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The Jane Austen Book Club
The Jane Austen Book Club
Author: Karen Joy Fowler
In California's central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her eye for the frailties of human behavior and her ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Karen Joy Fowle...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780452286535
ISBN-10: 0452286530
Publication Date: 4/26/2005
Pages: 304
Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 516

3 stars, based on 516 ratings
Publisher: Plume
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

drewsmom avatar reviewed The Jane Austen Book Club on + 46 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
Quick fun read. Good for the beach, or a Saturday morning during the winter. Has synopsis' of Austen's books. Interesting, though simple characters. Guess the focus was on Austen more than the book club members.
reviewed The Jane Austen Book Club on + 41 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
Even though I've only read one Jane Austen book I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and the characters were likable.Unlike other books I've read centered around book groups the characters were easy to keep track of and their lives were interwined which made the book flow together.
reviewed The Jane Austen Book Club on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
I was surprised at how much I liked this book. I hate to say it but anything with 'book club' in the title makes me think the book might be a bit trite; but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the characters, and the way the author tied in Austen but didn't overdo it and make the book inaccessible. It really is a great story as well as a contemporary tribute to the essence of Jane Austen's writing. Highly recommended.
reviewed The Jane Austen Book Club on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
Just finished reading this book this weekend and would have to say this book gets a "skip it" review by me. I had checked it out of the library (prior to joining paperbackswap) as I had seen it on a shelf at B&N store. Please note I have not read through any Jane Austen books myself, I have skipped around P&P, but didn't read all of it.

The Jane Austen Book Club story itself is sweet, even though it was hard to keep the characters names straight. Had the title been "A tribute to Jane Austen and EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about her books and references to her books" then I would have been warned. There were just too many instances where I felt like I was left out on the story because of the continual references to Austen's work itself and there was an implied importance to the story that was lost on me.

The author is creative and talented, just didn't work for me given my NON Austen background. It appears to me if you are a Jane Austen fan having READ all of her books and know all of her characters you would love this book, as it would give you the opportunity to vicariously be in a modern day book club with her books as the centerpiece.

The book did bring up some names of some science fiction authors that I will check out.

This is a book I would not recommend to my friends who have limited leisure time to read, nor would I recommend it to anyone who isn't familiar with Austen's works, UNLESS you want to dig in and start learning all of it.
mwelday avatar reviewed The Jane Austen Book Club on + 148 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
I really enjoyed this book...six people are a part of an Austen-all-the-time book club. Through reading Jane Austen's six books, the book club members reveal more of themselves to the reader. As a lover of Jane Austen's work, I enjoyed reading this book...if nothing else, it made me want to read Austen's classics once again!
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narwhallove avatar reviewed The Jane Austen Book Club on
Fowler's text is witty, an elegant parley with Austen, but it is also gritty and contemporary, of not just heartbreak but also sexual danger. Schraf's reading is prissy and school marmish. Fowler's wry sense of humor is either overexaggerated or completely lost with this high-pitched reading.

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