Emma

Rating:
Summary: Emma transcends time
Review: Once you master the difficulty of the language(some in our reading group never did), you can focus on the story and relate to the witty and impudent Emma. In one incident Emma and her best friend and former governess share a non-verbal communication by stepping on the other's foot under the table when something wild is happening! So many of these "modern" exchanges take place, that I was able to drop my misinformed presumptions that the english gentry class of the nineteenth century are so different from me. There are moments of great cruelty (such is the case of class struggle) and there are two hilarious characters; the gossipy neighbor who barely catches her breath, and answers her own questions, and Emma's worrisome and overprotective father. The story seems to be one party after another -- from parlor rooms to ballrooms to picnic luncheons -- you will be amazed at how much time these people have on their hands! Oh, the leisure class. Emma goes through some humbling changes, and there are surprising turns of events. I found myself wishing for Emma's world -- where your neighbors are intimates and you alternately visit and are visited upon, and work isn't in the picture.