Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

It's been years since I've read a Jane Austen novel, and I had almost completely forgotten what they were like, so I just picked one at random, I had read this one before, but such a long time ago that I literally remembered nothing of it. I feel really divided about it; on the one hand, it's extremely readable, entertaining and funny; on the other hand, the main characters made me physically ill. I think Fanny Price might be the most repulsively good character I have ever read about, completely spineless, passive, timid to the point of absurdity, and even though Jane Austen assures us that she's very clever, she seemed to me to be profoundly stupid. As for Edmund, I found him so horrible that I can't even begin to describe it. The worst of it is that other people treat Fanny terribly, but they know they're doing it, while he treats her marginally better, and thinks himself her great friend and benefactor. However, he has no actual interest in her feelings, constantly misreading her (which is partially her own fault, maybe if she could speak up for once and not be a jellyfish), and pouring out his own troubles to her without troubling to ask after hers. The way everyone (including Edmund) tried to pressure Fanny into accepting Henry Crawford was actually nauseating. And I was really disturbed by the way Sir Thomas starts treating Fanny differently once she grows older and becomes better-looking, it just seemed like he was sort of lecherously leering at her. Fanny's 'delicate health' (god knows what's wrong with her) drove me absolutely insane; she gets a headache from stepping out into the sun, she can't walk a quarter of a mile without collapsing with tiredness, she's just utterly helpless and irritating. My favourite characters were Mrs. Norris, who provides endless entertainment with her atrocious hypocrisy, and Mary Crawford. Mary was the only character who I actually liked; she was witty, lively, interesting, not over-delicate in either her health or her morals. I feel like Austen's heroines reach such a degree of moral refinement that it's completely sickening and makes me feel suffocated, while Mary is practical, fun-loving and out to enjoy life. But I loved the writing style and Austen's satirical attitude, so I really did have a great time reading this novel, I even enjoyed feeling all the frustration with the characters, but I just wish they had been a little less maddening.