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erboe501's review
4.0
Another text assigned in my Women, Writing and Gender course for a discussion about women reading novels, sensibility, and female friendship. A fun, satirical read that reminded me of Austen's mocking of society.
pixieauthoress's review
3.0
Read for EN4363: Romantic Writing and Women.
This wasn't quite as witty as Belinda or Mademoiselle Panache, but it was still a fun, enjoyable moral story. The main drawbacks were that it relied on cheap tricks rather than the sort of wit found in the other two texts (a lot of the humour derived from poor Betty's stupidity) and it was far more overtly moralistic. Angelinda learned the error of her ways and immediately reformed, the woman who had scorned her aunt and benefactor was unhappy for the remainder of her life, and there was no hope for poor Betty. I did appreciate the moral of this story--that too much sentimental novel-reading can keep you from appreciating the good life you already have--but it seemed that the story was aimed at a younger audience than Mlle Panache, since the moral was so much more overt. I think I prefer the subtle wit of Mlle Panache over the in-your-face moralising of Angelina. Still, this was another interesting delve into Edgeworth's writing and I'm looking forward to reading more of her in the future. Maybe once I've graduated I'll have time to read another of her full-length novels. Her thoughts on education are certainly interesting. 3*
This wasn't quite as witty as Belinda or Mademoiselle Panache, but it was still a fun, enjoyable moral story. The main drawbacks were that it relied on cheap tricks rather than the sort of wit found in the other two texts (a lot of the humour derived from poor Betty's stupidity) and it was far more overtly moralistic. Angelinda learned the error of her ways and immediately reformed, the woman who had scorned her aunt and benefactor was unhappy for the remainder of her life, and there was no hope for poor Betty. I did appreciate the moral of this story--that too much sentimental novel-reading can keep you from appreciating the good life you already have--but it seemed that the story was aimed at a younger audience than Mlle Panache, since the moral was so much more overt. I think I prefer the subtle wit of Mlle Panache over the in-your-face moralising of Angelina. Still, this was another interesting delve into Edgeworth's writing and I'm looking forward to reading more of her in the future. Maybe once I've graduated I'll have time to read another of her full-length novels. Her thoughts on education are certainly interesting. 3*
elizastudying's review
3.0
Cute story, very witty. I could trace some parody in there, as well as a lot of social comedy.
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