I thoroughly enjoyed Northanger Abbey and would recommend it to anyone.
The story is told through the the eyes of the naïve teenage Catherine Morland who has the misguided view that the world is like one of her books: a romantic adventure with a little bit of gothic thrown into the mix.
Northanger abbey is written in such a way that it feels like two very different stories which eventually merge into one at the end: the story of Catherine Morland - a feisty, romance-novel-addict - and her adventures in Bath during the party season, falling in love, making new friends and escaping unpleasant suitors, giving the first part a "chick fic" type of feel. Where as the second half is the story of Catherine's life after her adventures in Bath in her best friend's country home: Northanger Abbey. Due to Catherine's obsession with bloodthirsty Gothic novels she has a clouded interpretation of the world which leads her to expect the abbey to be the home of a tyrannical gothic villain or to see a mystery in every room - leading her to suspect Eleanor's short-tempered dad of murdering his own wife, or of possibly, locking her up in a hidden dungeon inside the abbey.
The two stories are only brought together when a real mystery arrives on Charlotte's doorstep that takes the reader back into the world of Bath and she realises that her life is in fact not a book and the motivations of the people in it are not what she thought them to be, leading to the revelation of her foolishness dawning on her.
I loved the book so much because Catherine is awesome and kind of nuts, and the supporting characters have their own developed personalities that really add to the story, from really likeable Eleanor and her brother Henry to the excruciatingly irritating John and Isabella. I loved Northanger Abbey because it drew me in with its descriptions of the scenery and the emotions of the characters.
Abi Guerin - Northanger Abbey
Wow. Excellent review Abi. I could not have done a better job; thank you.
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