★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
This all started when I finally took the opportunity to learn about Jane Austen. She's the only classic author whose books I could get through and enjoy. I had the plan to finish reading all of her books, but the longing to read other books (for reading a classic can get pretty tedious and it really depends on whether I have the mood for it) overshadowed it, and I soon forgot. The online course reignited my love for this famous author, and so began my journey through Northanger Abbey.
Catherine Morland is invited to Bath by the Allens, and there she gets to experience a more happening life that the countryside cannot allow. She meets the Thorpes and the Tilneys, enters several friendships, and later on, undergoes the hardships of such relationships. Upon an invitation from the Tilneys, her overactive imagination reaches its peak when she arrives at Northanger Abbey.
Once again, Jane Austen amazes me with the creation of realistic characters, something which only her apparent good social observation skills can achieve. We can also understand in this story her thoughts on gothic novels, seeing as how Catherine really did allow her baseless imaginations to take control of her life from reading so much of those (not like I have anything bad to say about it; characters who are bibliophiles would always have a special place in my heart). However, the numerous unlikeable characters in this book is enough to turn me off a lot of times. How they took advantage of Catherine's innocence! I've got to admit as well, that I expected the Abbey to make its appearance sooner rather than later. But reading about her growth is like reading a coming-of-age novel, and it's wonderful to see her becoming more mature as time went by.
I wouldn't recommend this to romantics though. It reads more like a young adult novel with a protagonist who undergoes changes and toxic friendships and the like. At the end of it, I even wonder if Henry Tilney really felt anything romantic for Catherine, as seemingly indicated by Austen herself. That, in itself, is one of the most disappointing sentences to read, ever, I've got to say. With few likeable characters, and having a seemingly romance novel not come out as a romance at all, I find it really hard to give this more than 3 stars as a result.