Rereading Review: "Persuasion" by Jane Austen

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Persuasion is one of those books I've been meaning to reread - as I have with a few of Jane Austen's works. So far, I have done Northanger Abbey and I have failed to write about my reread of Sense and Sensibility for some unknown reason. But, I have found my copy of Mansfield Park and so, I hope I get around to writing about it. I think I have to admit that Sense and Sensibility is not my favourite Jane Austen novel, but it is definitely very good - the Dashwood sisters really are quite something. I don't know why my favourite Austen novel is Northanger Abbey but it might be because I see a lot of myself in Catherine Morland. I connect with her more than any of Jane Austen's other characters. I cannot say that I will not read it yet again this year - I might do just that.

When I was young I would think 'Anne Elliot is still not married by 27 years' old' and I would think that 27 is a really old age. I would like to apologise for this because now that I'm in my 30s I admit that 27 is still a baby age and yeah, I'm not married either.

How did I ever think that 27 was old? (*cries in 30s*).

Anyways, one thing I always loved about Anne Elliot is her intelligence. She is witty, able to hold her own in a conversation and has absolutely no qualms about pissing off anyone who doesn't like it, or is offended by her quick replies. That of course makes you think of Captain Wentworth, the other main character in this. He seems not at all pissed off by Anne and actually proposed marriage to her some seven years before. He seems like the kind of guy where the woman he wanted said no and then he went out, got lots of medals and status and then came back with the expectation of marrying a good woman with this new-found ego of his. Actually, that's exactly what he did. Much of the novel centres around the after effects of the Napoleonic Wars on society and this is one of them. Someone like Wentworth is able to climb the ranks of status by going to war. Whereas, for Anne, status doesn't really change that much apart from diminishing because she's still unmarried.

I'm not going to lie to you, Wentworth is not a bad guy - he's actually quite a level-headed man just existing in a time where it must be quite confusing to be back in civilised society after a war - especially one in which the Elliot family exist. He treats Anne with respect, he is often shocked by the fact that there were other marriage proposals that were turned down because Anne didn't want to marry and he seems to commend her ability to think thoroughly and quickly about things rather than boxing her into the status of what a typical woman for the time should be. However, because of Anne's relations with William in the book, Wentworth does show off a jealous streak, wanting Anne for himself. This prompts him to do a number of things and one of them is to write a letter to Anne, declaring his feelings for her and prompting her to restart their engagement that was once, long ago, broken.

It perhaps is not Jane Austen's most famous book nor is it the one that people normally choose to read. I would say that for most people it is even further down the list than my favourite Austen, Northanger Abbey. This book does not nearly receive enough love because every now and again within, you'll read a line that will make you do a double take because it is rather philosophically dark - especially concerning ageing. This is possibly Jane telling us herself about her own age and the fact that she never married. It is though one of those novels which makes me feel at times I am talking to Jane, sitting in a room with a cup of tea. It just feels so deep and brilliant - it is one of those books that shows us just how intelligent she really was.