Opportunities

Warner, Susan, 1819-1885Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 319K words
Chapters: 32

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Opportunities by Susan WarnerAuthor: Warner, Susan, 1819-1885,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Oct 1, 2009

Editor's review

Opportunities is a full-length work by the American author Susan Warner, classified under juvenile literature in Project Gutenberg. Warner is known for domestic and coming-of-age themes, and this book continues that concern, narrating the choices and opportunities characters face as their circumstances change, with a clear moral and emotional-educational bent. As a public-domain electronic text, its reading value lies more in literary history and reading pleasure: readers can see how a nineteenth-century American woman writer wrote coming-of-age stories for young readers and conveyed ideas about duty, character, and opportunity through everyday incidents. The book is long and slow-paced, its language marked by its era, and it suits readers willing to read slowly who are interested in early English-language juvenile fiction. Measured against modern fast-paced narrative habits, it may require some patience, but as a sample of public-domain juvenile literature it has its place.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century American juvenile literature
Those willing to read long public-domain English novels slowly, with an interest in coming-of-age and family themes
Literature enthusiasts studying the writing style of early women authors
Readers who enjoy moral-didactic narrative and can accept a slow pace

Not a good fit for

Readers of modern fiction who prefer fast pacing and strong plot conflict
Beginners with weak English reading skills who need modern annotations
Readers hoping for contemporary adolescent issues and present-day contexts

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to see whether you can adapt to the narrative pace, then decide whether to read the whole book or selected parts.
As you read, note the choices characters make when faced with "opportunity" and trace the values the author conveys through the plot.
Keep a notebook to record character relationships; long public-domain novels have many character threads, and mapping them makes it easier to follow.
If the language barrier is great, read a synopsis first, then focus on structure and tone in the original.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What age group is this book suitable for?

Project Gutenberg classifies it as juvenile literature, but the language and pacing bear nineteenth-century characteristics, making it better suited to readers with some English foundation who are interested in early juvenile fiction than to young children.

Do I need to know the author beforehand to read this book?

Not necessarily. Knowing Susan Warner's background helps in understanding her ethical concerns, but the main storyline and characters' choices can be grasped by reading the text directly; background knowledge is not essential.

Does the electronic edition have annotations or an introduction?

This is a public-domain electronic text published by Project Gutenberg and generally contains no modern introduction or detailed annotations; readers needing background material must consult relevant literary-historical sources themselves.

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About the author

Warner, Susan, 1819-1885 Author

Susan Warner (1819-1885) was a nineteenth-century American author known for inspirational coming-of-age fiction; her name and dates of birth and death appear in library catalog records. Public information about her is limited, and details of her life and education are difficult to establish with certainty, yet the library holds thirty-one of her works, which indicates a prolific and steady writing career. The Wide, Wide World is her best-known work, alongside Queechy, Diana, Nobody, Daisy, The End of a Coil, and Hills of the Shatemuc. Her fiction generally centers on young people's growth, family life, and moral trials, with a gentle and detailed style that emphasizes inner change and the formation of character. She found readers in the popular fiction market of her time and contributed to the later tradition of the coming-of-age novel.