Technically, Lady Susan is complete.

LADY SUSAN THE WATSONS SANDITION Comprising one finished novel, Lady Susan, which was published posthumously, and two unfinished fragments, Sanditon and The Watsons, this collection – full of melodrama and burlesque, and exploring a range of literary styles and social classes – spans the entirety of Jane Austen’s writing life. The epistolary novel Lady Susan is the darkly humorous tale of the amatory schemes and machinations of an ambitious and unprincipled coquette. The Watsons is the tale of the refined and well-educated Emma Watson, forced by the second marriage of her aunt to return to the house of her impecunious father and face the marital plots and intrigues of her sisters. Begun in the last few months of Jane Austen’s life, Sanditon, set in a fast-growing former fishing village, swiftly becoming a fashionable resort, pokes fun at the inhabitants of the new coastal town, with all their hypochondria, witlessness and self-obsession. 

I saw the movie first, so Lady Susan was an easy reading. I knew the characters, I knew the storyline. Unfortunately, my friend was very confused at first since Lady Susan Vernon is referred to Mrs. Vernon just like her sister-in-law. Also since it’s a epistolary, everyone already knows each other, throwing the reader in without much context. Also it’s older English which requires a bit more thinking since some of the words have different meanings like “intercourse.” That will always be slightly funny and surprising.

I thought it was fun because it was such a departure of Austen’s work with a villainous, narcissistic protagonist and quick letters flying between the characters. My friend didn’t enjoy it as much because of those reasons. She preferred The Watsons because it felt like a predecessor to Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility with the balls, marrying mamas and sisters vying for rich men. I felt confused by it since we are thrown right into the story and the characters and I had no idea what was happening. Also the main sisters are Elizabeth and Emma, and we constantly how to remind ourselves it’s not Elizabeth Bennet nor Emma Woodhouse.

Sanditon was a middle-ground. It was more comical with the suck-up Mr. Parker gushing over Sanditon instead of Lady Catherine De Bough. Sir Edwards is recognizable to contemporary men who talk so much, think he’s obliged to any woman, and uses fancy words to sound fancy. Even though it was a slow beginning, it started to pick up the pace with Charlotte driving to Sanditon and learning of the potential affair between Sir Edward and charming Clara.

But we’ll never know how they end because they’re incomplete. It was interesting to see the seeds of Austen’s style, themes and archetypes and how they build the foundation for her famous works.

Next up is The Hitwoman #6. Oh, and our movie will be Little Woman.

I should explain we decided to have a movie and book club as a way of sharing movies like we used to in college and finally force my friend to get to Little Women which she’d been meaning to watch for over a year. Our previous stuff was Instant Family (my pick-wholesome, funny, realistic and I say everyone should watch at least once), Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal from Netflix (her pick-interesting and gave more context to the people involved), 4 episodes of Young Justice (my pick-s1 is still peak) and now Little Women (unsure which version. Depends which is free to watch on the computer).