Emma

By: Jane Austen

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

First published in 1816 and generally considered Jane Austen's finest work, Emma is a humorous portrayal of a heroine whose injudicious interferences in the life of a young parlour-boarder in a neighboring village often lead to substantial mortification. Austen brings to life a myriad of engaging characters as she presents a mixture of social classes as she did in Pride and Prejudice. Her two greatest comic characters are part of Emma's machinations: the eccentric Mr. Woodhouse and the quintessential bore, Miss Bates.

Delightfully funny, Emma displays the shrewd wit and delicate irony which made Jane Austen a master of the English novel. Although Austen thought that only she would like her witty, fanciful, self-deluded heroine, Emma has gained the affection of generations of readers.

(P)2000 Blackstone Audio Inc.

The most pointless book

There is nothing to be gained from this book but drivel. It's romcom from the 1900's with less excitement. If it's your fantasy to be a condescending shrew then this is the book for you!

Solid Story and Performance

The story is typical of Austen and very sweetly written. It can be hard to follow who is speaking at times, but there is enough change in the characters' expressions that it stays lively. Overall, very good.

Nadia May is a gift to Jane Austen devotees

Nadia perfectly captures the wit and charm of Emma, doing full justice to the subtle irony and genuine warmth of Austen's writing style.

I am a devotee to Jane Austen, and I have read Emma dozens of times and heard 3 (possibly more?) different audiobook adaptations of Emma. Nadia's version is by far my favorite.

Fantastic performance!

Nadia May’s reading is fantastic! Thank you, Audible, for this free book. I am compelled to revisit Jane Austen every few years. This was a delightful trip!

A good performance to an ok book.

Although I do enjoy lengthy classics from early authors, even those which tend to be wordy and may go a long while without dialogue, this story was a bit lagging. There seemed to not be much of a climax at any point, but rather a revealing here and a little there. The performance made it bearable for me though. Nadia May did perfectly fine character voices, especially that of the younger Miss Bates whose character was so strong and ramblings were so long that my brain actually began frying at one point and I had to pause the book and come back later. Nadia's performance was spot on, but Austin wrote too much nonsense for Miss Bates' lines in my opinion.

Austen at her best

This is a book that Jane Austen feared only she would like for the flawed heroine, but it really is one of her finest. The heroine blossoms into a wonderful person whp grows in gratitude and charity. The plot is rich in surprises. Narrator does well in bringing it to life. Highly recommend

Perfection!!!

Fantastic narration for this amazing literary classic!!! Highly recommend for all Jane Austen fans! One of the best audios I've listened to.

Rated for the narrator

Couldn't finish it. I love Emma, but the narrator was not pleasant to listen to which of course negates the usefulness of an audiobook. I will stick with the other download I chose for a full version as well as the radio-show style narrated by Emma Thompson for an abridged version.

A Favorite Classic!

I've read Emma countless times and have listened to this particular narration a couple of times. I have about an hour and a half left for my third listen.
One of the reasons I love Emma is Mr. Knightley. He is the one person that can put Emma in her place. She has a good heart but is a bit self-centered and sometimes unaware of others feelings. Mr. Knightley calls her out on it. I normally don't give spoilers in my reviews but I will say, I love when Emma becomes aware of her feelings.

The Narrator does a capable job with all the accents and different characters, I think she does Miss Bates very well.

A Matchmaker Meets Her Match!

Each year, I read or listen to at least one of Jane Austen's novels, novellas, or letters. It had been some time since I picked up Emma so I was pleased to one-click the free version on Amazon and then upgrade for a dollar to the audio which was produced by Blackstone. I am hit or miss with their narrators, but Nadia May was fabulous. She had a good storytelling tone and pace, voiced the characters well, and was an overall good match for the story.

Emma is a wonderful novel set in an English Regency village. The plot is utterly character-driven and centers around a young, beautiful, woman of the gentry class who takes up matchmaking and improving an impoverished girl of obscure connections against the advice of family friend George Knightley all to rather interesting results.

And there ends my usual set up for a review. This book has plenty of reviews so I'm just going to ramble on about what jumped out at me on this latest experience with the book.

Austen said that Emma is a character that only she would love. That has always struck me. Emma happens to be liked by many even if she isn't their top favorite Austen heroine. Unfortunately, I have always been one of the crowd she was talking about who has never been enamored with Emma. I have read Emma a few times and love the overall novel and some aspects of Emma the heroine, but I can't get past her mistake of treating Harriet Martin like a project to alleviate her ennui. But, she has grown on me over the years. In fact, like all of Austen's heroines, I can see a little of myself in her particularly when I was her young age with mostly my wants and desires ruling my actions.

And, there, I suppose, I have learned to cut Emma some slack even if I still grind my teeth about toying with Harriet's future happiness. I can see just how sheltered and unsophisticated she is even though she is full of womanly grace, has pleasing manners, and comes from wealth and status. She's lived in a village all her life and doesn't travel to broaden her mind and experience. She doesn't read or spend time around learned people with the exception of Mr. Knightley who she dismisses as overly critical. The village doesn't offer her any real peers so there's a big fish in a small pond thing going on. No one else does anything, but praise her. That, right there- no one to hold up a true mirror to her- is what she really lacked. It is over the course of the novel that Emma realizes her folly when the influx of newcomers like Jane Fairfax, Mr. Elton, Frank Churchill, and Mrs. Elton, push her out of complacency and this brings changes showing she is not hopeless and is worthy of the gentleman who quietly waits for her to come into her own.

Each time I read this, something different stands out. This time, it was Mr. Woodhouse. While Emma's high-handedness with Harriet gets me a little irritated, it is Mr. Woodhouse- and Frank Churchill, I'll add- who get me seriously cranky. I know we all see Mr. Bennet as a lazy dad, Sir Walter as a terrible vain sort, and Sir Thomas as practically an absentee one from Austen's other novels, but Mr. Woodhouse tends to get a pass because of his illness and general silliness. However, when I thought about who could have been a larger influence on Emma other than just Mr. Knightley, it was Mr. Woodhouse who has her duty and show of respect. He can't care or see past his freakouts over his illnesses. He's silly so we laugh at him, but he's just as selfish and lazy as Mr. Bennet and Sir Walter and is lucky that Emma's going astray was not in the nature of Lydia Bennet's nor that her disposition wasn't that of Elizabeth Elliot's.

So, I had another enjoyable time with Austen's classic and learned to appreciate more about her writing through these characters going about their lives in the village of Highbury. I enjoyed seeing a young, promising heroine grow and appreciating the magnificence of Austen's Mr. George Knightley. New to me narrator, Nadia May, will be one I watch for.