Northanger Abbey Book and 2007 Movie Discussion 

Your videos are very enjoyable and make me want to look into these literary classics. You would be a great literature teacher. Happy Thanksgiving!

I think the 2007 version is pretty good. I get why people are divided by Davies' work, but if you're familiar with both his original writing and his adaptations you realise this is a writer with a very distinct voice all of his own. There's a consistent set of themes and dramatic devices running through his television dramas, and he's often stated in interviews that his literary adaptations are carefully chosen to allow a synthesis between his own style and that of the original authors. Sometimes the changes he makes don't quite hit the mark for me (Fanny Hill, for example, which feels like a shadow of John Cleland's novel) but other times they're very astute and well-matched to the original material. His use of fantasy scenes in Northanger Abbey allows him to play around with both the kind of gothic fiction Austen was parodying in the novel and his long-standing interest in non-naturalism, honouring the spirit of the original and opening it up on a dramatic level. Again, I appreciate he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I have a lot of time for him.

Mr Tilney is far and away my favorite Austen heartthrob.

I love your book reviews and movie adaptations Jerome. Keep it up and happy early Thanksgiving

Yay JW. I love Northanger Abbey. Excellent review. The first time I read it, I was working with a huge Austen fan, (one of the original members of The Republic of Pemberley), who was beginning to convert me. P&P 95 was in its first run on A&E. Her excitement got me to watch it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We had several discussions both after each episode aired and as I was reading it for the first time since highschool. She then recommended S&S, which I loved. Then my first try at Emma was a bit of a dud. I disliked the character of Emma so much that I gave up before Jane Fairfax arrived in Highbury. (On my next attempt a bit later, she said I would adore Jane Fairfax, so I read it as if Jane was the heroine, and by the end I loved the novel. But that's getting way off topic.) So after the failed attempt at Emma, she said she thought I would like Northanger Abbey a lot more. That the humor might be more to my taste. That turned out to be a massive understatement. I loved everything about the novel, and it became one of my favorite collections of characters in any novel by any author. Henry is the perfect hero. Catherine was a perfect spoof of a character I really disliked, (Richardson's Pamela.) But beyond being a spoof, she was also a lovable character. To be my 4th favorite Austen heroine is no small feat. (I've since grown to love Emma the character, but I still love Catherine even more than her.) Eleanor became my favorite secondary heroine in Austen. Isabella reminded me of some girls I went to high school with. She made me laugh so much. I absolutely relish her transparency, and her rather shallow attempts at villainy. That Catherine takes so long to see through her makes it all the funnier. John Thorpe was an even better fool than Mr. Collins. I can't think of a more bumbling villain that I've ever read. The General, and Capt. Tinley were good, solid villains. And I love the Allens and Catherine's parents. Even Catherine's brother was fun in his cluelessness. Even Charles Dickens didn't pack that many characters that I enjoyed so much into any one novel. And I love Dickens' characters. It's right up with, or even ahead of, P&P, Tom Jones, and Vanity Fair for sheer volume of characters that I thoroughly enjoy. To a person who dislikes the novels Clarissa and Pamela as much as I do, this novel is a wonderful and hilarious tonic. That I then went on to read Udolpho, The Monk, and Otranto, and found them really not to my taste, gave me an even greater appreciation of the humor Austen put into the book. Wow, did I ever ramble. And I haven't even touched on the movies yet. I'm one of those people that loves the 1987 version. It's quirky, absurd, bizarre, and very heavy on the cheese. I do have to be in the right mood for it. But when I am, I get great enjoyment from it. 2007 is a substantially better movie, and like you, I absolutely loved it when it came out. Though I do think they should have made John Thorpe a lot creepier than they made him. I was smitten with the actresses playing Catherine, Isabella, and Eleanor. Enjoyed seeing the only good Fanny Price grow up to become Mrs. Allen. I thought JJ gave Henry all the charm he needed. All the other characters were anywhere from serviceable to pretty good. I was fine with the changes from the novel. I think they were mostly done within the spirit of the novel. And that's all I ask for in an adaptation. Because the mediums are so different, a line by line picturization of a novel would probably be excessively tedious. Just make sure the changes maintain the spirit of the novel, and the character of the characters. Still rambling. 🤣 OK, wrap up time. Loved the video. Your reviews are always so well thought out and insightful. As you might be able to tell, this is a story I can go on and on about. Which is part of the fun of Austen. I do love your Austen content in particular. Thanks for the video, (and for reading this far if you managed to get through all that.) And have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. 🦃

Hope you and your family have a happy Thanksgiving, J! 🦃 🍁 🍂 🦉

Good review. You have the best eyebrows.

I'm not a huge Austen reader, but this has been on my to-read list for a while, mainly because of the Gothic element.

Great stuff as always. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Northanger Abbey, directed by Jon Jones -- if that is his real name! I will keep in mind that this is a "riff" on Austen rather than true Austen. Felicity Jones? Sign me up. Happy Thanksgiving, Rome.

Northanger Abbey is secretly my favorite Jane Austen book, being that it is the only Austen I have actually read. I love the parody aspect to it. It's a fun novel. In fact, I plan to read "The Mysteries of Udolpho" after purchasing. I've tried other Austen books and have put them down. Maybe another time. Thanks for your comments. I would love to check out the film. As usual, thank for the amazing review, and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving :)

I love the movie adaptation of Northanger Abbey. The book, on the other hand, was just okay. In fact, I can barely remember the book :/

Good Morning, Sister Jerome! Quite often, you challenge me to stretch outside of my comfort zone, and read or watch something that I ordinarily wouldn't, such as this. I might just wander into this work. Your infectious energy, as always, makes this review a delight; I would enjoy joining you for tea and conversation about everything and nothing. Maybe the film, if I can find it. It's 0302, and I will do my morning Bible reading, and crash for a few; thank you, Senorita.

Great commentary on the book & film. I think my experience with NA is the inverse of yours. I didn't really understand the satire and didn't quite see the romance when I was younger--it felt flat and curious to me. Since that first reading of NA, I've read Ann Radcliffe & Fanny Burney & Maria Edgeworth, and then my NA re-reads made so much more sense & were a zillion times funnier. Now for me NA is right behind P&P and Persuasion. It's like bringing that 18th c. style into the 19th c., slowly, and with a wink & a smile. Also, I think listening to Juliet Stevenson on audiobook brought out all the humor for me, and made me realize it's not a romance, it's a satire. If Catherine & Henry are adorable along the way, so be it! but that's not the point of Austen's book for me. And yeah, Henry is a smart-ass, but I think Austen wants us to see his faults, too, AND see him redeem himself. Re: the film--all your comments are spot on. It's still a lovely film, but you are right that those changes you mention (Henry blaming his father; no reconciliation for Gen. Tilney) were a mistake. And the last line of the book is one of my favorites in all of Austen.

I suspect that I would need to read some period gothic novels to fully appreciate this book.

It's a slippery slope going from being an adaptation to becoming a "bodice ripper". Glad this doesn't go that far.

The film was my first Jane Austen experience and it was good to take the plunge. As you said, short, condensed, kept moving along. I was struck by the cold shoulders in the tea room scene (brrr) and that Mr. Thorpe was a dead ringer for a jerk I knew in high school. So yes, cads and scoundrels galore. It seems that Bath was the Las Vegas of its day, where you can behave badly and (almost) nobody finds out. I will have to try another Austen now that I've seen what the buzz is about. Thanks J., very well done.

Thanks for this neat book and movie discussion!

Your review reminded me of why I never tried to acquire a copy of this for my collection of Austen adaptation films. I really disliked the “confirmation of your delusion” addition by Davies. It’s one thing to gin up the romantic stuff, but quite another to change what made the novel notable (however slightly) in the author’s own mind. Austen was clearly using that plot point as the moral lesson of the novel. That Davies thought “sometimes there really IS something nefarious” would be a great thing for Catherine was a disappointment.

Ohh I just bought this book at the thrift store a few weeks ago! I best hold off until I read it and watch the movie! Looking forward to watching this!

Hello, Jerome! I always give Northanger a more generous view, as it was published without it being revised by Austen beforehand. Certainly, she *had* done that the time she tried to sell it first, but I think she's an author that changed a lot throughout her career, something people seem to overlook a lot? Austen is talked about as if she were a monolith, but the tone and preoccupations and even style do change with time. I sometimes wonder, for example, if Charlotte Brontë would have had a different opinion of Austen's work had she read Mansfield Park or Persuasion instead of Pride and Prejudice. The earlier works are more acerbic, the late ones, more contemplative and mournful (closer to the tone of, say, Elizabeth Gaskell). This is all to say the book reads a lot like the Juvenilia and that cannot be helped (and deserves some generosity, in justice, when being compared with the rest of the big novels). As for the 2007 movie... I think it is one of the best Austen adaptations ever made. I'm not saying it doesn't have changes, but it has as many or less as adaptations hailed as The Book Incarnate; I'm thinking specifically about P&P 95 and S&S 95, both of which I feel deviate much more -P&P's interpretation of Darcy as brooding and sportish and angsty, or the elderly lady Catherine, or the... sympathetic perspective of Mr Bennet, for example, in one, or how the different ages of the characters in S&S completely change the dynamics and meanings of the novel, like how adorkable Edward or stoic Brandon are not really that much like their book counterparts. The changes in NA07 do definitely amp up the drama, but I don't think they really step outside of the meanings of the novel. Even Tilney "confirmating" Cathy's feelings I feel makes sense; Cathy was wrong in thinking of evil as over the top mustachoed villainy, and the events teach her how evil is most often just banal and takes the shape of opportunism, greed, vanity, immodesty, dishonesty. It's "a different kind of vampirism" is just an extension of the idea that the general is cold and greedy as we have seen in his treatment of his children and of Cathy. I also think highlights Tilney's subtle transformation as the book goes on; he begins from a cynical, detached position, but he does learn to value Cathy's earnestness, and it ends in his defiance of his father in declaring his attachment to her. The "concesion" functions as a way of expliciting this change of heart where Tilney stops adopting the glib "it is what it is" attitude, to acknowledge that wrong and harm are real, serious things.

Thank you, Jerome! I was disgusted with John Thorpe from the moment he is shown on screen , but I have to admit he was well cast. As soon as his sister is introduced into the story , you know she is going to make all the wrong decisions. I think it is time for me to re-read the book , as I don't recall how Austen presented her! I am just rambling here! But, just so glad you chose to review the book and film!

Hello JW. Just thought I'd wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving🎉

Love this review. This movie is my favourite adaptation of this novel, I must admit.

I really enjoyed Northanger Abbey when I saw it. Never read the book, but it sounds like the tweaks altered the integrity of the story to make for a more entertaining film.

Big Jerome Weiselberry fan btw

Coolest 😊

I was raised in a house full of women, seen my mother go though 3 husbands, she loved one.

Some of the actors are repeat Austen actors. JJ Fielding was also in Austenland, which you mentioned. Carey Mulligen played Kitty Bennett in the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice.

Persuasion and Northanger Abbey always vie for my favorites! I love the parody, the characters, the sense of humor throughout. I like the adaption, mostly. It has moments I'm not a fan of, but I love JJ Feild as Henry!

I was a freshman when it aired Sunday's night that spring was my jam.

Hi Jerome! I quite love this film version of "Northanger Abbey" for several reasons, not the least of which is that it introduced me to the delightful Felicity Jones and JJ Feild. I agree that sometimes Andrew Davies takes liberties or makes additions in his classic adaptations, but they usually work for me (not always) because they usually stay true to the spirit of the original work, if not the details. Often times they seem like events that could totally happen in the lives of the characters even if Austen, Dickens or whoever didn't actually write them. This one works for me. I do get out of shape more when an adaptation makes clear departures from the essential nature of the characters, such as in the recent adaptation of "Persuasion", which I thought was an atrocity.

It sounds like Henry started out doing quite a bit of mansplaining. I haven't read the book or seen this movie but I am delighted to watch your review of it. Have you ever tried writing a screenplay of one of these novels? Might be an interesting exercise. ❤

Hello and happy Sunday :) I was in hospital again for a few days during the week so couldn’t watch much because their WiFi wasn’t great but I was released in time for the weekend and was able to rewatch Northanger Abbey yesterday in anticipation of your review and it’s as enjoyable as I remembered it to be, not a great adaptation but fun nonetheless. I have to say that I’m constantly amazed and in awe by how great you are at this, I’ve said it countless times I’m sure but I was taken aback again while watching this review especially as you were explaining what was changed and how it ultimately altered the stories original intent, you did it so well. I haven’t read the book in a long time but like you I wouldn’t say it was a favourite but I did enjoy it at the time quite a bit, perhaps my opinion of it would change after reading it again. My grandparents lived very close to place called Kylemore Abbey and I’d often imagine Northanger Abbey when on the grounds and wonder could they look similar. Ashford Castle is close too and it’s a beautiful place to visit. The Quiet Man was filmed in the area and the cast would stay at the Castle. Apart from Henry Tilney being a bit rude at times and overly condescending I do like him lol. I sometimes feel more akin to other Austen characters like Darcy because they have a tendency to get in their own way and make things more difficult for themselves and those are traits I unfortunately see in myself but I’d like to be a bit more like Tilney because things go a little easier for him because of his way, except for the rudeness although I guess most of the male characters in Austen’s novels can be rude. For me It would be a nightmare to be described that way, I worry when trying to add something to a conversation that I may come across as someone who likes to hear themselves speak when I’m usually just trying to not come across as a doofus lol. I can be smiley and expressive though so that’s something Tilney and I have in common, well unless I’m rude and condescending and unaware of it, I hope not lol. The ability to see ourselves or traits we have in these characters is probably one of many reasons these books have remained classics. I had forgotten who was in the cast because I hadn’t seen the film in so long. Jones made a really good Catherine and Carey Mulligan great too. If ITV were to make this film now they wouldn’t be able to afford them. I liked how you described the way Mulligan was dressed and her height being a factor in the way we viewed the character, Isabella did seem much more mature than Catherine. Liam Cunningham was a little over the top with his performance but you’re right that it’s a tough role to handle. Funnily enough when I picture Cunningham in films it’s usually as a good father like in The Little Princess or a respectable teacher/father figure in a film like War of the Buttons. War of the Buttons was a popular Irish film that would air on TV a lot when I was a child. The film is on RU-vid. Andrew Davies looks like an Austen character himself or even a Dickens character. I hope you and your family have a very happy thanksgiving 🦃 ~ Thank you Ms Weiselberry ~

Northanger Abbey was suppose to be a parody of the popular gothic novel of the time. It does not seem like that to modern reading but back when it came out it would.

You often seem like an Austen heroine yourself.

love your content. Books and Films provide different context.

I have never heard about this JA book before, but you make me want to check it out. Thanks for a nice walk through of both book and movie adaption.

Bath time.Northanger Abbey 2007 proved to be most agreeable company.Felicity Jones is adorable.I was quite taken with JJ Feild and Catherine Walker as the Tilley siblings.Despite not being familiar with either actor.I have listened to Liam Cunningham talk on the Dog Soldiers 2002 commentary track.He was lively and amusing.Quite unlike the General he plays here.The quick asides revealing the imaginings of tawdry gothic literature are amusing.But they also feel at odds with the rest of the movie.Thank you for providing such an informative and economical comparison between book and film.I have not read the book.So I have been wondering.I don’t think that one rather can read too many books.Although it might be possible to read too many snowbound books.Your thoughts? Thank you and have a happy Thanksgiving.

You're great

I am obsessed with you, but I cannot even watch you whole videos at times. There are weeks I cannot even watch your new ones, I see them, and they trigger me somehow... No psycho here, do not worry, I live in another country and all... you are safe LOL Thing is... your personality and interests... you are AMAZING... I believe I should not become addicted to the best things in life... so.. I cannot even watch this video today... TODAY... I will later... but I had to say this... you are quite a LOVELY, FEISTY, FUN, SHARP, and INSPIRING, beautiful woman. I also have a Sony HDD Handheld Video Recorder from the 2000s that records in 4:3. This is UNCANNY. I guess that it. You are the very definition of UNHEIMLICH to me. So yeah I guess I prove there are crazy people out there, lol. Please do not be spooked. Please do not stop sharing.

Part of me has always seen these "period dramas" has more fan-fiction, than adaptation. Not that there's anything wrong with that, they're quite amusing and entertaining. I just hope that atleast some people will also take the time to read the source material at some point in their lives.