Kaethe

Wow. So it’s clear why this didn’t remain a popular book for long. All of the creepy gothic stuff takes place at the beginning. Then there’s a section of characters acting like normal (aristocratic) people and traveling and having large house parties, and crushing on each other, and oh, if I had read this book before reading Mansfield Park I would never have cast an aspersions upon Fanny. Mathilda is rather unusually perfect in every way, such that everyone who meets her is immediately smitten and keen to support her for the rest of her life….and, yeah, that’s not the most unbelievable part. Hard to say what is, though. There’s the way two different villains repent of the horrors they have done and are immediately forgiven by the only survivors. Or the way everyone talks in monologues that last for pages of dense paragraphs. Or the pirate who was planning to retire anyway, so he might just as well help Mathilda out...Really, there isn’t a single believable bit in the whole book, neither in the story nor in the telling. To sum up: gruesome, and not in a fun way (unless you enjoy reading awful books, which apparently I do, if they're old enough).

First of <i>The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection</i>, personal copy.