Jenn K.

22 de junio de 2025

Chiltern edition is exquisite

This review is for the Chiltern Classics hardcover edition of Persuasion.I decided to celebrate Jane Austen's upcoming 250th birthday by rereading all of her novels. I have had my mismatched collection of her works in paperback since the late 80s and they are falling apart. So, I started researching what editions I wanted to buy to replace them.If you're in a similar situation and aren't sure what's out there, YouTube is a really great place to see your options. So much of what draws us to a specific edition/publisher is based on personal preferences. You have a lot of options!I wanted an edition that would last my lifetime, would spark joy when I looked at it, and it was important that the publisher had released editions of all of Austen's work.The Chiltern editions are decadent. The covers are embossed and have delightful metallic shimmers that sparkle when light hits them. These books have gold or silver gilt pages. Persuasion has gold. The books have an attached black silk bookmark. These editions are as tactilely appealling as they are visually captivating.The pages are thick and glossy. The book is heavy and feels more expensive than what I paid for it. Please note that they often are on sale here for less than the suggested retail price!I ordered Mansfield Park first because I think it is the prettiest. I've slowly added the rest of the collection to my shelf and love how exquisite they look grouped together. Persuasion was my last purchase because I wasn't thrilled with how it looked online. Please know that it is absolutely beautiful in person!If you've never seen the Chitern collection, visiting their website is a treat. I only have their editions of Jane Austen. However, their collection looks like a wall of art when it is shelved together.I love the bindings of Chiltern classics. They are sewn (not glued). They open flat without creasing the spine. They feel sturdy and are satisfying to hold. So far, I have had none of the exterior decorations/print rub off (that is a common complaint with another publishing house's edition!). When I carry any of these editions in my purse/bag, I slip them into a soft felt book slip case envelope with a snapped top to help protect them.I found the print in this book to be easy on my eyes. I'm in my mid-50s and extremely myopic. I can read this book with my progressives on without any issues. The glossy pages can create a glare under artificial light. Adjusting the angle of my reading lamp helped! I haven't had any issues with glare in natural lighting.If you are a habitual annotator, this might not be the correct edition for you. I can't bring myself to desecrate a page to test how ink performs on the glossy pages. However, this publisher does sell this book as a set with a matching journal and offers the journal for sale separately if you decide you want it after you've already bought the book. Since I haven't bought the journals, I don't know what type of paper they use. My old paperbacks are heavily annotated and I empathize with those of you who read with a pen in hand! This edition just feels too special to mark up! It also encourages me to simply enjoy the story!These editions do not contain illustrations. I knew that when I purchased them and not having them didn't bother me. These don't have scholarly introductions. They also do not include endnotes. (Hint...if these things are important to you, there are several other editions that contain all of these. Shapard's annotated series is great for readers who are new to Austen's work. Also, the Wordsworth classics paperback boxed set is illustrated and has notes and is usually under five dollars per book).I am very disappointed that Chiltern has not released an edition of Austen's juvenilia, Lady Susan, and Sanditon! Most publishers print these in one edition and I have my fingers crossed that Chiltern has plans to do this as well. Please? I didn't realize this omission until I had already fallen in love with my Mansfield Park copy.I am thrilled with my Chiltern edition of Persuasion. Reading the Chiltern editions of Jane Austen's novels is a perfect way to celebrate her 250th birthday!Ver más

12 personas la encontraron útil

Martz

13 de agosto de 2026

Persuasion

Good book. I thought it started out slow but picked up. The language is different from what we are used to… or me personally.

Harris Farley

16 de octubre de 2024

I’m persuaded to write a good review (get it?)

This was an excellent book on many levels. I think in some ways I read it at the right time of my life, being the same age as the protagonists and filled with many of the very same sentiments and ideas. I’ll be honest and say that there is a repetitive quality if you’ve read other Jane Austen works (for myself that would be Pride and Prejudice), but I don’t feel as though that ever deterred me during my reading. In fact I found this book much more difficult to put down than Pride and Prejudice.Persuasion manages to be both a compelling and sweet love story between two people you can’t help but feel deserve happiness, and a great commentary on the things which persuade and shape people’s lives. There’s this wonderful, if at times blatantly obvious, struggle between the virtues and vices of both susceptibility to persuasion and firmness/obstinacy.It’s a more mature story (in whatever Regency Era England sense a 28 year old is considered “mature”) of love lost and enduring hope. Persuasion’s writing and prose had an incredible emotional depth I’d argue beyond that of Pride and Prejudice, and that depth made the characters really feel alive, and the pains and joys to be very real, even all these years after it was written.My few critiques revolve around the plot feeling partially predictable barring a couple shocking moments, but the real draw to this book is not the beats of the story so much as the poignant moments of love and hurt that speak to the reader’s personal experiences and understanding. I came away from Persuasion feeling satisfied with the depth of emotion I was compelled to feel, and feeling I learned a little of myself and my own ideas on persuasion and steadfastness. In my mind being able to take those things away from a novel sets it apart as something great.Ver más

11 personas la encontraron útil

M. Villanueva

16 de septiembre de 2009

Persuaded

I stayed up until two o'clock in the morning to finish Persuasion, a revelation in itself because the first time I picked up the book during my vacation in Jamaica, I barely comprehended it and couldn't get into it and ended up putting it down in exchange for one of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery. I decide to start it from the very beginning, and after about five hours decided I would risk not being able to get up on time in the morning just to see how it all turns out.Jane Austen's books, I've decided, is a little like watching a Shakesperean play (or any of the other British-made films like Snatch or Trainspotting, it takes a while to fall in with the rhythm of the language. Your brain eventually trains itself to accept some of the archaic English as not being gobblelygook, and you find yourself falling into the plot and caring and even admiring the beautiful if somewhat stilted, language.Now I have to admit that I have come into my admiration for Jane Austen late in life (about two weeks ago and I'm 41), and not for not having had exposure to her, either. I do have a degree in English Literature, and Jane Austen is pretty much part of the standard reading requirement for any college or university. I also seem to own all of the books, and I seem to recall doing a paper on Northanger Abbey, even though I couldn't tell you right now what that was all about. This is, however, my first time reading Persuasion, if you don't count the time I tried to pick it up in Jamaica two weeks ago.As an English major, I know that I was supose to revere Jane Austen, but I never understood why. Earlier readings had left no indelible mark on my soul, but for some reason, this time around, I truly was enchanted. With Persuasion, I believe a lot of it had to do with how Austen carefully shapes her characters. These are true people to me, I fancy myself to be Ann, and her two sisters seem to me be just like my two sisters, without the power of the baronet and servants and estates and all that other good stuff that can only come with being a part of that genteel class. Austen lets me live in a world so different from my own, so fascinating in its examination and yet filled with so much of the problems and realities that we would encounter in our everyday lives.Persuasion is a study in human nature. Some might argue that the characters lack depth, for they are either kind and good, like Ann, or selfish and shallow, like her sister Elizabeth. I think though, the genius is in the presentation of such flawed characters - Austen is biting and unforgiving in her portrayals. She is best when she is exposing some unjustness of social mores or grossness of character. But to be fair, even the good can make mistakes and be misled, and the good themselves are trying to determine what their proper place is in this unjust world. It is their goodness which earns them their well-deserved happiness while the selfish and shallow (no one seems truly evil in this book), like in any good fairytale, get what they deserve.

Linda

22 de febrero de 2020

A PROPER ROMANCE

If you’ve never read Jane Austen, this is probably not the best book to begin with, although some consider it one of her finest. Persuasion was the last book Jane Austen wrote before her death at age 41, published posthumous, thus considered her most mature book by nature. When reading Austen’s works, one must take into account the rigid patriarchal culture of the day, the differences in writing style, as well as the variations in vocabulary and sentence structure. There is a great deal of description and narration in Persuasion, as opposed to actual conversation—more ‘tell than showing emotion,’ more explanation than actually telling the story through the main character’s words. But once you become accustomed to the writing of Austen’s English era, the beauty of her remarkable heroins—characters that dared to step out of the cultural box of their day—are memorably revealed in all her books.Persuasion has been called the most lyrical of Austen's novels, the one with the most emotion. Unlike Austen's other books, where the plot depends on the characters changing, in Persuasion it depends upon the main characters remaining the same. It has been referred to as the great Cinderella story, featuring a heroine who is generally unappreciated and to some degree exploited by those around her, until a handsome prince appears on the scene, although seemingly more interested in the charms of others.At first glance, the social society of the Austen period of literature seems silly and frivolous, tied up with class distinctions and gossip, the privileged upper class wealthy verses the looked down upon working class. The culture makes it appear as if women had nothing better to do than plot how to marry a wealthy man! However, beneath the surface of Persuasion, there is a deeper, emotional story of discovering who you are, having a voice, and recognizing was love is. I actually identify with the main character, Anne, the middle child, the one designated to keep peace on both sides; to please the others, without voicing her opinions—of which she had many—often persuaded to agree with the norm.Sadly, most of the people in Anne’s life depended on her without actuality noticing her or acknowledging her point of view. In the end there are only a few who see her for the remarkable woman that she has always been, thus creating an unforgettable love story, the kind movies are made of. There were several movie versions made from the book, the 1995 and 2007 versions are particularly good. However, they’re better if you read the book first! Hang in there and don’t get bogged down with the English writing of the day. It’s worth the effort!“A man does not recover from such a devotion of a heart to such a woman. He ought not; he does not.” —Jane Austen, Persuasion

Meredith (Austenesque Reviews)

30 de noviembre de 2008

From the Author of "Pride and Prejudice"

"Persuasion" is a novel written by Jane Austen during the Regency Period in England. It was a time where single women were not allowed to be left unchaperoned with a gentleman. A time where people wouldn't dare say impolite things to others, and marriage was a way to improve your wealth, circumstance, and station.This is one of the 6 completed novels written by Jane Austen, while this one isn't as popular and famous as "Pride and Prejudice" that does not mean it is without merit or any less worthy of praise. If you found yourself liking the movie or book "Pride and Prejudice" you should give this one a try.Our herione "Anne Elliot" is the middle daughter out of three. Her mother died when she was young, her father is a silly, vain, and selfish man who spent so much money they are now facing financial troubles. They live in a lovely home called "Kellylynch Hall" which they must leave to find cheaper lodgings. Now they rent their home out to this couple (Admiral and Mrs. Croft) and take up residence in Bath.Anne is an admirable heroine. One with much sense, honesty, and simplicity. Her two other siblings are not so worthy, her oldest sister takes after their father, selfish, vain, alway self-promoting. Her younger sister is already married with children and very needy. She is also very selfish and a little bit of a hypochondriat.Now when Anne's family leaves for Bath she does not go with them, instead she stays close to their family home while staying with her younger sister. Here Anne is able to live without the shadow of her family, make acquaintances, and be of much usefullness towards everyone. She soon meets up with Captain Wentworth, who proposed to her eight and half years ago and was rejected. Anne did not reject him because she did not love him, she was persuaded by her family. What will they do now seeing each other again after eight and a half years?Overall the story was a very intersting read, you grew very interested in all the characters and their personalities as you always do when you read Jane Austen. It is one of her shorter books around 250 pages. The beginning is the only hard part to read, you might lose interest there but keeping reading it gets better real soon.This edition includes a chapter that was omitted in the completed version, it was kind of a first draft option and Jane Austen chose another scene instead. I don't know if other versions of this book have that chapter. It was interesting to see the alternative ideas Jane Austen had.