Persuasion (Word Cloud Classics) Flexibound – April 30, 2013

Why is this such a good book? And why does it seem different from other Austen books?Well, first, it's a book that has very real, rounded male characters. There's the sincere and pure-hearted Captain Harville, directly loving without the intervention of poetry. There's the circumscribed mind of Charles Musgrove - beleaguered by his wife Mary, affectionate towards his own ("Am't I a good boy, Mother?"), and ultimately pretty competent. There's Walter Elliot, an utter fool of snobbism and self-deception. He is not a caricature: Austen actually says that he is a fool and Anne Elliot, out of family feeling, feels only the mortification of William Elliot's poor opinion of her father. And, then, of course, there's Captain Wentworth -- intelligent, active, self-confident, well-mannered and open, and emotional.This is not to say that the female characters are not well drawn. To my mind, there are three major woman characters: Anne Elliot, Lady Russell, and Mrs. Smith. Anne is well-born and aware of her class. For example, on one occasion, when questioned, she is not aware of the person who opened the door to her at Mrs. Smith's lodgings. But she is also realistic and clear-sighted. That is, she is now remarkably unsusceptible to persuasion. She is also a little depressed, if I may use the term, and, as the book goes on, romance awakens in her and she blooms physically. Lady Russell is, in a sense, Anne's foil: She is all that Anne, at the time of the book's action, no longer is --- conventionally prudent, a little bit spiteful (when it comes to Capt. Wentworth), and guided by social mores. Mrs. Smith, I confess, is a mystery to me. One can see her as Anne's good friend or as the mirror that shows Anne as good and loyal and approving of real values. On the other hand, one can see her as a parasite. Mrs. Smith has "skin in the game" of the Anne/Mr. Elliot match. If Anne were to marry Mr. Elliot, Mrs. Smith stands to gain on the matter of her West Indies property; and so she stays silent on Mr. E's history and character --- something that, to my mind, a friend would not do. She only tells on him when she learns that a marriage is not in the offing. Her rather lame (to my mind) reasoning when Anne asks her why she had been silent earlier highlights her self-interest and, well, her humanity and desperation.Then, there's the love story. It's an interesting one because it has already come to an end. And the suspense of the book is whether the romance will have a second and better end. The affair beginds with resignation and hopelessness. We have to watch and hold our breaths because Austen has already made Anne win us over in the early chapters. But, really, we are rooting for Anne and for and for Capt. Wentworth. We hope, mainly through Austen's use of the instrumentality of Ann's inner voice, that they will come together again.Last, there is the theme of persuasion. This is not just convincing someone to do something. It is also the susceptibility or vulnerability of the someone to the persuasion. It the act of persuading another at least partly out of motives of self-interest and/or propriety. Here we see the persuasion that Lady Russell worked on Anne when she a girl in love. But the persuasion Austen talks about goes beyond this. It includes self-persuasion which both Anne and Capt. Wentworth must engage in as they seek to figure out, to hypothesize the position and feelings of the other. It also includes self-deception, even blind self-deception, as in the case of Sir Walter Elliot and Anne's sister Elizabeth who are so enamored of self that they cannot observe the rules of self-protection or the fact of their social isolation even in Bath. It includes the active hypocrisy and deception of others that Mr. Elliot and Mrs. Croft engage in. It also includes Capt. Wentworth's pride that, on an occasion he mentions at the book's very end, did not let him understand Anne or do her justice. To his credit, he is like Anne in that he can look back and see that he was a greater enemy to himself than was Lady Russell.Charmingly, to me, Austen's type of "persuasion" is worked also on the reader. She has persuaded me, in any event, that Mr. Elliot wants Anne to marry him so that he has entree to foil the gold-digging Mrs. Croft. That he would go so far as actually to run off with Mrs. Croft himself is an excellent twist and a little trick on me. It is the one thing I could never have imagined.I can't stop before I mention, even briefly, the highly excellent chapter in which Anne and Capt. Harville speak at the inn. Their dispute on the question whether men or women have more lasting affections begins with the absurd and moves on to a purely emotional plane in which each is speaking his/her heart. Anne is really talking to herself about Captain Wentworth. And Capt. Harville is being his excellent self. Does Anne know that Capt. Wentworth can hear them?

Obviously Jane Austin is a genius. I love English literature, but honestly, some writing styles are very hard to follow. Elizabeth Gaskell being one of them. This book, fortunately has a nice flow to it and a very clean chain of thought.Brief Synopsis: Anne Elliot is the only humble, good-hearted member of her very vain and rich family. If you've even seen the Kardashians and their wealthy people "problems" like only having two house-keepers instead of three, that's the Elliot clan. Anne has two sisters and a father whose main concern in life is being introduced to the right people, being conceived as wealthy, and being the center of attention wherever they go. Anne is very mild in nature, very quiet, and loves to be of service. She is often overlooked and rarely consulted on any family matter. Her interests and happiness are of no concern to any of her family. The Elliots also have a family friend, Mrs. Russell, who all in all is a good person, but also considers herself at the top of society and sees as her primary job to make sure the girls remain there with her. She however, loves Anne and cares about her. She proves this by persuading Anne to break her engagement, when Anne is 19, from Captain Wentworth, who clearly is unworthy of marrying an Elliot. Even though Anne and Frederick love each other, Anne is persuaded to end it. Frederick soon after goes off to sea to war, where he becomes very wealthy.When he returns Anne is 27 and not yet married, but his heart is still broken so he persuades himself that he must do everything in his power to ignore her and proceed in finding himself a wife. He does this by attaching himself to two 20 year old cousins of Anne, who Anne is staying with at the time, and thus spends a lot of time in her company. Though he is committed to only saying hello to her and other small talk as not to seem rude.Anne's heart goes a flutter when she hears that her ex is back in town. Like him, she tries to tell herself that it was a long time ago and neither he nor she have any feelings left for each other, be it contempt or love. She is wrong, at least in herself. She is very aware of every little move CaptainWentworth makes and jumps at the sound of his name being said out loud. So cute.Many months pass by and some other things happen to both their lives, but they continue to run into each other. Anne gets a proposal from another man, who she wishes to have nothing to do with. However, rumors spread quickly that she is to be engaged soon and Captain Wentworth is about to leave her alone, but not before seeing her one last time. Mind you, that in all of this they must have said only a handful of sentences to each other. All their feelings and thoughts are conveyed only through looks and manners towards each other. Finally he writes her a very romantic letter, professing his love for her throughout the years and not being able to stop dreaming of her, even after she rejected him all that time ago. That if she still feels like she did when they were engaged she only need to look at him and he will know her answer.Now I should say that old-English literature is very anti-climatic at the ends. In my mind I always see the two lovers running towards each other, embracing with passion and love and sharing at least a little kiss. Most of old-English books lack this, but that is to no fault of their own. Things like that were just simply not written about. Affection was only shown at home, not even hand holding was frowned upon outdoors. So after I close each book I re-write the ending in my head to include the run and kiss so to speak.I love this story because Anne is not a strong character like other Jane Austen heroines. She is very invisible to everyone else, except Frederick Wentworth. As much as he tried not to see her, she occupied his every thought and dream. And that's why I love her. She is pure and uncorrupted and does so much for everyone else and no body cares for her. She is not a main character, yet she is the main character in her life and she doesn't need for people to see her or know her, she just needs the love of one man. Maybe it reminds me a little bit of myself and my husband, I don't know, but this is my favorite story.

Pride and Prejudice is still my favorite but I did enjoy this one. I don’t know but there’s just something about Jane Austen’s books talking about everyday lives in detail that feels comforting to me.P.S. To be honest, the primary reason I read this one is because of this famous line:“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.”One of the best lines in literature for me.

Eu fiquei tão feliz com essa edição, Persuasão é meu livro preferido. Valeu muito a pena, a única coisa que me desagrada nessa edição é as folhas brancas, mas mesmo assim não estragou minha experiência com o livro.

This was a hard-to-find copy of a Jane Austen book. It was delivered in good time, is in excellent condition, and matches the online description.

Really good book! It arrived in a great condition and it arrived within a few days of ordering it!!!

I remember when I was in high school, I had to read Persuasion for my English project. I opened it, tried the first few lines, got bored, closed it and got all I needed from spark notes. Then I forgot all about it. I’m ashamed to admit that was my first encounter with Jane Austen. It was only years later that I would come across her work again. This time in a form of a miniseries of Pride and Prejudice by BBC. And I was blown away. I fell in love with her characters, her setting, and wanted more. I binged through all the movie adaptions of her work I could find. Persuasion was pretty good, it didn’t come close to P&P in my eyes. But now that I’ve finally read it, the book really does deserves a better film adaption. It’s such a mature and surprisingly relatable story. Timeless even.At nineteen Anne Elliot was persuaded by her good friend and family to reject Fredrick Wentworth’s hand because while she was a baronet’s daughter, he was a nobody enlisted in the navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Dishearten, he left and they don’t see or write to each other for the next 8 years. Now he’s a successful Navy Captain, rich from the war, looking for a wife while she’s doomed to spinsterhood, having lost her former beauty. Her father’s finances aren’t in good shape either thanks to his extravagant lifestyle and they're forced to rent out their ancestral home and downsize. Guess who their new tenants are? Wentworth’s older sister and her husband. And that brings Anne and Wentworth face to face again years later. His indifference to her cuts deeper than his anger would have and Anne endeavours to act and be unaffected. But as the story goes on, Jane Austen slowly brings these two heartbroken souls together and it’s utterly beautiful to read. We learn his side of the story, and understand his reservations in persuading her again. The ending, his letter and response to her claims that a women loves even after all hope is gone, is so romantic. I honestly can’t decide who I love more between Captain Wentworth and Mr. Darcy. Thankfully I get to enjoy both!

When I bought this book, I expected it to be just like the other Austen's novels (I had read Pride and Prejudice). I unexpectedly found it to quite different in style, maintaining however the same fast writing, with no frills. It really allowed me to get to know Jane Austen from another point of view.