Typical Austen

I’m currently rereading all of Jane Austen’s books and yet again I’m amazed at how quickly a story goes from heartbreak to happy ending with incredible speed. In this one, however, I particularly enjoy the “authors comments” which offer gentle and mocking humour. Narration better than some but some times the speaker is unclear with little change of speech between characters

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A delightful Satire that stands the test of Time

It has been decades since I read this book and had forgotten just what a treasure it is! Beautifully read, I enjoyed every syllable and frequently found myself laughing out loud. A light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek foray of a seventeen year old Catherine, addicted to gothic novels, having her own adventures and falling in love. An easy and thoroughly enjoyable
listen and likely to appeal to any woman who still remembers what it was like being just seventeen...

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Very enjoyable

Thoroughly enjoyed it, humerus
observations on human nature I would definitely recommend it to any Austin fan

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A beautiful reading

The reader of this edition of Northanger Abbey is Juliet Stevenson, whose voice is perfect for Jane Austen. She brings out the character of each personality in the book and beautifully and subtly conveys Jane Austen's gentle irony. However this version is spoiled for me by the intrusive music at the end of each chapter, which breaks up the flow of the story. The music itself is beautiful and appropriate to the period of the book, but if I want to listen to music I will listen to a CD, and if I want to listen to a book I do not want to have the flow constantly and artificially interrupted.

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Northanger Abbey

Never read this book but thoroughly enjoyed hearing it. The narrator was just perfect and I shall enjoy listening to it several times more.

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superb reading

I didn't enjoy reading this book myself, but this version is wonderfully read and really brought to life Jane Austen's superb dialogue and social commentary - this is now one of my favourites 😀

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perfect

I loved reading Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice while at uni but I definitely enjoyed listening to all her works thanks to audible. I had never read this one and it's already one of my favourite 😉

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Playful and super fun

This seems like Austen's sassiest book in many ways, especially in the chapters set in Bath, and the actor narrating really brings that out well.

Catherine is a relatable woman whose imagination leads her into a couple of hilarious scrapes and whose naïvete means she is completely oblivious in certain social situations. She is the perfect contrast to the narrator voice who is wiser, more cynical and playfully sarcastic.

Is it the most exciting story ever? No. Is it more relatable though? Yes I think so. And Austen seems to play with that idea quite a bit too, with some light mocking of her own works and about her heroine not fitting with more dramatic expectations, and with reference to other novels throughout the book which contrast nicely.

That all said, I've never got so angry with an Austen character as with one of the jerks in here. Maybe because his behaviours were also, extremely annoyingly, more realistic - I've met jerks like him :/ (This added to the interest of the novel though.)

It wrapped up a bit too quick, I was sad to see it end.

Overall, the novel brings out some of the genuine magic in just a fairly typical falling in love tale.

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very different!

being addressed directly by Jane Austen is wild. this novel is very conscious of its being a novel, and includes the author's musings on the subject. the main character is not as likeable as her other heroines, and though much more eventful, the frequent asides to the reader sort of stalls the action.

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A self aware Austen

The novel is a pleasure, and lives up to her defence of the genre.

I find the narrator a bit grating through. In normal narration, she’s fine, but the voice actors enjoys reducing the Thorpes into nasal cartoons, which breaks the immersive quality of the audiobook.

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