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    Mansfield Park Revisited: A Jane Austen Entertainment
    Unavailable
    Mansfield Park Revisited: A Jane Austen Entertainment
    Unavailable
    Mansfield Park Revisited: A Jane Austen Entertainment
    Ebook213 pages2 hours

    Mansfield Park Revisited: A Jane Austen Entertainment

    By Joan Aiken

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In Aiken's sequel to Jane Austen's complex and fascinating novel, after heroine Fanny Price marries Edmund Bertram, they depart for the Caribbean, and Fanny's younger sister Susan moves to Mansfield Park as Lady Bertram's new companion. Surrounded by the familiar cast of characters from Jane Austen's original, and joined by a few charming new characters introduced by the author, Susan finds herself entangled in romance, surprise, scandal, and redemption.


    Aiken's diverting tale gives the reader interesting speculation on how the Crawfords, whose winning personalities were marred by an amoral upbringing, might have turned out, and Jane Austen's morality tale takes new directions with an unexpected and somewhat controversial ending.


    "A lovely read—and you don't have to have read Mansfield Park to enjoy it."—Woman's Own


    "Her sense of time and place is impeccable."—Publishers Weekly


    "An excellent sequel...remarkably effective and very funny."

    —Evening Standard

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateOct 1, 2008
    ISBN9781402234736
    Unavailable
    Mansfield Park Revisited: A Jane Austen Entertainment
    Author

    Joan Aiken

    Joan Aiken, daughter of the American writer Conrad Aiken, was born in Rye, Sussex, England, and has written more than sixty books for children, including The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.

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    Reviews for Mansfield Park Revisited

    3/5

    60 ratings9 reviews

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    • 3/5
      For years I've put off reading all Jane Austen continuations (except Old Friends and New Fancies, which was tolerable). As much as I love Austen and wish she wrote 45 novels, I found it hard to step into her world painted by another hand. But I finally picked up Joan Aiken's Mansfield Revisited, which had been languishing on my shelf for years. It helps that she says in the brief foreword that "no one could presume to fill the gap left by Jane Austen. And I have not done so." With that understanding, we could be friends.Mansfield Revisited was a pleasant surprise, although I can't say I truly loved the end. Aiken has a careful turn of phrase, such as Mary Crawford saying "I married to disoblige myself" or Julia Yates, upon hearing of her cousin's engagement, offering "a cool minimum of insincerities." Very Austenian. There were one or two small spots that felt a touch modern, but nothing too jarring. The characters are beautifully drawn, especially Julia Yates who behaves just as one might expect: pettishly, selfishly, and with a propensity toward her Aunt Norris' officiousness. Mary Crawford is spot on; truly a character masterfully truthful to the ambiguity of the original. And there are other similar triumphs, like the indolent Lady Bertram as vague and sleepy as ever. [spoilers]There is a definite twist with the "redemption" of Henry Crawford's character. Aiken would have it that he did not in fact run away with Maria and that she bruited the story abroad when she fled to him and was rejected. Susan, whose story this is, becomes Henry's new love interest and just when the reader is getting used to the idea (and even warming to it a bit), Aiken tries to pull off a rather unconvincing transformation of Tom Bertram. We are also to believe that Susan has been unwittingly in love with her cousin since she came to Mansfield at the age of fourteen. Oh dear. Early in the story she compares Edmund to Tom, finding Edmund to be infinitely superior to his rather average, thoughtless brother. Not that one dislikes Tom in this tale, but he's hardly the romantic hero. Henry Crawford with his brooding heart seems to fit that part much more neatly, but I do agree with Susan's objection of how she could never be entirely sure of him. But I still find it hard to buy the Susan-Tom romance, along with Mary Crawford's profound influence on the slightly selfish young lord of Mansfield. Still, I don't know how I would have ended it. With all the work that went into rehabilitating Henry Crawford into a semi-respectable character, I probably would have made him the happiest of men with Susan's hand. I would reread this and see if my sticking-points were any smoother the second time around. And I think I'll take a look at some of the other Austen continuations that have been awaiting my pleasure on the shelf for so long.
    • 4/5
      I was pleasantly surprised by Mansfield Park Revisited. Admittedly, Mansfield Park has never been my favorite of the Jane Austen novels and so my bar was somewhat lower than it would have been for say, Persuasion. Still, I was impressed by the voice and how easily it slipped into Jane Austen's tone without feeling archaic and in how Aiken managed to create believable new characters while carrying the original characters forward four years. For someone who does not like most Austen adaptations this was, if not a treat, a pleasant way to spend several evening hours.
    • 2/5
      Set several years after [book: Mansfield Park], this book follows Fanny's younger, bolder sister Susan. Four years ago she came to stay as a companion to Lady Bertram, and has bloomed into a handsome, intelligent teenager. Aiken has a good feel for the Regency--her book has none of that feeling of stiffness that most modern authors stumble into. The plot and romance, however, are disappointing. Fanny and Edward go off to the far-off plantation, leaving Susan at the mercy of her indifferent relations, the fallen Maria, and the Crawfords, who conviently return to Mansfield. None of these possible plot points come to anything. Lady Bertram and Tom think she's inndispensible and wonderful. Maria, whose ruin and iminent return to Mansfield are discussed at length, never speaks and in fact, is only seen from the distance once. Her bad reputation does not make any trouble for the Bertram family. Mary Crawford has inexplicably transformed into a saint who helps Susan get together with her one true love. And most odd of all, the author spends at least half the novel making it clear that Henry Crawford is at worst a mild flirt, is in fact devoted to Fanny, Susan and his sister, and would never dream of having an affair with anyone. There's no tension, no suspense, and absolutely no drama. There is certainly no romance. Even ten pages from the end Susan doesn't seem to be even remotely attracted to anyone, and then abruptly she says, "of course I'll marry you! I've always loved you!" and the book ends.
      A disappointing read.
    • 3/5
      I'm not sure what made me read this when I did. It certainly wasn't a deep devotion to either Mansfield Park or Fanny Price that made me long for a continuation of the story. I know I acquired the book a good ways back because Joan Aiken is on my List, and because I was curious about her continuations of Jane Austen… it just slotted itself into my reading schedule, I guess. So. Four years after the end of Mansfield Park, Fanny and Edmund are happily married and growing a family (MP spoiler! Well, but it's in the book description); Edmund's father has died and someone has to go to off to see to things on the plantations, and since every time anyone says "someone" everyone turns and looks at Edmund, off he and Fanny go. And with them neatly out of the way, the focus is free to shift entirely to Fanny's sister Susan, brought to Mansfield at the end of the book to take Fanny's place as Lady Bertram's companion. It was almost comical how briskly Fanny was ushered out of the book. After all, though, what's to tell? She's happy, and having children – how boring. On to Susan, who's much more interesting anyway. There are new folks in the area – Edmund's replacement as minister and his sister – and it's almost comical how much they resemble the Crofts from Persuasion. They're wonderful people, and bond with Susan, and even make a good impression on the Bertrams, fight though they must against their prejudices; I liked them – but then, I loved the Crofts, so I would do. And there are folks returning to the area: Mary Crawford, for one, who is ill and has fled her life of dissipation. Which of course now, as she begins to build a friendship with Susan, turns out to have been not so very dissipated, and she was wronged, and anyway she's probably dying now so it's all right. And then, of course, where Mary goes eventually Henry Crawford shows up – and you know, he's not such a bad fellow, either. He was awfully in love with Fanny … but she's married and not here anyway, and hey look here's her little sister! It's Fanny Lite! Maybe I have a shot with her … And of course as soon as it becomes clear that Crawford is sniffing around Susan, Cousin Tom Bertram wakes up to the fact that she's of age now and no longer the uncouth plaguey nuisance of a child. I don't know. I have a great deal of respect for Joan Aiken, but this just seemed ill-advised from start to finish. All of the inconveniences from Jane Austen – Fanny, Mrs. Norris, Maria – have been surgically removed, and inconvenient aspects of other characters have undergone extensive plastic surgery, and really why not just write a whole new standalone novel? It was very hard to swallow the rehabilitation of two selfish, thoughtless, amoral characters. And the ending was … abrupt, and felt disjointed. It just didn't work.
    • 3/5
      Mansfield Revisited is what I would classify as an 'old school' Austen sequel, closely mirroring the plot of the original and observing both the language and etiquette of the Regency era. Joan Aiken has written a respectful and formal continuation to Mansfield Park, which, though slowly paced and familiar in design, is easier to read (at half the length) and slightly more satisfying. My favourite character, Mary Crawford, maintains her wit and influence. Aiken does not try to restore or redeem her character, thankfully, but does seem to 'punish' her in the style of Victorian novels. Her brother Henry rebounds from one Price sister to the other, Tom's bad fortune continues, and Edmund and Fanny are packed off to Antigua for the whole novel (much to my relief, sorry to say!) The replacement heroine of the piece is Susan, Fanny's younger sister, who is thankfully rather less introverted and more spirited than her sibling. Naturally all the single men must fall in love with her, admiring her intelligence and lack of pretension, etc., but at least Susan's admirable qualities are demonstrated and not merely inferred by the omniscient author! In my opinion, Susan also punches below her weight when she comes to make her choice between Henry Crawford and 'Cousin Tom', but I'm sure Austen would have approved. A well written and pleasant follow-up to one of my least favourite novels.
    • 4/5
      What a delightful book! I thought the beginning was a little wobbly (but then I was on the rebound from "Orley Farm"-Trollope so it's hard to follow that) but about halfway thru I found that, even though I was very sick with a virus/sinus/earache something that this book was superior to sleep! I do so love sleep. I think about it when awake, relish that first moment getting all snuggled under the covers, feel lucky to be there in my comfy bed, etc. Anyway, the story's momentum really did get moving halfway thru and I was found surprises around every corner. I do love NOT knowing what's going to happen next. This writer pulled it off effortlessly. I bought it and did not have buyer's regret. I would recommend this book to all my fellow Janeites except those purists (you know who you are, I used to be one too) that refuse to consider such a book.
    • 4/5
      Writiing a sequel to a novel as well known, exhaustively analysed and dissected as "Mansfield Park", or indeed to any of Jane Austen's novels, is to deliberately place oneself in a position of extreme jeopardy. The author says she was "filled with an overmastering wish to find out what happened after Fanny married Edmund, and when Susan came to live at Mansfield" and that she tried to work it out "by a mixture of imagination and common sense". All I can say about this is that I found nothing in Ms Aiken's story impossible to believe or untrue to the thoughts and feelings of persons living 200 years ago as we know them from the surviving evidence. The incidents are well contrived and if the dialogues have not quite Jane Austen's delicacy of touch, whose has?
    • 3/5
      Many of Jane Austen readers, while professing great admiration for her works, are unwilling to accept her judgements about such characters as Mary and Henry Crawford. They don't want to believe that someone can be charming, talented and intelligent without being morally good; that these are qualities, not virtues, and like beauty, are as they do. I assume that Jane Aiken falls into this category, since the main point of this story seems to be to reimagine the Crawfords as generous and benevolent. I was wondering why such she had introduced such an implausible plotline as the seriously ill Mary Crawford deciding that she wants to be near Mansfield and Fanny Price Bertram, rather then near her sister, Mrs. Grant (who has presumably died in the interim) or her brother Henry. I have too much sympathy with Fanny to like the reversal of Jane Austen's judgement, but I suppose that many people will enjoy the change, except for those who find the new Crawfords too saccharine. Aiken tends to lay it on with a trowel. Given this, the story is competent and reasonably diverting for the most part. Outside of the Crawfords, Aiken does a good job of maintaining the personalities of the characters that she has appropriated from the original. (Fanny & Edmund only briefly appear.) Aiken introduces two charming, if slightly too good to be true characters in the person of the substitute pastor and his sister. Lady Bertram does manage to make a few apropos statements, which may strike some readers as implausibly forceful, but for the most part, she and Pug stay on the sopha. I find the romances a bit improbable. It is hard to believe that William Price is so cheerfully accepted by the family of a great heiress, or that he and his fiancee are truly well suited. The story of Susan's engagement is banal. It is a poorly developed version of the plot of at least half the preadolescent romances I read as a child. In several of Aiken's JA sequels I get the feeling that she really isn't interested in writing a romance and the result is this slapdash development. I wouldn't urge Jane Austen fans to rush out and read it, but if one is looking for something to read, one could do a lot worse.
    • 3/5
      Many of Jane Austen readers, while professing great admiration for her works, are unwilling to accept her judgements about such characters as Mary and Henry Crawford. They don't want to believe that someone can be charming, talented and intelligent without being morally good; that these are qualities, not virtues, and like beauty, are as they do. I assume that Jane Aiken falls into this category, since the main point of this story seems to be to reimagine the Crawfords as generous and benevolent. I was wondering why such she had introduced such an implausible plotline as the seriously ill Mary Crawford deciding that she wants to be near Mansfield and Fanny Price Bertram, rather then near her sister, Mrs. Grant (who has presumably died in the interim) or her brother Henry. I have too much sympathy with Fanny to like the reversal of Jane Austen's judgement, but I suppose that many people will enjoy the change, except for those who find the new Crawfords too saccharine. Aiken tends to lay it on with a trowel. Given this, the story is competent and reasonably diverting for the most part. Outside of the Crawfords, Aiken does a good job of maintaining the personalities of the characters that she has appropriated from the original. (Fanny & Edmund only briefly appear.) Aiken introduces two charming, if slightly too good to be true characters in the person of the substitute pastor and his sister. Lady Bertram does manage to make a few apropos statements, which may strike some readers as implausibly forceful, but for the most part, she and Pug stay on the sopha. I find the romances a bit improbable. It is hard to believe that William Price is so cheerfully accepted by the family of a great heiress, or that he and his fiancee are truly well suited. The story of Susan's engagement is banal. It is a poorly developed version of the plot of at least half the preadolescent romances I read as a child. In several of Aiken's JA sequels I get the feeling that she really isn't interested in writing a romance and the result is this slapdash development. I wouldn't urge Jane Austen fans to rush out and read it, but if one is looking for something to read, one could do a lot worse.