My Rant About Emma

The beginning of Jane Austen’s novel Emma honestly does not seem too gripping to me.  My honest truth is that I love Hamlet since he was such a verbal contortionist that we can analyze all of his plays in infinite ways and there are no true answers as to what the true intention of the play was originally.  However, Emma so far seems very different from any typical Shakespeare play.  Yes, they both tend to have slow parts, but this novel has more slow than interesting parts.  This may simply be due to the fact that I have never read a Jane Austen novel before and maybe I am trying to understand her writing style but have not yet fully grasped it, but to me it seems quite slow.  I may just be completely wrong since we have not yet begun to analyze or discuss Emma yet, but this form of writing does not quite seem as if Shakespeare would come close to it.  He linked so many words together to form separate meanings which then lead to completely different meanings and so on and so forth, but all Jane Austen seems to do is put me to sleep.  I understand that I must read this novel knowing that is was written in the 1800s and it will seem almost nothing like the movie “Clueless,” which is loosely based on this novel, even though I completely adore it.  I believe my major problem with this novel is that fact that we have switched gears from an action-packed, fast-paced play written by a writer that I respect completely to a slow-moving, (I hate to say it but) dull novel written by a writer that I have heard of but have never read any of her works.  Do I feel bad for bad-mouthing this book even though we have only just begun with Jane Austen?  Yes.  Do I feel as if Austen is possibly rolling over in her grave (or twisting around as dust particles; sorry, I felt the need for a Hamlet reference there) at my anger over a book she intended for people of the 1800s?  Yes.  However, do I want to read another page of this?  I can’t say I do.  I might just be acting over dramatic right now since I have never dealt with her writing style before, but this is how I honestly feel.  I do believe, however, that once we start analyzing and discussing it in class I will feel much more comfortable and happy with this novel.  I do believe I will grow to like Jane Austen, since the same thing happened with Grendel since I hated it initially but now it is one of my favorite novels that we have read not only throughout the school year, but also throughout my entire high school career.  I need to give this novel a chance of discussion in class and then, and only then, do I feel as if I will appreciate it more than I do now.