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Cheerful, affable Mr Weston has, in his lifetime, unintentionally distressed two wealthy households just by getting married. I’m extremely impressed.

Reading between the lines, Mr Weston is canonically very hot, and all these rich families better fervently pray for Miss Taylor’s robust and lasting health.

I love the detail that Mr Weston and Miss Taylor took their time because they’re both grown and practical—Mr Weston didn’t want to settle down until he could purchase Randalls, an estate somewhere near to the Woodhouses.

Okay the book did not love Mr Weston’s first marriage either, apparently. To be honest, though, with the way the book is written, I’m having trouble distinguishing between character voices and the author voice. This wasn’t quite as pronounced in Pride and Prejudice.

Boy, the relationship between Frank Churchill and his father Mr Weston bums me out. His dad is very proud of him and visits him in London every year, but he’s never been to visit his dad in Highbury, even though it feels like he belongs there because they fuss about him so much.

“Emma, well as she knew her father, was sometimes taken by surprize at his being still able to pity "poor Miss Taylor," when they left her at Randalls in the centre of every domestic comfort” — I snorted out loud 😆

OH Mr Perry, his health and humours guy, once told him that cake is not necessarily good for you and should be indulged in moderation, so Mr Woodhouse took it upon himself to guard everyone at the wedding from the grave and dire threat of cake-borne ill health.

LMAO the chapter concludes with Mr Woodhouse devoutly refusing to acknowledge that all of Mr Perry’s children definitely had some wedding cake

OH I see. We’re doing a Mean Girls-style tour of the cafeteria, and we’re finding out who Mr Woodhouse sits with at lunch. So first we’re introduced to young Mr Eston, who lives alone, for some reason, apparently reluctantly. Then it’s a trio of ladies.

Anyway, three ladies also hang out a lot with the Woodhouses. They’re carted back and forth so often that Mr Woodhouse completely takes for granted what an endeavor that is, but if it happened only once a year he would get it.

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I heard an interpretation once that Mr. W had dementia, & boy has it stuck with me. Plus the protective caregiver stuff Emma does that is present but not clearly underlined makes more sense.

Very much yes. In an affable, rich-man sort of way - that is to say it is possibly because he’s older, but more likely because he can, and he’s just dear and likeable enough that everyone puts up with it affectionately instead of being annoyed by it.

Mrs Bates is an old vicar’s old widow who is very old, and she lives with her daughter, Miss Bates, who is not Old-old, but she is old enough that it’s an impediment to her prospects. Also Miss Bates is mid in every respect, except that she is incredibly convivial, which people seem to like.

I feel like the book is giving us a foil to Emma in Miss Bates. They’re both affable, but Emma is young, pretty, clever, and rich. Miss Bates is middle-aged, plain, not especially sharp, and has no money.

But Miss Bates is so overwhelmingly affable and good-natures that people love her in spite of her being aggressively mid, and I can’t decide if that’s a little mean on the part of the book.