Complex sentence: The novel is more explicitly comic than her other works and contains many literary allusions that her parents and siblings would have enjoyed, as a family entertainment--a piece of lighthearted parody to be read aloud by the fireside.
Split into simpler sentences: The novel is more explicitly comedic than her other works, and contains many literary allusions that her parents and siblings would have enjoyed. This novel served as family entertainment--a piece of lighthearted parody to be read aloud by the fireside.