Before we can go on, there is something I must clarify: Emma is my favorite movie. I watch it like 6 times a year. I think it's the funniest movie in the world, it seriously cracks me up. It's what I want to watch when I'm sick, or when I work on a craft project, I quoted it at the beginning of this post--stuff like that.
However, I hadn't read the book. And a few weeks ago I realized that was pretty ridiculous, so I read it.
I think most of you probably know the story, but just in case--Emma Woodhouse is a young woman, I think she's 21, who decides to take a new friend, Harriet Smith, under her wing and introduce her into good society. She also dabbles in matchmaking. Harriet is an orphan who lives with Mrs. Godard, a teacher. There are a whole bunch of other characters of course--Mrs. Weston, Emma's former governess who is recently married, and her new son in law, Frank Churchill. Mrs. Bates and Miss Bates, an elderly woman and her middle aged spinster daughter, and Jane Fairfax, their granddaughter/niece. Mr. Woodhouse, Emma's father, is so cute, and much more neurotic in the book than he is in the movie. And in the book we get to know John and Isabella Knightley, Emma's sister and her husband, much better. And then of course there is Mr. Knightley, who I love so dearly, so greatly. He is wonderful. The Eltons, who provide comedy and social faux pas galore. Everyone is so great.
One thing that is much more prevalent in the book than the movie is the amount of concern with class and rank and society. They talk a lot about who is beneath who, and whether this person or that person is suitable as a friend or a spouse. It made me glad to live in a much less stratified society, where it doesn't matter if you marry someone who isn't established in the area, or who is only a farmer.
As always, the book is better than the movie. I will always always love the movie, because I just will, but I got so much more enveloped in the plot and the characters in the book, where there is space enough to develop both more fully. A lot of things happen that don't happen in the movie, of course, and I loved it all.
Anyway, it was so good. I really loved it, and am so glad I read it. I highly recommend picking this up.
Oh, and here is an awesome quote I emailed to myself because it just sort of sums up the way Emma is: "Oh! I always deserve the best treatment, because I never put up with any other."
4 comments:
I've only seen the movie too, and I liked it. It's now officially on my To Read List.
I didn't love the character Emma as much in the book, I felt like her flaws were very strong. But I also haven't read it in eight years or something like that, so maybe I should read it again.
But I do love the movie.
Allison, I agree that Emma is much more flawed in the book. The things she says about Mr. Martin are pretty mean, and in the movie I feel like she just sort of hints at it. But I liked it, actually, that the heroine is a real person who thinks she's better than everyone.
That's a fair point. And as one of my favorite heroines of all time is way more openly flawed (Scarlett O'Hara), I really should criticize. I'll read it again.
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