Even though Persuasion is one of Jane Austen's lesser known novels it is very well written and also a very good story. The story is centered around the romance of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth. They had fallen in love eight years before the novel takes place, but Anne broken off their engagment after Lady Russell persuaded her that he was not a suitable match. They end up seeing each other again after Anne's family runs into money problems and Anne and Wentworth realize that their feeling for each other are renewed. Problems from their past and also their families hurt their chance of a fresh start.
I thought this novel was very interesting and another one of Jane Austen's great novels.

Those who read PERSUASION by Jane Austen tend to view it as a book primarily concerned with marriage in the typical Austen romantic comedy sense of young ladies seeking to marry upward and young men also seeking partners--but not necessarily to each other. While much of Austen's novel deals with precisely that, to view this solitary strand of thought as Austen's most telling point is surely to miss that point totally. In PERSUASION, Austen took her earlier PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and sought to show that her view on how single women relate to their families, their friends, their proposed husbands and to society at large underwent a significant change from the latter to the former.

In PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Austen places Elizabeth Bennett squarely in the traditional role of the 18th century woman who sought somehow to gain economic equality with men in such a way so as not to upset or circumvent the established social order that dictated that women must obey their parents and marry the men whom they selected as suitable candidates. Miss Bennett uses reason and general smarts to cause changes in Darcy that would in turn cause changes in the larger social order that acted as a behind the scenes puppeteer. The comedy then was a function of a small change in Miss Bennett causing a larger one in Darcy. In PERSUASION, Austen takes the similar plot of a young woman breaking up with a man that perhaps needed breaking up with and updated it to include Anne Elliot doing much the same thing with Captain Wentworth. In Elizabeth Bennett's case, Darcy determined not be chased away. In Anne Eliot's case, Wentworth made no such determination and left the scene for eight years. The difference between the two acts of breaking up and their respective reconciliations did not lay in a profound change in the social order. What changed was Jane Austen, who became more finely attuned to the winds of Romanticism that were then wafting from one country to another. The relentless focus on rationalism that dominated the Augustan Age had slowly morphed over just a few decades to one in which human feeling and emotion trumped human reason.

Austen, in her choice of "Persuasion" as the title, subtly implied that what was at stake was not simply potential marriage partners waltzing a predictable if unstable dance towards the altar. Rather, she wished to point the reader in the direction of seeing not only how and why persuasive rhetoric might impact on lovers' lives, but also to ascertain the consequences of treating emotional people as if they were devoid of those emotions. In Miss Bennett's case, "persuasion" was used in the context of rational discourse used to alter the world view of Darcy. In Anne Elliot's case, it was used to fortify the existing social order at the expense of using "right reason" to convince Anne to break up with Wentworth on the grounds that he was simply too low on the economic and social pecking order to marry a woman who is supposed to be a few rungs higher than he. Actually, Austen satirizes Anne by implying that, if anything, her loftier position in society, exists mostly in her and her father's eyes, not at society's at large. Anne differs from Elizabeth Bennett in that in PERSUASION, Anne sees that she has erred in being falsely persuaded but is allowed to show and vent emotion in re-establishing accepted marital order even if the somewhat stodgier and old-fashioned social order balks. As Anne Elliot uses both head and heart to win back the love of a man who felt rightfully scorned for no good reason, Jane Austen focused attention on basic human romantic entanglements that for many frustrated lovers remain tangled even today.

Jane Austen's *Persuasion* was her last book before she suddenly, unfairly died, and it is profoundly different than her earlier works.

In this book, Anne Elliot, the protagonist, is past the bloom of her youth, all of 27 years old. She gave up the love of her live, Captain Wentworth, when she was twenty because she was persuaded that he was not socially a proper match for her. Considering the vast importance of a proper match, or a good match, in Jane's earlier works (such as *Pride & Prejudice* in which Lizzy Bennet, who is essentially penniless and perhaps soon to lose her home, makes the ultimate "good match" in which she marries Pemberly, er, Mr. Darcy) it is interesting in this book how Jane examines the results of declining a socially and economically imprudent match. Anne Elliot's life is blighted when she gives up love merely because Wentworth is not enough for her. She becomes an old maid. This book is an admonition to the flighty young girls who sought "good matches" at the expense of love. It's a grown-up's book.

*Persuasion* also funny as all heck. That first sentence, "SIR WALTER ELLIOT, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs, changed naturally into pity and contempt," is a damning statement about people who don't read good literature, but only read books of mere facts, like the Peerage. Anne's older sister is just as daft and great for an eye-rolling laugh.

TK Kenyon
Author of Rabid, coming in 2007 from Kunati Book Publishers

I have read all of Austen's novels except Northanger Abbey, and I found this one to be in the top three, along with EMMA and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (my personal favorite). This book is very unique compared to her other masterpieces.

Let's begin with a summary. Anne Elliot fears life as an "old maid" as she reaches the age where most women during the pre-Victorian era are supposed to be married. She regrets not marrying the one man she truly loved, Captain Wentworth. At the time, he was not considered suitable. Now almost seven years later, Wentworth returns, having made his fortune and is now considered a fair prospect. Now every girl is fawning over the strong, sea worn Captain Wentworth. Emotions Anne thought she could never feel again overpower her. Despite her attempts to control her emotions, she realizes that there is no man she could even consider marrying over him. The question now is does he feel the same way? This is a page turning novel that you just keep reading wondering if Anne and Wentworth will ever get it together.

I found this novel so different in a good way for many reasons. First, there really isn't any fair leading lady or dashing young man. Anne Elliot, I believe, is Austen's most realistic character. Don't get me wrong EMMA and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE fans, I love Emma and Elizabeth and admire them for all their characteristics. However, I find myself wishing I was them rather than relating to them. I loved how Anne was quiet, but beautiful and witty at the same time. She also is very proper and doesn't really know how to compose herself in front of the man she loves. She is too influenced by what other people think, like many of us. I personally loved reading about a character who I myself can relate to in many ways. Yes, Anne is flawed but she's real.

Second is the eternal question that haunts us all when crossed in love....does he feel the same way? Austen was an early psychologist of her time and really understands human behavior. I loved how Anne (and Wentworth as we find out in the end) really is fearful of getting hurt and really doesn't know what to do with herself. It's just so real and life like and I guess she gets lucky because of the ticking clock with Wentworth, but I believe it provided hope for those during Austen's time and now who are faced with the same problem. I loved how Austen wrote about this which I think really kept me reading the book.

Well, I could spend all day talking about this book, but basically I'm saying read it, it's not quite as long and detailed as Austen's other works but strong at the same time. Enjoy!

In my opinion, this is Jane Austen's greatest book. Anne Elliot is a beautifully written character, and Austen subtly conveys her strength of mind and depth of emotion with the best of her skills. Many critics have declared that Austen's greatest talent was creating characters that stay in character without getting stagnant, and I think this novel is the best showcase for that talent. Though often not as comical as some of her other works, this novel is a beautiful portrait of hopeless lovers, and the dialogue (always done well by Austen) is superb. What makes this novel stand-out in my mind, is that though it includes somewhat less of the social satire than her other books (though it is of course still present), it creates a very honest portrait of family relations and how filial duty can not always inspire love, even in the best-mannered of individuals.

For those wondering what exactly makes Austen a truly classic author, and not just a fun feminine writer, I suggest a close reading of Persuasion.