Karen Joy Fowler: Jane Austen Book Club

[Miss Shelf]

Has this book been discussed? I'm reading it now and I looked and can't find a discussion, maybe it was last year?

 

[MHL1971]

I am reading it too with my book club. Not the kind of book i read usually but it's good to read something different

marie

 

[Rex]

Synopsis please?

Rex

 

[Miss Shelf]

A group of women and one man get together to discuss Jane Austen's books. The members' stories are told too, and parallel the books. I finished it and was underwhelmed. Maybe I'm dense but I couldn't really figure out which book parallelled which member, except maybe that Jocelyn and Grigg were "P&P".

 

[Rex]

It sounds dull. Would it be better if the setting was not contemporary?

 

[Miss Shelf]

Well, it wasn't all dull. I don't know if changing the setting would help. I just didn't feel too much sympathy or interest in the characters. Also, something that drove me nuts from the beginning was the use of "we" in the narrative, such as "we all thought..." was used when talking about something currently happening-at first I thought I read too fast and went back to the beginning to see if I missed out on a character who was narrating, and there wasn't one.

 

[AJ_]

I didn't care for this book. The characters just didn't appeal to me for some reason.

 

[Linda Caddick]

It's so impeccably crafted that it takes more concentration than many of us are used to these days. I found it took some time to engage my mind, but it's a good and rewarding exercise.

 

[Peder]

It's so impeccably crafted that it takes more concentration than many of us are used to these days. I found it took some time to engage my mind, but it's a good and rewarding exercise.

Thanks for the positive response.

/adds one more to the purchase list /