Why does everyone hate "Emma"?

[Mme de Beaufort]

I absolutely adore it, and when it comes to lively reading, Emma takes the cake over all the other books, IMHO.

So she's a meddler, she's rich, has nothing to do and is bored... She's also completely naïve; and her dad is a complete hypochondriac, I think they're hilarious. I adore Mr. Woodhouse and his fussing and his gruel, I love that Knightly thinks it his responsibility to guide Emma, and I love how she has no idea what love is.

What is so infuriating that would cause some of you to hurl the book across the room?

[Miss Ida]

I actually never really cared for Emma either BUT I do taped the Paltow one and want to see it soon,

[Sarha]

I don't hate it. I have the A&E version. I was happy with it.

[cosmoblue]

admin said:

What is so infuriating that would cause some of you to hurl the book across the room?

For me the whole time I was thinking "you are so stupid, and what are you thinking?" until very near the end. It was painful to suffer such obnoxiousness. Mr. Weston was also obnoxious. Harriet was pitiful. Jane Fairfax was the only halfway likable character for me. I only enjoy naivete along with innocence. I didn't think Emma was innocent. I did like the Paltrow Emma and I haven't seen the A&E version.

[ladymelissa]

I love her. I think Jane created a beautiful representation of a girl's journey to adulthood. Emma may be an exaggeration. But I think she says a lot about the child-to-adult human condition.

[ladymelissa]

Oh goodness, I have to laugh. I guess you all know by now, I'm biased. Just look at my new picture!! LOL!!!

[Lady Serendipity]

ladymelissa said:

Oh goodness, I have to laugh. I guess you all know by now, I'm biased. Just look at my new picture!! LOL!!!

LOL! ;D

I agree with you though....I love the story. Emma would exasperate me if she didn't *learn*anything as she went along...but I feel for her. She starts out a young idealistic girl believing in her dreams of what she thinks love is or can be...she sees all those ideals fall apart, and she realizes that SHE was wrong and foolish...and she grows into a more mature woman with a deeper realization of what love and true romance really is.

And I love Mr. Knightley, because he sees the shallowness of her youth, but also sees her potential as a woman.

But perhaps I shouldn't comment in this thread, as I haven't read the book...is it more frustrating than the screen interpretations?! ;D

[ladymelissa]

serendipity said:

ladymelissa said:

Oh goodness, I have to laugh. I guess you all know by now, I'm biased. Just look at my new picture!! LOL!!!

LOL! ;D

I agree with you though....I love the story. Emma would exasperate me if she didn't *learn*anything as she went along...but I feel for her. She starts out a young idealistic girl believing in her dreams of what she thinks love is or can be...she sees all those ideals fall apart, and she realizes that SHE was wrong and foolish...and she grows into a more mature woman with a deeper realization of what love and true romance really is.

And I love Mr. Knightley, because he sees the shallowness of her youth, but also sees her potential as a woman.

But perhaps I shouldn't comment in this thread, as I haven't read the book...is it more frustrating than the screen interpretations?! ;D

Lady S -

Very well said! You spoke my thoughts exactly!

I do suppose at times Emma can be a little less likable in the book as the movie. But I feel that the Gweneth Paltrow (sp?) version does an excellent job in capturing the true essence of Emma that Jane Austen intended.

Also, you know in the beginning of the movie, when the credits are coming on, there is this globe of the world (the world in Emma's eyes)? I think the movie producers did a great job here representing Emma's ego-centrism. Ego-centrism,....such a big part of the natural course of a child's world too.

P.S. My friend found a Christmas tree ornament of the Emma globe on the net. It is very cool.

[Lady Serendipity]

AH, love the symbolism of how small her world is! Lovely!

Let me ask here...in the GP movie version, there is the little moment where she and Mr. Knightley are playing with the dog, and he says something to the effect of, "I don't want to go to the dance! I want to stay here, where it's nice and cozy!"

Is that moment (or at least, the conversation) in the book? And was that a DELIBERATE wink at Mr. Woodhouse?

[ladymelissa]

serendipity said:

Is that moment (or at least, the conversation) in the book? And was that a DELIBERATE wink at Mr. Woodhouse?

Oh my goodness, I never noticed! I got to watch it again!!

[Vic]

I can take or leave Emma. My least favorite characters are in this book, including Mr. Woodhouse and Frank Churchill. Interestingly, I love Gwynneth Paltrow in the movie, so I have decided that the reason I dislike Emma (and this is by a very small degree) is that I get impatient with its length. Less Mr. Woodhouse, Frank Churchill, and Miss Bates will do very well for me.

[savivi]

Hands down, though, in the book, Mrs. Elliot's paragraph on strawberry picking is one of the funniest things written, ever.

I think what's brilliant about the book is that everybody's flawed. They really are human. But that's also the hardest part about it, because we're so used to our main characters being the pillars.

[Mme de Beaufort]

savivi said:

Hands down, though, in the book, Mrs. Elliot's paragraph on strawberry picking is one of the funniest things written, ever.

I think what's brilliant about the book is that everybody's flawed. They really are human. But that's also the hardest part about it, because we're so used to our main characters being the pillars.

That's why I love Jane's work so much. They're fully believable characters; and they are always so relevant and timeless. It comforts me somehow.

[georgielee12]

I love the Paltrow "Emma". Jeremy Northam is so dreamy. I had a difficult time with the book and it took me a long time to finish it. For some reason it didn't engage me the way "Sense and Sensibility" or "Persuasion" did.

[Lady Serendipity]

Now I've actually read it, and can legitimately comment here in the "book" thread.

And, nope, still love it!

I think it's interesting that Jane KNEW some people would have a hard time liking the character Emma...and that that was somewhat intentional on her part.

Her heroines are never perfect, and also not necessarily safe from the "scathing social commentary" that is such a large part of JA's writing, humor, and appeal.

Perhaps never more so than with Emma?! I was amused to note that, even though, yes, Emma grows throughout the novel....even after her "improvements" we still see her having very human moments when her emotions or reactions could still be called selfish or shallow.

That kind of made me like her more, though! I could relate to some of her fleeting frustrations...and then I think we do see that even though she acknowledges them and indulges in them for a second, she is always trying to work past them and BE a better person.

I really see this as SUCH a "coming of age" story. She is SUCH a "naive little girl" at the beginning, and again, I guess I can relate....I was much the same, and yes, even at an age when I SHOULD have been older and wiser. Like her, I saw the world and everyone in it through an idealized and romanticed version of how I THOUGHT things should work.

But she redeems herself by being WILLING to acknowledge the errors of her thinking, and by always trying to be and do better. At the end of the day, she really has the best interest of others at heart, although she mucks things up and gets them wrong.

I do agree with the above poster that a little bit of everyone else's stories go a looong way, and one does weary of them after a bit. (Esp. after one knows how it's all going to end up!)

I could have done with a great deal more of Knightley. That love story makes me swoonier than any of Jane's.....sigh!

[cosmoblue]

Lady Serendipity - I can imagine that if I had seen the movie version and loved it before I read the book I may have liked it. Though, like Ms. Place, it would have still been too long for me.

I wonder if there is perhaps a difference in perspective that comes with age that people older than myself can enjoy it more? Perhaps I am too close to being Emma at my 28 years to appreciate how she "grows". Maybe it helps to be closer to Mr. Knightly's age and have his perspective on what it was to be 20.

[iamdiverted]

I can't stand it. She's bored with her life so she meddles in the lives of others. I hate that.

[Vic]

Cosmoblue, I am a little late in replying

I have tried to love Emma. And while I adore all things Jane Austen, this novel (for me) is simply too long. I've tried reading it, listening to the book on tape, and watching the movie adaptation, and it still remains my least favorite JA novel (though by a very small degree.). Many think that this novel is among Jane Austen's greatest works, but I keep putting the book down when I am reading it. Go figure.

[misspeterson]

I guess it just takes all kinds, doesn't it? Emma was actually the last of Miss Austen's books that I read but once I got into it, I loved it! I am 23 and an only child and I really identified with Emma's willfully and delightfully flawed world perspective. Mr. Knightly is, by far, my favorite Austen man. I love when a man teaches me things. I love that he cares enough to see what she could be and want to help her.

[missemmagoodmatch]

It is with fond relishing ,I recall when I had read "Emma". I was 14 years old, and my father had procured a fine copy of it from none other then Barnes and Noble. I read the whole book in less than a week. When my required reading included the complete works of Austen, Emma was my first choice.
Her concern and well intentions for those close to her has indubitly impressed me. While she maybe dismissed as the least forceful of Austen daring heroines, she is perhaps the best developed character, in my opinion.