Reader , I married him (my first cousin).

Review from reread in 2021:
This novel was established in my mind as my least favourite Austen novel since I read it was a youth. Now 15 or so years later, after rereading it, it is not quite as bad as I remembered.

I think that a large criticism is often that the protagonist, Fanny Price, can be a bit, well… bland — in comparison to our other Austen heroines we so dearly love.

That being said, Fanny Price’s character has a quiet strength that I have grown to love. She is more deserving of praise than her relatives think to bestow on her. There is strength in quiet, fore-bearing characters — after all, Anne Elliot is my favourite Austen heroine.

It is certainly a story of endurance and strength and moral character, which only Fanny has in the end. But I can’t help think that a part of that message is to let all your loved ones undervalue you, walk all over you,  and cause pain to you until one day they recognize your merits, but only through the folly of others in comparison. I wanted Fanny to summon something more than mere inner strength by the end of it all — some sort of active movement towards her own happiness rather than passivity.

And, of course, Fanny’s reward for all the endures feels inadequate compared to the other Austen novels. Firstly, even while understanding it is quite common for the time period, it is a mental hurdle to get over the fact Fanny marries her first cousin — and also that they were raised as brother and sister adds an additional ick factor in rooting for the eventual lovers. Secondly, that it is hard to see Edmund not even recognize Fanny as a viable romantic interest until the last couple pages of the book, having been pursuing another woman for nearly all the chapters prior.

But overall, the writing is beautiful, the characters vivid, and a mostly satisfying conclusion in that everyone receives what they deserve, more or less.

Also, Fanny is better woman than I, because Mansfield Park would have burned to the ground if my family pressured me that much into marrying someone I repeatedly told them I was -not- into.