!
HER: Literally! She also was becoming apparently fond of Edmund but because it was clear she couldn't change him, which, girl, why the hell do you have to change him? You suck! Decided, nah. He's not good enough, and can't believe he'd want her to stoop to the level of the life he wants.
Henry is also kind of doing it because the other two are gone and because he can tell Fanny doesn't seem to like him. Which, like, yeah, she's not f-ing blind. She saw what you did to Maria and Julia, dude!
ME: Henry and Mary are both such fickle f's. In person, I'd be punching them in the neck ... re-peatedly!!!!!!!!!
HER: Seriously they are black-hearted to be sure.
***
HER LATER THAT EVENING: I am liking Sir Thomas more now. He's so sweet to Fanny.
ME: [heart emoji] … that's about all I can say … until further commentary later. But yes. And after commentary later, still yes.
HER: He wants to marry Fanny! Is he nuts?
ME: Super nuts AND thinks she will change her mind AND, insult to injury, for a time-- tho Sir Thomas notes that she should always have a fire in her day room (warmth)--he totally sides with the idea that Henry is a good idea and she's a bit ungrateful or has lost her mind!
HER: It doesn't help that he's only seen Henry's actions post his coming home, and the sisters leaving. And he doesn't know his actions towards them because Fanny doesn't want them to be in trouble either. And of course it's because … men! But at least Sir Thomas doesn't tell Aunt Norris and defends her a bit despite being disappointed.
ME: Sir Thomas is definitely torn.
TUESDAY HER: I finished!
They were really getting to me with Henry making even Franny think maybe he'd changed, but I was not fooled! I knew he'd f*** shit up. The audacity of Mary to blame Franny! Girl, you knew your brother was a conniving piece of crap. Go awayyy! So glad she could bring Susan back. That was so sweet. I am disappointed with just how long it took the story to actually have Edmund and Franny end up together, my goodness.
ME: Yay! You are done! Everything tied up so nicely, but holy hell, did we need the long beginning and the damn play, and the house and land restoration?!?! I was so happy when Sir Thomas doubled back and realized he couldn't force Fanny to marry Henry even after his first lecture about it ... but was kind of sad that his own daughters were kind of alienated because of their choices. And ha! Wasn't Susan's arrival the perfect replacement to be the a companion for the Mrs.! And then Eddie FINALLY realizes he loves Fanny! And Mrs. Norris ends up being kind of a discard! Henry and Mary ... discard! I fear tho ... if there were a sequel Fanny will die in childbirth. This book took a lot out of her! I am even surprised we survived!
HER: I was thrilled that Mrs. Norris, Mary and Henry did end up getting forgotten because good riddance. Oh definitely, I don't how she lived until the end of the book. I was really worried that Tom would die and then Mary would have said yes to a proposal from Edmund.
ME: All 3 of them (Mrs. Norris, Henry and Mary) were so 2faced. That's 6 faces too many.
HER: Yes, way too many. And nobody but Fanny could see it!
ME: Did you catch that one point where Fanny was feeling poorly … AGAIN! Towards the end of the book …and somebody tells her to go take a walk … I think Sir Thomas, and then when she came back, Bitchy Norris was like, "Oh, if she was going for a walk, why didn't she go do this? This? And this for us?"
HER: Yes, seriously everything was Fanny's fault according to Mrs. Norris. And Edmund was making me mad with how often he was telling her how in love with Mary he was, and just blah blah blah! She even agreed with Mary that the Henry Maria shit was Fannh's fault! Seriouslyyyyyy?!?!?!?
ME: I hated Mrs Norris so hard. And honestly I agree Ed was soooooo slow to pick up on, "Wait Mary is a total shit"--never mind the fancy harp playing--and then it still took too long for him to run to Fanny. I wanted to turn the pages faster like, "Get going, you dense idiot!"
I didnt start Emma yet ... but I did read a description of what we're heading into and it sounds a bit more fun.
HER: I hated her the most, to be honest. Literally, I was like, "Seriously, you take forever, Dude!"
ME: If there was a sequel maybe Fanny wouldn't die in childbirth due to her frailty because she doesn't get pregnant … BECAUSE Edmund takes forever to make love to her, and she just stabs him in the neck and then has an affair with Sir Thomas.
HER: Oh, no. I think he genuinely loves his wife.
ME: And her pug.
HER: Never forget the pug, the unsung hero.
ME: And she tried to bribe Fanny with a pug puppy, so turns out the Mrs. ran a pug puppy mill.
[A discussion then ensued about how we'd both be spending the next day … and when we'd dive into what looks to be a more whimsical and fun romp with Emma … we shall see.]
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