A Book Review: Edmund Bertram's Diary

Snatched from a Google search

Alright, to start, I'll just save ou the time and trouble of reading my post and say, yes, I liked it, I will read it again I'm sure, and I do recommend it.

Now, the rest of this may contain spoilers, but if you haven't read Mansfield Park,what in the world are you doing reading a post about a sort of sequel to it? Well, with that said, this is the first and last warning about spoilers.

Some of  the things I disliked about this book were the "subtle" referrences to other Jane Austen stories. An example of this, Mrs. Norris speaking of Henry Crawford after the second or third meeting.

"After the second meeting I thought him not so very plain, and after dining at the Parsonage yesterday, I find I consider him to be one of the handsomest men of my acquaintance. He has so much contenance, and his teeth are so good, and he is so well made, that he is a great addtion to our circle.  

See? Even Edmund agrees!

I mean, really? I half expected to read, "His teeth are tolerable I suppose." Maybe I'm loopy and just don't remember that this was indeed in the original, is this so? (I did go look a little, but I couldn't find the passage)
 Basically, little technical issues like that were all I disliked in the book, but if they are all over the place they can ruin a book. So, just be prepared for little ''groaners'' in the book if you read it and you will be fine.

Now, the things I liked about this book are much more numorous then the dislikes. For one, Ms. Grange did not try to make Fanny out as a anything less (or more, if you will) then a weak, easily fatigued, shy, even sickly at times, little creature who wanted nothing more then to spend a day with a certain gentleman she loved and not be bothered by a certain gentleman she didn't.
  Example, the scene in which Edmund spends too much time teaching Miss Crawford to ride, in both movies she paces while waiting for them to return. She doesn't do that in the book. She is too tired to do such a thing because she is prone to headaches if she is out too long. (Cutting roses for her Aunt Norris...)

The second thing that I really liked about this book was that it showed me a side of Edmund that made me like him more. This book brought to my attention what I had managed to overlook every time I had read Mansfield Park before. That is, at every opportunity he did what was best for Fanny (You know, except when he tells her of his ''undying'' love for Mary Crawford). If it came down to a choice between Fanny or Mary, Edmund chose Fanny. I like him much better after reading this, for every circumstance in EB'sD  that applies to this was taken directly out of MP.

"I came to walk with you Fanny." I said. I drew her arm into mine companionably, but I was disturbed to find that she did not lean against me, as was her custom.

Several other things that I am glad of include Sir Thomas Bertram's portrayal. Since we see him from his son's eyes we see a man that tries to be gentle, and though he fails at times he is an affectionate man, in his own way. He is only plagued by his eldest son's debts, and his business problems in Antigua. Also, Ms. Grange did a wonderful job of keeping the language from being too flowery, as this is supposed to be a man's diary. And it didn't sound like she tried to hard to word things Just as Jane would have, however, it still flowed nicely with the dialogue directly from MP.

I have decided that this is not  re-lister on paperbackswap.com, it has indeed found it's permanent home upon my shelves. So much for that idea...

Ta! I hope you enjoyed this post!