I'm a fairly devoted Jane Austen fan. I'm not obsessively interested in the history of her personal life (because that would be cheating on my girl, Virginia Woolfe), but I've read all of her novels, as well as all published juvenilia. I may, or may not, have even skimmed through Mr Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues by Linda Berdoll, and continued to do so for quite some time after concluding that it was both raunchy and dumb. You really have no way of knowing. Naturally, I had to give Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Patillo a fighting chance.
In this book, a young academic embarks on a quest to uncover the truth about Jane Austen's long-cloaked personal life after her own personal life goes belly-up. In the meantime, she meets up with an old friend-slash-flame (the only interesting kind), and is determined to shake off her preoccupation with heroes and happy endings, delusions she blames Ms. Austen for cultivating in her. Along the way, she learns a little something about the value of happy beginnings and worthy journeys.
I found this book to be...kind of cute. As an Englisher-at-heart who, by some cruel twist of fate, finds herself living in a townhouse in Kentucky, I appreciated some of the descriptive details of London, Bath, and the more rural locations that mark the "Austen Trail." I liked the allusions to Austen's novels. I didn't love the main chick, as I found her to be primarily defined by people's reactions to her. She didn't have a lot of spark. She 'felt tears pricking' a lot. She seemed to be always starving. Like, literally. For lunch. Not my fave qualities in a heroine. (I can hear the author screaming, "That was the point! She was a weakling, and she changed, you thick clod!" Still. It's my blah-ahg and I'll say what I want to, say what I want to...). I didn't feel compelled to quit the book, and it did give me some swoony, Jane Austeny feelings. Happy Reading!
26 comments:
Great review! I will also admit I read Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife. How many lashes with a wet noodle?
You know what we should do, Connie? We should do a confessional post where we all admit the books we've read that make us the LEAST proud. The ones we hide behind another book cover. Haha!
I've been meaning to read this one and think I have it around here somewhere. Your comment about the heroine being starving all the time was hilarious and tears pricking. Now, I know that when I do read it, those things will jump out and make me laugh.
Congrats on taking over the blog, by the way. I'm sure you will do great!
I am totally reading this right now!
Boy that book title is excellent, but as I read your post, I don't know if I will read the book.
Thanks for your review,
Terra
I want to read this one! I think I have it on my shelf but it may be one of the other Jane Austen titles..... there are so many! :)
Great review! Sorry you are feeling sick! Get better soon! Can you believe I still have not read any Jane Austin books? How lame am I? LOL
I love Rachel's idea!
I finished this one last month and I thought it was a pretty good read =) I'm not big on Jane Austen so my feelings may be skewed.
I enjoyed your review.
Mishel--how was Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart? Good? I may have been a teensy bit hard on the book. I would give Patillo's next one a chance, too.
I think we all have to blush and cringe when we admit they we have read Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and even more if we read the sequel. *Blushes* *Cringes*
I have Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart in my review pile but I may just pick this one up as well.
I also wanted to wish you good luck with taking over the blog. I can already tell it's going to be awesome. I love your reviewing style.
Grace
Books Like Breathing
Rachel- I enjoyed the book, it was light and easy to read. I agree with your reactions about the main character. I struggled to connect with her. She seemed defined by the people and situations around her. But at the end of the story I was smiling and had warm fuzzies so the story made me happy, which is good enough =)
I admit I've read the blurb on Patillo's first Jane Austen book (Jane Austen Ruined My Life) and didn't find it intriguing in the least. So hopefully her next book will at least sound appealing to me enough to make me want to read it.
I think I have this one lying around somewhere. For some reason I can't get enough of these reinterpretation books either! I think its the Anglophobe in me :) Great review!
I currently have this on hold at the library - can't wait to pick it up!
I love Jane Austen sequels and have heard of this one but havne't read it yet. You know, I don't even mind the cheesy ones. I have 2 of them sitting on my bedside TBR waiting to be read.
I haven't read any Austen spin-offs but this one sounds cute.
How about the book that makes me least proud to consider reading? That would be Pride and Predjuice and Zombies. I'd need a brown paper bookcover, but it sounds funny to me.
Rachel, You should Seriously do a confessional post will link-ups underneath and everything. We can all hide our faces together. I think'd it be so much fun. And who knows, maybe we wouldn't have to hide so much anymore when we realize that everyone else was hiding the same book. :-D
Love the review, btw, I kinda want to read the book now just to be able to mentally make fun of the main character as her eyes begin to prick with tears. LOL
I have not read this one, Great review. Maybe I will get of my booty and get it
Glad you reposted. As a Jane Austen fan, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. But yeah, whiny protags aren't fun to read. Maybe I'll just get the sample on Kindle to see if she gets on my nerves.
LOVE YOUR BLAAAAUG! X-D
Thank you, Miss Pam. :)
I had a very similar reaction to Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart - I didn't like the main character. She was totally flat for me and her 'realizations' about her life seemed to come from no where so I had no idea if they were really based on facts.
There is something weird about Austen spin-offs. Even when they seem to get a bit silly and start going waaaaaaaay far away from what Jane Austen had envisioned (erm...P&P& Zombies, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre...anyone? I'm guilty...) I still had to read on.
I think it allows us to still read about our favortite charcters.
p.s. reposting a review is NOT ghetto! :)
Jenn--thanks for the confidence. I wondered if reprinting a review was like reusing coffee grounds...not advisable. haha
Seriously. Was Jane Austen into voo doo? Because she holds magical control over us after all these years.
As a fellow Janeite, I also get sucked into these. I am reading "Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict" right now. It's not good, but it's about my beloved Jane, so how can I resist?
Thanks for the good review. I hope you feel better very soon.
I have not read any of the Jane Austin take offs yet! Maybe... someday... BUT I have a huge TBR pile as it is.
Not totally ghetto as sometimes it's hard providing content on a daily basis.
I appreciate the honest review and totally understand not liking a girl who dosen't eat. come on! Eat that cookie :)
This book is on my tbr list.
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