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The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
The Blurb On The Back:
The book club was Jocelyn's idea, and she hand-picked the members. Jocelyn's best friend was Sylvia, whose husband of thirty-two years had just asked for a divorce. We felt she needed something to distract her. At sixty-seven, Bernadette was the oldest. She'd recently announced that she was, officially, letting herself go. "I just don't look in the mirror any more," she'd told us. "I wish I'd thought of it years ago."
The next person Jocelyn invited was Grigg, whom we none of us knew. We'd known Jocelyn long enough to wonder whom Grigg was intended for. Allegra was thirty, and really only invited because she was Sylvia;s daughter. Prudie was the youngest of us, at twenty-eight. She taught French at the high school and was the only one of us currently married, unless you counted Sylvia, who soon wouldn't be. Our first meeting was at Jocelyn's house.
In California's Sacramento Valley, six people meet once a month to discuss Jane Austen's novels. They are ordinary people, neither happy nor unhappy, but all wounded in different ways, all mixed up about their lives and their relationships. Over the six months they meet marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and under the guiding eye of Jane Austen, some of them even fall in love ...
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Tedious, boring and dull (and that's just the front cover). This book would struggle to be slight and yet has pretensions of being literary and meaningful. In fact, it just goes to show that putting the name 'Jane Austen' in something will almost automatically lead to a leap in sales. Please do not buy this book unless you like dull, middle aged characters leading dull middle aged lives. Don't even borrow it from the library. Just do what I'm trying to do and pretend it doesn't exist.
The book club was Jocelyn's idea, and she hand-picked the members. Jocelyn's best friend was Sylvia, whose husband of thirty-two years had just asked for a divorce. We felt she needed something to distract her. At sixty-seven, Bernadette was the oldest. She'd recently announced that she was, officially, letting herself go. "I just don't look in the mirror any more," she'd told us. "I wish I'd thought of it years ago."
The next person Jocelyn invited was Grigg, whom we none of us knew. We'd known Jocelyn long enough to wonder whom Grigg was intended for. Allegra was thirty, and really only invited because she was Sylvia;s daughter. Prudie was the youngest of us, at twenty-eight. She taught French at the high school and was the only one of us currently married, unless you counted Sylvia, who soon wouldn't be. Our first meeting was at Jocelyn's house.
In California's Sacramento Valley, six people meet once a month to discuss Jane Austen's novels. They are ordinary people, neither happy nor unhappy, but all wounded in different ways, all mixed up about their lives and their relationships. Over the six months they meet marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and under the guiding eye of Jane Austen, some of them even fall in love ...
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Tedious, boring and dull (and that's just the front cover). This book would struggle to be slight and yet has pretensions of being literary and meaningful. In fact, it just goes to show that putting the name 'Jane Austen' in something will almost automatically lead to a leap in sales. Please do not buy this book unless you like dull, middle aged characters leading dull middle aged lives. Don't even borrow it from the library. Just do what I'm trying to do and pretend it doesn't exist.