Persuasion is an early 19th century novel by Jane Austen, who is one of my favorite authors, and in my opinion, just behind Shakespeare and Dickens as the single greatest character writer of all time. Such praise is recognizably high for any author, especially considering Persuasion is only the third Austen I have read (the other two being Emma and Pride and Prejudice). That being said, I must admit that Persuasion was my least favorite out of the three, and somewhat disappointing for me. However, because the Penguin paperback edition I read of Persuasion was somewhat difficult to read, I do blame the specific copy of the book I read to some extent for my apprehensions with it. Austen, after all, is an author one must look very deeply into and relish the language of to get the full experience out of her books. Therefore, while this initial reading was somewhat disappointing, I am very excited to pick it up once again and reread it much more carefully! 

     Persuasion’s premise, after all, is amazing, and probably the most interesting concept for her books that I know of. The plot follows Anne Eliot, a young woman who fell madly in love with a sailor surnamed Wentworth, who had also fallen madly in love with her. However, mostly because Wentworth was deemed to be not rich enough to marry Anne by her father, she was forced to reject him. Afterwards, Wentworth takes to the sea, becomes a captain, and makes a fortune for himself. But in a turn of fortune for Anne, her family loses most of their wealth from her father’s and her older, overshadowing sister’s lavish spending. After many years pass, Wentworth is led back to Anne Eliot when his friend, Admiral Croft, travels to the area to rent out the Eliots' home, and they are forced to reunite. The heartbroken Captain Wentworth and the abashed Anne Eliot are then forced to meet again and again, both secretly hoping to rekindle their long lost love, but too scarred by emotional damage to manifest that love again. Like I said, this book has an amazing premise. 

     However, in the reading, I felt that there were many Austenian staples which were missing. For example, Persuasion had too much fluff in the wrong places. Every chapter I felt like I wanted more dialogue from the characters to further flesh them out, especially from Anne Eliot and Captain Wentworth together. The ending, where they do fall back in love, felt very sudden and jarring as a result of them hardly speaking together for the entire book, and I really wanted to see them forced to be together more than they were. 

     Additionally, I had some complaints with Anne Eliot. American literary critic Harold Bloom once wrote that Anne Eliot was Austen’s best heroine, and after reading Persuasion, I am not convinced. Anne Eliot is very interesting in the sense that she is a departure from Austen’s typical female leads. She is quiet and reserved, often overshadowed by her headstrong older sister, almost making her seem as if Mary Bennet from Pride and Prejudice was a main character whom Austen spotlighted much more, and gave much more self confidence. While that is a very powerful premise, and a premise that would be very hard to pull off, Anne Eliot’s “subtle” literary power was a bit too subtle for me. Constantly, I was wishing for more dialogue from her, along with more dialogue and action from the story generally, so that no one felt fully characterized by the end of it. Anne Eliot being a reserved but powerful figure does not hold much weight if she never gets the chance to show how powerful she is. As a matter of fact, throughout the book she finds herself being persuaded by characters who influence her strongly, ranging from Ms. Russel, to Mr. Eliot, and then from Ms. Smith against Mr. Eliot. Albeit she does catch herself and recognize her being persuaded in cases such as Ms. Smith, but the point stands that Anne Eliot is too silent and passive of a protagonist to be Austen’s “best character.” Personally, I think Emma Woodhouse is her best, simply because she grows and changes and fluctuates in character so much throughout Emma, that she truly feels like a real human being, which I feel is the highest praise one can give an esteemed realist writer like Austen. 

     Additionally, I felt like too much of the focus was taken away from Anne and Captain Wentworth, and given to the side characters, which is normally typical for a novel of the time period (just look at Dickens), but these characters also seemed to lack much Austenian charm due to them not having enough of the narrative to justify their long positions in the book. However, perhaps Mary and the Crofts are exceptions to this remark, since I enjoyed these characters very much. To be completely honest, the most excitement I got from Persuasion was with the twist of Mr. Eliot being a roguish figure, but even that felt too predictable. Yet, with all these complaints, I would also like to mention that I do not believe that I gave this book the deep-reading and insight it deserved, partially because I do not think the Penguin paperback was very readable. Therefore, I am very cautious in demeaning the merit of this book, and do believe that it deserves a thorough reread. Overall, Persuasion was not by any means terrible to read, but it certainly was not Austen’s best. However, I do still want to read more of Austen’s works, and also to reread what I have already read; and that is definitely a good signifier of Jane Austen’s powerful literary merit!