Yoana’s Comments (group member since Jan 19, 2011)

Yoana’s comments from the CoS Forums group.

Nick wrote: "I went to cosforums.com today and only see a blank page with the text "sx". Can anybody access the website or know anything about it shutting down? I last visited about a week ago and didn't see an..."

I got the same result. However, the archives are up: http://www.cosforums.com/cosarchive/i...?

Hi! I'm very active. Has the site shut down? I'm afraid to check...

I'm in! I'm currently reading Under the Banner of Heaven, but I can put it on hold for your suggestions. Anything besides Fifty Shades of Grey would do.

I don't know, I wasn't convinced. Everything falls into place so neatly in the end for Emma. I was especially disgusted with her when she sent Harriet away, not out of concern for Harriet, but so she could enjoy her engagement better and feel better about herself. That was horrible of her, in my opinion. And when Harriet comes back, she's in love with another man! How convenient for Emma! Basically, apart from a few days of remorse over how she treated Miss Bates, Emma is spared from any consequences of her actions, and to me she remained selfish and snobbish throughout the book. I saw little change in her, apart from her temporary humility right before she realized she was in love with Mr. Knightly. I resent her treatment of Harriet very much, and I especially resent the fact that she didn't really feel all that bad about it at all, except when she feared she was a bad person - she didn't really care how Harriet felt but was absorbed in her own ideas about herself and how her behaviour reflected on herself, not on others. Which is, to me, the same self-centredness she had in the beginning of the novel. Everything kept revolving around her in her mind.

I disagree that she changes more than other Austen characters - both Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet change a great dela more in P&P, and Captain Wentworth in Persuasion (not Anne, but Anne is so cool she need not change at all).

So I finally finished Emma. A month and a half. And Jane Austen was right about one thing, when it comes to me at least - that Emma is a "heroine whom no one but [her] will much like". I disliked Emma for most of the book. She sounds entitled, self-satisfied and spoilt. I couldn't stand Mr. Knightley either, so I think they deserve each other. They can spend the rest of their lives preaching and nagging at each other, imagining themselves and each other superior to every other human being on earth.

I found little to none character development. Emma and Mr. Knightley both start off as superb people and end as such. Harriet Smith starts off as hopeless simpleton and ends as such. And the same pattern is repeated with every single character. The only one I liked was Jane Fairfax, probably because I didn't get to see enough of her to get on my nerves.

Sorry for the hate-post here, but I'm quite disappointed with this book. It's tolerable in the beginning, but it gets worse and worse as it progresses and it ends in an unbearable pitch of complacency and self-congratulation. And I couldn't find any of the subtle humour, the subversive digs at society, the sophisticated reflection so well woven in the other two books by Austen that I've read. It felt like a bad imitation of her style.

I vote To Kill a Mockingbird, because I read it recently :D

"Marriage (rather than love) as considered by the characters: male, female, rich, poor, old, young. A wealth of opposing perspectives on the subject of marriage are presented; what do you think the author is asserting about marriage as a social institution?"

As far as I've gone by now, I think I could (sort of) answer this question.

I find it interesting that the book seems to assert that intelligence, on both sides, is crucial for achieving happiness in marriage: not merely equal capabilities in that regard, but both parties having "strong understanding". I like this thought, because I hear too often that the less you know and understand, the happier you are, and I completely disagree.

Austen condemns monetary incentives to marry, but people marrying people from the same class and social status seems to be seen as the natural order of things, and even justified through exhibiting how the behaviour, the manner, the very character of a person of a certain social standing is wrong for someone below or above him/her. We see that clearly in the Harriet/Elton pairing on one hand, and the Elton/Emma pairing on the other. Mr. Elton is both overstepping his class boundaries by approaching Emma AND showing how naturally inferior he is to her in his address, manners, expression of emotions. The two things seem to be presented as naturally interdependent; or else one serves as a justification, a legitimizer for the other.

In fact, I think I see a whole trend of this conflation of class belonging and natural propensities and even worth: take Harriet for example, Mr. Knightly believes her to be a bad influence on Emma and he lists a number of 100% personal, specific to Harriet's temper and demanour reasons for that; at the same time, it's heavily hinted that Harriet's patent inferiority to Emma is rooted in her origin and the society she has been exposed to until then.

It's taking me too long to read Emma. I've watched most adaptations and I know how it ends, so I won't be spoiled - if everyone else is ready, I suggest we start discussion.

I personally am not finished, but I'm a very slow reader, so I'm ok with going forward if everyone else is done.

Wow, that's a fantastic find. Thanks!

Lucy wrote: "I just started Everything is Illuminated for another group read...so can we wait a week or so?"

That's fine by me.

I have a copy at home. I can start in a few days.

Yup - Осъдени души by Димитър Димов. It's Bulgarian. It's an excellent, brilliant novel about impossible love, set in Civil War Spain in the 1930s.

I'd never thought of the Ewells parallel before. But now that you pointed it out, I totally see it. And they both get the object of their affections in trouble as a result of their abuse and neglect. Thanks!

I don't think His Dark Materials is available where I am :-(

OK, I'll just go ahead and try a suggestion - how about The Hobbit? Has everyone read it? It's being filmed right now as far as I know, so we could discuss the adaptation later as a bonus :D

Of course, feel free to suggest another book!

^I haven't read any of those *blush* "Sense and Sensibility" is next on my to-read list. Other than that, from the most popular widely spread works out there, I've read Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Pride and Prejudice, The Catcher in the Rye, Great Expectations, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Shakespeare's tragedies and sonnets. Can we multiple-compare books? Then we'd see what books we all have in common already.

Sarah wrote: "That would be a great idea, :D. How about posting a short list of books, everyone would like to read/discuss?"

Maybe we could start with a classic or a very popular book all of us have read.

How about we start a book club amongst us, as Jacqui suggested? We could start with books we've all read initially, and with time start setting books in advance to read and discuss. If everyone is up for it, of course. What do you think?

@Leah - I agree, I think one of the main reasons why I like HBP so much, apart from Snape, is the romance absurdity. I love hopw Ron and Hermione suddenly turn all irrational and hysterical on Harry and he's left there wondering what the hell is wrong with the world. It makes me laugh every time I read it.