Persuasion
Written by Jane Austen
Narrated by Juliet Stevenson
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was born in 1775 in rural Hampshire, the daughter of an affluent village rector who encouraged her in her artistic pursuits. In novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma she developed her subtle analysis of contemporary life through depictions of the middle-classes in small towns. Her sharp wit and incisive portraits of ordinary people have given her novels enduring popularity. She died in 1817.
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Reviews for Persuasion
914 ratings272 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I say this a lot, but it's been a very long time since I read Persuasion. I know the movie (Ciaran Hinds & Amanda Root, the only one worth watching) very very well, and it was a pure joy to be reminded of how utterly and beautifully faithful it is to the book, and another joy to be reminded of all of the elements that did not make it into the film. Karen Savage's reading was lovely and just enhanced my enjoyment of the story.Sparing Goodreads my ponderings on the Defense of Frederick and Why I Hate Lady Russell; they can be found on my blog.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion is a classic, and a charming one! It follows twenty-something Anne as she navigates the path to almost certain spinsterhood. She had a love once, but gave it up due to the expectations of her family and their certainty she could get a "better match." Fast forward: she didn't. But...she might have a second chance.Anne's "late in life" (for the time period) love story is the main plot driver in the book, however my favorite part was her observations, and the comments of, her family and friends. The book is quite savage toward the stuffy upper crust and it was actually laugh out loud funny at parts. It is partially set in Bath, England, where Austen did live, and I think a lot of the author's own feelings toward the people around her were coming out here in a thinly veiled way. Great, short read!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5my second favourite jane austen novel. i love how after several years, anne still loves captain wentworth and how they reclaim their love together :)
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5this one started so well for me but lost me halfway. I think I would have liked it more if I had studied it in school. all the social class stuff is a little lost on me now that I don't study literature anymore and I don't get that deeper knowledge and subsequent appreciation for what Austen has written
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A woman still loves the man she dumped years ago.Good. This is the first book from this era that I've read, and it was pretty hard at first to care about a story from such an alien culture. You wait for most of the book for one of these two characters to just tell the other one they like them already. It's weirdly satisfying when they finally do.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Guess who found her new favorite Jane Austen novel???? J.K.! Emma will always hold a place in the center of my heart but Persuasion, it's older cool sister replaces Pride and Prejudice as the book I'll read on the days where I'm sick in bed.All I remember from the first time I read it as a wannabe 14 year old hipster that thought she was so cool because she read classic novels and listened to alternative punk music is that this book was so dumb because Anne should've just moved on or give Lady Russell the finger and do what she wanted. I'm certain I'm not the only one cringing. Clearly, I hadn't enough attention to the character of Anne Elliot because she is exactly the type of woman I've always wanted to be: intelligent, attractive, highly spoken of, truly a kind person. It's so easy to be persuaded at a young age to do or feel anything. Anne was motherless it's only natural she would cling to the next mother figure in her life. I finally get it, Lady Russell wasn't wrong, there was no guarantee this dashing young Frederick Wentworth was going to provide her a secure lifestyle and for all she knew he could die at sea at any given moment. Would Anne be able to survive on her own without him? The irony is that at 14 the persuasions of the cool high schoolers I was hanging out with were definitely molding me into something that I thought was better for me which luckily worked out pretty well.Perhaps I'm older and wiser now that I finally understand why Captain Wentworth's love surpasses most if not all other Austen heroes. Eight years is a long time to hold on to a love that nearly crushed you. He's not subtle like Mr. Darcy when it comes to showing affection and he's definitely not an obvious flirt like a certain Tilney (bae), but there's an interesting tell when it comes to his feelings towards our heroine to the point that if you're not careful enough, it may have to be explained to you...which Austen does in the end. But it was so satisfying reading the progression to that part (!!!)Anne Elliot is not so bland in my mind anymore, before I had always lumped her with the pushover Catherine and weak Fanny. We shall never speak of the Dashwood sisters...unless you want to read a rant. Anne was beyond her era and I am here for it. The shade thrown around this book was all over the place and for once the villain was unapologetically villainous with a satisfying ending, at least to me that is. I still say Wickam should've been thrown off a cliff.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My favorite Austen
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nice to revisit.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Thematisch grotendeels een doorslagje van de andere romans, vooral inzake emoties en afloop. Thema van de persuasion overheerst niet echt, zo wordt niet goed uitgewerkt waarom Anne Wentworth indertijd afwees. Wel weer mooie society-inkijk. Ook stilistisch zeer sterk vooral in de groepsdynamica en de introspectie in de wereld van Anne (dikwijls ook geluid en blik).
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/53.5 stars. I think that this would have been a 3 star read if not for Austen's writing style, but I just love Austen's style so much. I didn't care too much about the characters or plot or anything, but I still found it enjoyable. There were several clever comments made about the disadvantages experienced by women in this time that I appreciated so much. Also, the satire regarding the vanity of Anne's family was hysterical.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is my favorite of all of Jane Austen's books, and Ann Eliot is my favorite - and probably most believable - of Austen's heroines. I just have to cheer when she foils her silly, snobbish father and waltzes off with the now-rich Captain Wentworth.. This book is a gem in every way.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I did not like it at first but as the story unravels, I find it good. I don't know why I read the theme of unrequited love nowadays lol. But this book is a Jane Austen's novel so I know it will have a happy ending, and it did.
Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth were parted for eight and a half years but they still have feelings for each other. It was just acted upon the last two chapters of the book. It is because during the past years, Anne was persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that Wentworth was not worthy of her so she declined his marriage proposal.
This is my most favorite part:
"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means
as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony,
half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings
are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart
even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years
and a half ago. 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. You alone have brought me to Bath.
For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this?
Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even
these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write..." - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was the first Austen book I read and so I didn't have too many expectations going into it. I had heard that Persuasion was one book of Austen's that does not get the hype it deserves. I'm not sure I agree with that. I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. As it is a romance novel I was hoping for a bit more... I don't know, romance? Nothing really progressed between Wentworth and Anne until the last 100ish pages. However, Austen is so witty and I absolutely enjoyed the interactions between pretty much all the characters.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful romance, the 'good' characters receive their rewards.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It's been many years since I read a Jane Austen novel. Would I like her as much now as I did when I read her PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and EMMA? I was 14 then. Answer: no. Or is it fair to compare those novels to PERSUASION, which was published after Austen died?I don't remember needing to reread many paragraphs in order to understand them when I read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and EMMA. But that is exactly why it took me a week to read PERSUASION, which is short and should have been a quick read.Another problem with PERSUASION was probably also the same in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and EMMA. That is, the whole story is about nothing but romance. When I was younger, that appealed to me. Now I want more.Maybe Austen intended to do some rewrites on PERSUASION before she published it. We'll never know.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One of Austen's best. The setting and characters were great and the story seemed surprisingly realistic. Couldn't put it down.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of my favorite of Austen's books. (I re-read often and really don't know when I first read it.)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yay! Everybody lived happily ever after. So glad I listened to this, and so glad I stuck to it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Main participatory read for both #AusteninAugustRBR and at Book Rat's Persuasion Readalong for Austen in August 2012.
Absolutely loved reading the story I've enjoyed so much on dvd. I wanted to see and hear the nuances of JA's actual story of Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth - Not a filmmaker's version and perspective...
I was not disappointed.
Full and rich characterization of people I've come to care for with insights into their lives, choices and actions that definitely had me forming my own opinions, hopes and desires for the resolution of the earlier 'persuasion' experienced...
English tale of life and love past due date for Anne Elliot, now in her spinsterhood due to refusing the marriage proposal of her pursuer, Irishman, Frederick Wentworth. She had bowed to the persuasion of a family friend and confidant, Lady Russell, who had stepped in to fill the role of Anne's deceased mother. Convinced her sailor would not have a future other than what he was at the time of their courtship, she had let him go off to pursue his life and dreams without her by his side.
Now, 8 years later, he returns a hero with a fortune and in need of a wife as Jane Austen has famously stated in opening Pride and Prejudice.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". And Captain Wentworth is proving her point as he flirts with Anne's sister Mary's young sisters in law upon his return. His own sister, Sophy and her husband, have rented the Elliot's home, Kellynch Hall, for their home when Anne's father has had to retrench to save financial ruin induced by living above his means.
The Captain's evident interest in the Musgrove sisters ends in a near fatal accident which allows light to dawn on him and his heart's precarious position. He and Anne are thrown together in various and increasingly frequent situations, enabling opportunities to re-evaluate their relationship and leading to the satisfying conclusion of love lost and regained... - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Favorite hands down so far.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I liked this one a lot. I liked that it wasn't about an ingenue; I liked the hints of the world beyond the social circles; I liked the maturity of the relationships; I liked the way Austen slipped in a bit of intrigue.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Elliot is a sweet intelligent girl with a foolish vain father,a selfish witch of a sister,a married sister who thinks she is sick all the time and calls her to visit and take care of her all the time,her mother is died,she has a god-mother who loves her but doesn't understand her,a brokenheart because she was persuaded by her family to break off an engagement to the only man she ever loved because he didn't have enough money for her family,and now her family has fallen into debt and must rent the family home and move to Bath a town she hates.To top all this off the renters are the sister and brother-in-law of her ex-fiance who has come back form the war very rich.She is still in love with her ex-finance Captain Wentworth but does he still love her and if can he forgive her for breaking his heart?Persuasion is all about second changes and anyone who has gotten one will connect with Anne and Wentworth.The title has just as much to do with Anne not marrying Wentworth 8 years ago as it does with her trying to persuade herself she doesn't still love him and she will not think of him again.Austen's most romantic work is my third favorite and her swan song.She died before it was published.Her favorite brother Henry published Persuasion along with her first finished but never published novel Northanger Abbey.Her last novel is one of her best and I can't help wishing that there had been many more.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I must admit that a sizable percent of the book was unintelligible to me. But what I missed was not, I believe the meat and potatoes of the book. I was not missing the passages that confirmed Jane Austen is a literary genius. I do admit, however that Austen is dignified and tender, not to say sophisticated in her treatment of the theme of romance. On a different subject, it was fascinating to read a pre-Victorian novel. It was intriguing to read a book about mostly a woman, written by a woman during less modern times, to put it mildly. I can see that people find the book well written. I can see that it survived obscurity. I just don't see how this book is so prized by readers young and old.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My favorite scene from all of Jane Austen is in this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Even better the second time! (Finished again 19 Ma 2009)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel. It gives you a couple that you can't help but cheer for. It has enough angst to keep you reading, and just overall great characters that you get attached to. Such a great read!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Austen's novel created some noble characters that follow the formula of most romantic comedies. Google summary below: Twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot is Austen's most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne's family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. All the tension of the novel revolves around one question: Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?Jane Austin once compared her writing to painting on a little bit of ivory, 2 inches square. Readers of Persuasion will discover that neither her skill for delicate, ironic observations on social custom, love, and marriage nor her ability to apply a sharp focus lens to English manners and morals has deserted her in her final finished work.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's a bit presumptuous to rate Jane Austen on the same five point scale one uses for everyone else. But what can you do?
At the risk of seeming low brow, I still prefer Pride and Prejudice and Emma. But I do not begrudge Anne Elliot her much delayed happiness. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Read through dailylit.com and kept clicking the "send next installment" over and over--was supposed to take 6 weeks (I think) instead I read it in two days.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I know that this puts me in a minority of Austen readers, but I have never really liked this book. It's too short and lightly sketched -- it reads less like a novel and more like an outline of a novel. The hero and heroine barely speak to each other, and I really dislike Anne -- she's nearly as priggish and meek as Fanny Price. And even Austen's trademark humor doesn't work as well in this book as it does in others; there are some humorous lines, but her viciousness about poor Richard Musgrove just seems mean.