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Northanger Abbey, 1/2 way through

It's very fast reading. It is the most engrossing thing I've read in a while. My initial impression of it was wrong in many ways. It's not completely a spoof. The characters are like the characters in her other works. The heroine is staunch though, like a gothic heroine, I find myself wanting to shout directions at her, and cringing when her decisions, or lack of them, cause trouble.

I have a couple of questions. One is about Henry Tilney. When Catherine first meets him he is clearly a likeable fellow, really more teasing and fun rather than aloof. He parleys with her a great deal. He is very talkative. However, he is in fact elusive. He disappears. There are explanations for some of his seeming coldness, but there is cause for suspicion. Not everything adds up. Am I misinterpreting his playful and extremely verbose speeches? What he has to say is very interesting, but I wonder if I am interpreting him as being too flippant because I am unaccustomed to heroes speaking so much and so variously. When he is with Catherine, there is nothing unreassuring about him at all. He is very dashing, which also makes me uneasy. His speeches are so verbose it makes me wonder how many times he has made these witty remarks to his dance partners. Catherine is totally obsessed with him. I question that.

In addition there are the occasional appearances of Henry's father. Catherine's instantaneous reaction to him was to find him very handsome, and on his very occasional appearances in the story I notice him very distinctly. There is some subtle highlight, unless I am interpreting things the wrong way. There is some growing intrigue surrounding him. Is he trying to keep Catherine away from Henry and Miss Tilney? Does he really approve of her? But I found my imagination running away with me onto fields far less decent than anything which Miss Austen would condone, such as, is Henry's father really the gothic hero villain? What if Catherine falls in love with him? We know Henry's mother is dead, so he's single. Did Austen include that sentence on purpose, because I really noticed that? Is she above pairing Catherine with this man? I really want to know.

Henry has no depth of character. His father has at least suffered a loss. So there is some emotional highlight over him.

Also, I am halfway through the book, and there is no Northanger Abbey or faintest mention of one. Catherine almost toured Blaize Castle. She's a gothic novel fanatic, so she was excited about that. I really want to keep reading. Right now my vote is on Mr. Tilney. He's subtly tragic.

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