Imagine with me a moment. Think of a book where the heroine’s best qualities seem to be that she is quiet, controlled and, quite honestly, boring. She is longsuffering, putting up with family and friend’s antics. She is in love with someone who others in society think is not a good match for her, but she loves him. They separate, and she flirts with someone else because she thinks her true love doesn’t love her. But, instead, she runs after him and then they realize they’ve loved each other all along and get married.
Twilight? Yes. But it’s also the plot to Persuasion by Jane Austen.
I had to read this book for a class, and I ended up telling my professor I thought it was like Twilight for the Romantic era. To me, it’s just another bland romance that is focused on the relationship between the two most boring people in the entire story. I wish the book had been about Admiral and Mrs. Croft’s adventures on the high seas, or maybe focused more on why Charles and Mary got together.
Instead the entire book is Anne wangsting about her lost love without doing anything to actively pursue it. She’s willing to give up without even trying. The only reason she gets together with him is because he writes her a letter explaining how he feels.
I understand. This book is supposed to represent the social mores females had to traverse during that time period. But that doesn’t make it a great piece of literature. It just makes it relevant to the time. And also, really really boring.






