That’s how “Persuasion” is usually defined, which is one of two posthumous novels of
Jane Austen. The settings and situations are always the usual ones, which
are also found in the other five books, but the maturity factor (let’s call it
like that) makes it different from the other works of this great author.
First of all I must say that I’ve read the
book while listening to the audiobook. It was an enjoyable and instructive
experience, thanks to the skill of the reader (I’ve downloaded the audiobook
from LibriVox.org). Listen to an audiobook in English with a text in front
helps to better savour the words and improve your pronunciation.
Beyond that, I was greatly impressed by the
novel where all the characters really are so well defined as to have the
impression of having them before your eyes. The love story of the main
character remains in the background for most of the book, while a series of
events is shown, filtered by the impact that these have on Anne. Her character
is a docile at first, but as the story takes hold one realizes how she has
learned through experience, given by the maturity , to get by in the most
diverse situations without doing harm to no one and without exposing herself
too much to others.
The narrative is divided between long
dialogues and long tales of past and present events. In some passages I admit
that I would rather know the exact words of the characters, rather than the
summary of the author, but she seems to want to focus only on certain aspects
of the story.
In this sense, the end is almost precipitous,
but the twist that precedes it is spectacular, especially if you consider that you
know from the beginning that there can be only one conclusion. Nevertheless, I
was open-mouthed in front of the manner in which the author has decided to play
her cards and this is where you see the maturity of Austen, no longer a young
girl, but a woman who looks at the world with eyes that are a little less
carefree than ever before.
Persuasion (Kindle, paperback, audiobook, DVD)
on Amazon.com.
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