Emma

pure pleasure

Jenny Agutter gives one of the best readings I've heard here. This is a wonderful, witty, and wise rendering of the novel. Her characterizations are subtle and smart; it's clear she's given such care and attention to the novel and to Austen's world. Her skill in delivering the meaning and emotion of the words makes this such a delightful journey. Loved it!

7 su 7 utenti hanno ritenuto utile questa recensione

Matchmaker thy name is Folly

This age old favourite by Jane Austin is always pleasing. The characters are well drawn and interesting. The main character, Emma may be, " handsome, clever and rich" and have an exceptionally pleasant lot in life but she has some important lessons to learn.
Humility and being less judgmental of those around her are two for a start and then there is her profound belief that she is a matchmaker without exception!
Many of her views on those she believes beneath her station or attention might be held to be unacceptable today. However, at the time the book was written her views would have been considered quite correct and "proper" for a young lady born in her circumstances. For all her failings it must be said that she has a good heart and luckily for her she has Mr Knightly as her conscience and guardian angel so all ends happily.
I like Jenny Agguter but in this instance the speed at which she read the book was disappointing and had I not known the story so well I might have had to re-listen in some sections. Hence the 4 stars for performance.

3 su 3 utenti hanno ritenuto utile questa recensione

Love Story - performance, not so much

I have read all of Ms. Austen's books many times. Recently listened to Pride and Prejudice and thought it was great - allowed me to enjoy the genius of her writing in a whole new way. So looked forward to this version of Emma. What a disappointment. Voice is shrill, story telling lacks nuance and overall is read too quickly. I won't finish it.

1 su 1 utenti hanno ritenuto utile questa recensione

Very Disappointed

What a disappointment! I was all set to enjoy Emma, really my first non-movie Austen, when it became apparent Jenny Agutter, an actress of some experience, has only one voice, her own. No way to even tell between male and female. Why do recording companies allow this?

1 su 1 utenti hanno ritenuto utile questa recensione

Fun story, but narrator could have done better

Listening to this on audio was only my first time reading Emma and my third time reading a book by Jane Austen, and it did not disappoint. I just love how Austen makes me feel I am being transported into another time in history and how lifelike and fun her characters and stories can be. It is not necessarily my favorite Austen novel, but Emma's antics trying to be a matchmaker were very enjoyable, and I will definitely read it again someday.

To rate the technical side of things, the performance of the narrator, Jenny Agutter was not awful, but it was not the best either. Jenny has a pleasant voice and reads with clear pronunciation, but she did not always do quite enough in the way of changing her voice for different characters' dialog and because Jane Austen also did not always use dialog tags when there was a back-and-forth between two characters I sometimes got confused as to who was speaking or who had just done what and ultimately had to look the book up online to clarify as to whether or not I had understood things correctly. Since listening to this book I have since discovered a narrator by the name of Juliet Stevenson who has become my favorite narrator when it comes to Jane Austen. She does much better in the way of giving the characters unique voices and pausing to be sure the listener knows the speaker of the dialog has changed and I will and have gone out of my way to make sure any Jane Austen novel I want to listen to is narrated by her and no one else

great reader for classic Jane Austen novel

the narrator was lovely. she used different voices to distinguish dialogue. if you love Jane Austen, you will love this.

Jenny Agutter

Agutter is a reader worthy of Austen. She reads clearly and with intelligence. Choose this version!

So good that I even liked Miss Bates & Mrs. Elton

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this beloved story, and Jenny Agutter did a phenomenal job portraying all of the characters. I even found myself looking forward to the scenes with the less likeable individuals because her reading was so well done.

Emma

Jenny Agutter does a superb job as narrator. She "does" each character's voice to just the degree needed for the listener to discern them without the voices being grating or annoying. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lovely all around

What about Jenny Agutter’s performance did you like?

Jenny Agutter's reading was really just lovely! Her pacing was excellent, and I loved the distinction she made between conversational tone and narration.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Box Hill = cringiest moment EVER.

Any additional comments?

I'm not the biggest Elizabeth Bennett fan, but Emma Woodhouse was delightful. She's the George Costanza of the Austen world - aka whatever she does, she really should've done the opposite... for the first 2/3rds of the novel anyways. Eventually she has some serious personal growth, which is something that I think everyone can do with.