Persuasion

This novel is undoubtedly the best of all the Jane Austen works, and probably the most underrated. It is a captivating story of the dangers in allowing others to control your decisions, and outlines the importance of an independant mind. One of Austen less conservative books, it is much darker in comparison to any of her other works, besides, of course, Mansfield Park.
This book is guarenteed to steal your heart. For all of the women who thought Mr. Darcy the most gracious of heroes, you will love Captain Wentworth so much more. This books allows the reader to connect with the kind of emotion that you cannot find in Austen's other works. The letter at the end is written in the exact prose that a love letter should be written. I, personally, rave this book as my favourite of all books, not only Austens books. If you don't enjoy this novel's subtle satire and witty prose, you will enjoy it surpremely for the love story.

When it comes to a great author like Jane Austen, it is hard to pick your favourite. Some of her novels are quite different to her others, and Persuasion surely is one of them.
I have never read an Austen novel as a teen or young adult and so hae always judged from the adult point of view. Maybe that's the reason why Persuasion is my favourite.
Jane Austen has always been critizised because she writes about people of a certain social status only. Yes, she does, and that's good. Because that was about the kind of people she knew, the kind of world she lived in. And that's why her novels are so great. She knows what she's writing about.
What I like most in Persuasion is the way she captured the problems women were facing at the time. Especially the part where she explains to Captain Harville the difference between men's and women's feelings and their way of living. I thought she managed to come across so well, you just could feel her thoughts.
And nobody ever said that her novels were historical ones. They are, but only of the small world she lived in and knew.
Pride & Prejudice is much more lively, Emma as well, and I love both of them. But if I was allowed to take one of Jane Austen's books only to a desert island, Persuasion it would be.

Jane Austen certainly dissects human disposition so pragmatically and beautifully that you cant help but concur with her. She certainly was a gifted lady who exposed the basic human behavior so vividly while maintaining the curiosity among readers.

Persuasion is indeed her best novel after Pride And Prejudice and take us on a journey of characters which we can relate to and connect with.

Anne Elliot, The Protagonist certainly is a lady with distinctive disposition and taste. She epitomizes benevolence and what a lady should be like... Her unbiased tendency to look at things without judging them and not affected by cursory and superficial luring manners worth praise.
I also liked Anne Elliot for maintaining a fine balance between her friend cum guardian and her love (Lady Russel and Fredrick Wentworth).

I throughly enjoyed every part of this novel and would recommend it to anyone who wants to have an insight into basic human behavior in the form of a gripping story line which you one wont regret reading.

Anne Elliot is an underrated Austen heroine - and is now my favorite (thus far, anyhow). She's profoundly relatable and human. Anne worries about the loss of her youthful "bloom" as 30 approaches, has loved passionately and lost because she was persuaded otherwise by her family and mentor, and is a little self-deceiving as to her own heart. There's a little of the Cinderella narrative in her as well - here is a gem of a woman completely overlooked and mistreated by her family, and even herself...until her glory and true beauty is revealed. She's lovely!

Persuasion's a story of second chances, a rich love story. It is a more mature Austen, with so many keen, casual insights into women and society at the time (one of my favorite examples, from Anne: "Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove any thing.") The dialogue and narration are delightful, as always, but not so clever as to seem impossible (think: Lizzy Bennett's quick wit). Two things hold me back from five stars: (1) the way, like many Austen novels, the first 50-60 pages plod a bit while the plot builds momentum, and (2) the abrupt ending, where things are wrapped up neatly in a few pages of exposition rather than playing out fully in dialogue and activity. Well worth reading.

It's Jane Austen, but with a much more grown-up hero and heroine. They were once in love and planned to marry. However, on the suggestion of her friend and mentor, Anne, the middle child of Baronet Walter Elliot, ended the engagement and Mr. Wentworth leaves her little shire to make his fortunes in the Royal Navy. Years later, Anne's family is so destitute they are forced to rent their estate. It is with some shock, as it seems Anne has never fully let go of her affections for Mr. Wentworth, that their tenants are the sister and brother-in-law of her former betrothed. Naturally, one Mr. Frederick Wentworth makes a reappearance in Anne's life.

So begins my favorite Austen. I have been a longtime fan of Pride & Prejudice, loving as most do Mr. Darcy; however, it is in Mr. Wentworth, who is almost completely on the perferary of the novel, that she creates a most interesting hero. We watch as he and Anne circle each other, less and less wary, less and less angry, until they finally meet in the middle and rekindle a love that never fully went out for either of them.

Anne Elliot is the most mature of Austen's heroines. She is intelligent and wise, calm and resourceful, sweet and good humored. At 27, she is destined for spinsterhood (eek), having turned down the love of her life by the advice of a trusted friend and mentor at 19. When that love of her life returns 8 years later (filthy rick and a highly sought after bachelor), she is torn between lingering love and the heartache of rejection. Captain Wentworth is obviously angry at her still and makes it a point to court the eligible young women in her area. Anne bears it all with the dignity and grace that shames all of Austen's other heroines.

Captain Wentworth proved to be a worthy hero for Anne. The fact that he's extremely handsome and rich is the least of his winning qualities. His love letter at the end will melt all hearts, across all generations and cultures. "Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak, and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.'

This being an Austen book, you know there's a happy ending with the usual societal commentaries. But there is also depth of characters and gentle humor that sets it apart from her other works. If you liked 'Pride and Prejudice' or 'Sense and Sensibility,' you would love this book.

I enjoyed this book - it was yet another of those odd reads similar to “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” where I would long for the end of the chapter, feeling completely overwhelmed by the long dialogues and winding descriptions. But once I got there, I’d be startled to find myself continuing to read out of sheer curiosity. This is a masterpiece of a story, even for Austen. You know it will end happily - simply because it’s an Austen novel - but for once, there isn’t a clear cut man you just know the heroine will end up with. Anne Elliot is torn between two men - an old love and a new handsome, charming, and interesting suitor. The variety of characters in this novel also brilliantly display Austen’s writing abilities. We meet everyone from the aging Baron Elliot who thinks himself God’s most handsome man to the hypochondriac Mary to the adorable and vivacious Mrs. Croft. The tension is perfectly balanced between events relating to love and events relating to…well…everything else. (This IS an Austen novel.) And Austen even manages to include quips about the predominance of male authors contributing to the poor image of women in society and history. How very Austen

Persuasion is the last novel that Jane Austen completed before she died. Austen would have actually been ill while she was writing this novel, and it undoubtedly had an effect. Persuasion is often said to be one of, or the darkest of Austen's works. The central heroine, Anne Elliot, is 27 years old, which is much older than Austen's other heroines. Unlike other Austen novels, in Persuasion the heroine has already undergone self-realisation when the novel starts. This story is about a heroine who made the mistake of her life seven years ago, when she turned down Wentworth's proposal. Desperately unhappy ever since, Persuasion sees Wentworth come back into Anne's life and we see that this is their second chance for happiness.

As is standard with Austen, the central themes are not love and marriage as such - this is a vehicle for Austen to use satire and irony to comment on society as she sees it. Persuasion is about the hypocrisy of the middle class; people who appear to be polite and well mannered on the surface, but who are morally devoid inside. Austen is making a statement about those people in society who are more privilged than others but who suffer from greed, superficiality, selfishness, duplicity and vanity. She is pointing out that it is possible for people to possess a doubleness of character; the inner emotions of the individual vs. social decorum and manners of middle class society. It causes us to contemplate which is worse; someone who is overtly immoral and makes no attempt to hide it? Or someone who appers to be a good person but who manipulates others and hides their true self? Although Austen was commenting on middle class English society during the mid-eighteenth century, this sort of commentary is not out of place today.

I loved this book, but obviously it won't be everyone's cup of tea. If you read it as just a story about love, it won't make much of an impact. You need to recognise the satire that Austen is famous for and think about what she is conveying to her readers. If you can do that, Persuasion resonantes for a long while after you put the book down.

"All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one; you need not covet it), is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone."
- Persuasion, Ch. 23

This is my favorite Austen novel. Quiet, poignant, and perfectly written, Persuasion is a subtle, mature story with themes of forgiveness and enduring affection. It is a beautiful love story, but with a sadness and delicacy of tone that elevates it to a different level.

Anne is a wonderful character, sensible and good-hearted, quietly yearning for Captain Wentworth, who she summarily dismissed eight years earlier on the advice of her godmother. When he returns and is again thrown into her social circle, she struggles with her unresolved feelings and the regret she feels for letting go of the man she loved.

This is the most romantic of the Austen tales and the only one with anything remotely approaching real passion. The ending, when Wentworth finally admits his true feelings to Anne in a letter, is superb.

Like all of her novels, Jane Austen's PERSUASION is essentially a comedy of manners--a work in which the characters must negotiate a complex code of conduct in order to survive, much less achieve their ends. And in a certain sense the novel is indicative of Austen's great talent, razor sharp, laced with irony and wit, and remarkably phrased. And yet PERSUASION is quite unlike Austen's other novels in the story it tells.
To tell the truth the chapter before the last was my favorite.
This novel was the last one that Austen wrote before she died. It is a more mature novel, dealing with many issues not found in Austen's previous novels. One reason why people find faults with the book is that Anne Elliot, the heroine, is not as spunky or witty as an Elizabeth Bennett or an Emma Woodhouse. There is not so much wit flowing in the dialogue between characters, or even dialogue in general. But these differences between the novels make this one so unique.