Patrick Barry's Reviews > Cecilia

If you you have yet to read this book then take note of this line on the first page "with no other restriction than that of annexing her name, if she married, to the disposal of her hand and her riches." and don't be like me and be totally caught out when the importance of this comes to light deep into the book.

How would I describe this book? Its a flawed masterpiece, and it does have an awful lot of flaws, but despite that it is a very gripping story as I can testify by reading all 900 pages in four days, which involved a couple of very late nights/early mornings. Its flaws include:
1 Just too long - there was so much dialogue, which added nothing to the story.
2 why do people not just talk to each other instead of letting things get out of control, however that charge can be levelled against so many of these Project Gutenberg books I have read since the start of the 2020 lockdown.
3 Really critical events in the book relied, so much on chance. Opening her heart to a dog while the subject of that speech just happend to walk up behind her. A chaise accident on a country road required three different parties to be there, which lead to a critical event at the beginning of book 3. A chance meeting by two people in London when one of them should have been in Bury and the other in France, lead to another critical event.
That is just three but there are so many more.

People rave about Jane Austen but do her books have duels where people actual get shot! suicide, Cecilia's treatment by her guardian could be called coercive control, but that term is not coined for another 200 years and treachery by a so called confidence. There are so many incredibly emotional scenes, especially between Cecilia and Mrs. Delvile. Those amazing creations buried in those 900 pages are just let down by loose writing, which is where Jane come out so much on top. But that term "standing on the shoulders of giants" comes to mind. I had not realize there were so many amazing female writers before Jane Austen and Jane herself knew that, especially with Pride and Prejudice coming from this very book and the novel itself being mentioned in Northanger Abbey. It also has a character "Miss Bennet" - that can't be a flue! With those resources available to Jane, it is no wonder she turned out the amazing writer she is.

I must say the public and TV/Movie producers are a fickle lot, with Austen and Bronte adaptations being done to death, but Fanny Burnley, Maria Edgeworth and Elizabeth Cleghorn ignored/almost ignored.