How many pages is evelina

The girl in only six or seven months finds herself becoming very well educated However there is another Lord, young , good-looking, manners that never offend, a charming, debonair man Lord Orville, but can he be trusted or is he just another phony? This surprisingly well written, biting satire, nevertheless an entertaining book by Fanny Burney, as she dives deep into the upper crust and shows its shortcomings, warts and all, and the people of 18th -century England , they reveal a complex society of good and bad Who'd have thought that reading the long interior monologue that is Ducks, Newburyport would lead to reading the long interior monologue that is Evelina —but that's exactly what happened.

It is probably not accurate to say that Evelina is an interior monologue, but it is close to being one since it is almost entirely made up of a young woman's letters to various people in which she writes of everything that has been happening in her life since she last wrote to them.

It's all couched in perfectly constructed sentences and paragraphs of course—which is the very opposite of Lucy Ellmann's narrator's style, but both narrators ponder what it is like to be a woman in their own time, the choices they have made or need to make, the traps they've fallen into.

Both have lost their mothers at a young age too, and feel the lack intensely though other aspects of their lives and circumstances are very different since there are two hundred and fifty years between them as well as an entire ocean. Yes, Ohio of today is very different from England in the s, and not least when it comes to class differences. There don't seem to be any in Ohio which suits Ellmann's narrator perfectly. But Evelina lives in a society with very rigid class boundaries, and one of her dilemmas is the fact that she doesn't belong in any of them since her mother is dead and her father has never acknowledged her or his marriage to her mother.

Evelina has a quite grotesque grandmother too, who, though wealthy, has no status in society, so the poor girl is doubly, triply, hampered. Her indeterminate situation reflects the situation of the book itself in a way. While the central themes of this 'marriage plot' story are treated seriously, large sections revolve around a rambunctious ships captain and his hilarious confrontations with various other mettlesome characters.

The captain's every word and action certainly scuttles many of the claims Evelina's personal story might have to seriousness. The shouting matches between her and the captain, and the ridiculous schemes he comes up with to outwit her, reminded me of the culinary meaning of the word 'farce': in French, it means 'stuffing'.

The book is full of stuffing, and I'm certain that the readers of Burney's day, brought up as they would have been on Restoration Comedy which is stuffed with Farce, must have enjoyed it very much.

I enjoyed it myself. Virginia Woolf. A delightful read! A mix of Wilde's humor, Austen's perception, and Collins' intrigue. Even in those moments where I suspected exactly where the story was going, I felt so much pleasure in watching it unfold that it was not a moment's concern.

Poor Evelina, thrust upon the world without any armor but her good character to save her from the assaults of unscrupulous men, wanton women, ignorant relations and downright cruel associates, plods her way through the maze with a grace that makes you laugh when you ought to cry. Her innocence causes her to make some remarkably bad choices, but it could not be more obvious that she will need to trust to it for her deliverance. Even the well-intended in this story fall short of offering the assistance Evelina needs to navigate this world of pot-holes.

It is said that Burney was an influence on Austen, and I can certainly see that she was. Her character development and story line puts you in mind of Miss Jane right away. During some of the bantering between characters, I caught glimpses of that sharp humor that is so typical of Oscar Wilde and makes his plays such a joy. Example: "O pray, Captain," cried Mrs. Selwyn, "don't be angry with the gentleman for thinking, whatever be the cause, for I assure you he makes no common practice of offending in that way.

She paints her buffoons and her true gentlemen with a broad brush, and she gives us every degree of coarseness and gentility side-by-side. I find nothing to complain of in Ms. Burney's writing or style. My only disclaimer would be that it is very 19th Century which I love , but if you are aggrieved by the state of a woman's lot during that time, you will find this frustrating. I kept wanting to advise Evelina myself to take the next carriage heading in the opposite direction!

I give this a 4. Read it. You will be glad. I like neither the book nor the audiobook narration. I rate them here separately.

Both I am giving one star. I have not read many Georgian books, and this was supposed to be funny, so I thought I would give it a try. I was also curious because Jane Austen loved this author. I have tried to like the book, but I have utterly failed. The humor is satire, often related to what is allowed and not allowed in society, but it is not funny because there is nothing new or imaginative.

Slapstick bores me. I prefer humor that demands that one thinks. This is not what is delivered here. The book is an epistolary novel. We learn about Evelina through letters, the letters she sends and those she receives--all sent in one year from April to October.

The plot is predictable. The telling is melodramatic. It is sentimental. It is a retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale, made unnecessarily long and convoluted. I prefer the shorter original.

Evelina could easily be cut in half. The prose style is florid. Super wordy. It takes a whole page to say one thing. You might think the writing is long because it is supposed to sound lyrical and pretty. The characters are black and white cardboard figures. Beautiful Evelina is so darn sweet, wonderful and perfect. I prefer complicated, messy people—people who are real.

Did I give the book up when I discovered I disliked the audiobook narration? NO, I did not! The latter two read well, very well. I have no complaints whatsoever regarding their performance. She reads Evelina's letters. Williams dramatizes, and in a fashion I vehemently dislike. She reads too quickly, her French is poor and worst of all is how she renders conversations.

She intones the different characters in a manner making it difficult to distinguish who says what. Male and female characters sound exactly the same.

Her voice is that of a young girl. The exception is when she mimics a laugh--her laughs are extremely loud, throaty and boisterous. When she laughs, I cringe. I have given the narration one star because it is Williams who reads most of the book and her narration I do not like.

I will soon be trying more Georgian novels. I am hoping I will like them more. Sherwood Smith. Author books This reread struck me with just how thin the veneer of civilization is. Burney was in her mid-twenties when she wrote this and had probably been writing versions of it for ten years ; the central romance is very nearly bloodless, Evelina and Lord Orville being such paragons.

Their relationships is only interesting when Evelina thinks he wrote her an offensive letter, but one can just make out some human interest in the two when Orville keeps coming across Evelina in the most surprising places. They scarcely exchange fifty words for nearly half the book, possibly longer, but his delicacy as he keeps coming to her rescue secures her interest, surrounded as she is by a vivid range of comical figures. When one considers that this novel, which was a huge best seller the instant it came out, did a great deal to make novels respectable, the reader gets a sense of just how rough and bawdy eighteenth century literature was.

Casual cruelty to animals, the race between old women a bet, arranged by people who purport to be part of high society , Captain Mirvan's persecution of Madam Duval and how funny everyone found it--polite society was a dangerous place. Vivid and apparently realistic or at least recognizable within the confines of comedic broad strokes are the various marriages as well as what society was like for middle class, gentry, and lords and ladies; Vauxhall was clearly in its decline Tom Branghton's gleeful recounting of what it was like there the last night of each season, when basically there was a riot and women running about "skimper scamper" screaming and people smashing out lights , Ranelagh was at its height; we see a night at the opera and a couple of plays she talks about current favorites and names real performers , as well as Bath, bathing, etc.

Also interesting is seeing the ghost of Jane Austen, as it were, for instance Orville's first, unconsidered put-down of Evelina, who, being a total innocent, behaves oddly at her first ball, is a reminder of Darcy's put-down of Lizzie Bennet the first time they all meet at a dance. Certain lines also evoke Austen.

This is because Evelina was left vulnerable in so many situations! By this time I had realised duh!

Evelina was accosted a lot! The epistletory format was also starting to seem strained. I don't think this method works well in novels - it is just too limited. I enjoyed this well enough to try another novel by Burney in the future. As such, I found myself constantly at a loss. Before reading this book, I thought I had a good handle on the manners of the period. I know the difference between a barouche, a phaeton, and a curricle, and that a lady would never stand up and leave a conversation, and that men knew classical languages and women, only modern.

And yet, I was utterly confused by Evelina. The following block of text contains spoilers, so beware. A major piece of the plot is that Evelina a young girl only just out into society receives the following note: "To Miss Anville. I am sorry the affair of the carriage should have given you any concern, but I am highly flattered by the anxiety you express so kindly. Believe me, my lovely girl, I am truly sensible to the honour of your good opinion, and feel myself deeply penetrated with love and gratitude.

The correspondence you have so sweetly commenced, I shall be proud of continuing; and I hope the strong sense I have of the favour you do me will prevent your withdrawing it.

Her other major novels are Cecilia and Camilla Like Evelina , they take as their theme the entry into the world of a young girl of beauty and understanding but no experience, and expose her to circumstances and events that develop her character. Her novels were admired by Jane Austen. She also wrote The Wanderer , published in , but it was not a success.

In she edited the Memoirs of her father. She was also a prodigious writer of lively letters and journals; her Early Diary — includes sketches of Johnson, Garrick and many others, and her later Diary and Letters — gives a vivid account of her life at court. Search books and authors. Buy from…. View all retailers. With entries from the diary of Fanny Burney.

Also by Frances Burney. Related titles. To Kill A Mockingbird. Pride and Prejudice. Brave New World. The Great Gatsby: Popular Penguins. Crime and Punishment. Little Women. The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Secret Garden. Anna Karenina. Of Mice and Men. Jane Eyre.