Persuasion (Penguin Classics)

This review is for the Chiltern Classics hardcover edition of Persuasion.I decided to celebrate Jane Austen's upcoming 250th birthday by rereading all of her novels. I have had my mismatched collection of her works in paperback since the late 80s and they are falling apart. So, I started researching what editions I wanted to buy to replace them.If you're in a similar situation and aren't sure what's out there, YouTube is a really great place to see your options. So much of what draws us to a specific edition/publisher is based on personal preferences. You have a lot of options!I wanted an edition that would last my lifetime, would spark joy when I looked at it, and it was important that the publisher had released editions of all of Austen's work.The Chiltern editions are decadent. The covers are embossed and have delightful metallic shimmers that sparkle when light hits them. These books have gold or silver gilt pages. Persuasion has gold. The books have an attached black silk bookmark. These editions are as tactilely appealling as they are visually captivating.The pages are thick and glossy. The book is heavy and feels more expensive than what I paid for it. Please note that they often are on sale here for less than the suggested retail price!I ordered Mansfield Park first because I think it is the prettiest. I've slowly added the rest of the collection to my shelf and love how exquisite they look grouped together. Persuasion was my last purchase because I wasn't thrilled with how it looked online. Please know that it is absolutely beautiful in person!If you've never seen the Chitern collection, visiting their website is a treat. I only have their editions of Jane Austen. However, their collection looks like a wall of art when it is shelved together.I love the bindings of Chiltern classics. They are sewn (not glued). They open flat without creasing the spine. They feel sturdy and are satisfying to hold. So far, I have had none of the exterior decorations/print rub off (that is a common complaint with another publishing house's edition!). When I carry any of these editions in my purse/bag, I slip them into a soft felt book slip case envelope with a snapped top to help protect them.I found the print in this book to be easy on my eyes. I'm in my mid-50s and extremely myopic. I can read this book with my progressives on without any issues. The glossy pages can create a glare under artificial light. Adjusting the angle of my reading lamp helped! I haven't had any issues with glare in natural lighting.If you are a habitual annotator, this might not be the correct edition for you. I can't bring myself to desecrate a page to test how ink performs on the glossy pages. However, this publisher does sell this book as a set with a matching journal and offers the journal for sale separately if you decide you want it after you've already bought the book. Since I haven't bought the journals, I don't know what type of paper they use. My old paperbacks are heavily annotated and I empathize with those of you who read with a pen in hand! This edition just feels too special to mark up! It also encourages me to simply enjoy the story!These editions do not contain illustrations. I knew that when I purchased them and not having them didn't bother me. These don't have scholarly introductions. They also do not include endnotes. (Hint...if these things are important to you, there are several other editions that contain all of these. Shapard's annotated series is great for readers who are new to Austen's work. Also, the Wordsworth classics paperback boxed set is illustrated and has notes and is usually under five dollars per book).I am very disappointed that Chiltern has not released an edition of Austen's juvenilia, Lady Susan, and Sanditon! Most publishers print these in one edition and I have my fingers crossed that Chiltern has plans to do this as well. Please? I didn't realize this omission until I had already fallen in love with my Mansfield Park copy.I am thrilled with my Chiltern edition of Persuasion. Reading the Chiltern editions of Jane Austen's novels is a perfect way to celebrate her 250th birthday!

I stayed up until two o'clock in the morning to finish Persuasion, a revelation in itself because the first time I picked up the book during my vacation in Jamaica, I barely comprehended it and couldn't get into it and ended up putting it down in exchange for one of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery. I decide to start it from the very beginning, and after about five hours decided I would risk not being able to get up on time in the morning just to see how it all turns out.Jane Austen's books, I've decided, is a little like watching a Shakesperean play (or any of the other British-made films like Snatch or Trainspotting, it takes a while to fall in with the rhythm of the language. Your brain eventually trains itself to accept some of the archaic English as not being gobblelygook, and you find yourself falling into the plot and caring and even admiring the beautiful if somewhat stilted, language.Now I have to admit that I have come into my admiration for Jane Austen late in life (about two weeks ago and I'm 41), and not for not having had exposure to her, either. I do have a degree in English Literature, and Jane Austen is pretty much part of the standard reading requirement for any college or university. I also seem to own all of the books, and I seem to recall doing a paper on Northanger Abbey, even though I couldn't tell you right now what that was all about. This is, however, my first time reading Persuasion, if you don't count the time I tried to pick it up in Jamaica two weeks ago.As an English major, I know that I was supose to revere Jane Austen, but I never understood why. Earlier readings had left no indelible mark on my soul, but for some reason, this time around, I truly was enchanted. With Persuasion, I believe a lot of it had to do with how Austen carefully shapes her characters. These are true people to me, I fancy myself to be Ann, and her two sisters seem to me be just like my two sisters, without the power of the baronet and servants and estates and all that other good stuff that can only come with being a part of that genteel class. Austen lets me live in a world so different from my own, so fascinating in its examination and yet filled with so much of the problems and realities that we would encounter in our everyday lives.Persuasion is a study in human nature. Some might argue that the characters lack depth, for they are either kind and good, like Ann, or selfish and shallow, like her sister Elizabeth. I think though, the genius is in the presentation of such flawed characters - Austen is biting and unforgiving in her portrayals. She is best when she is exposing some unjustness of social mores or grossness of character. But to be fair, even the good can make mistakes and be misled, and the good themselves are trying to determine what their proper place is in this unjust world. It is their goodness which earns them their well-deserved happiness while the selfish and shallow (no one seems truly evil in this book), like in any good fairytale, get what they deserve.