Helpful Score: 2
I picked this book up, thinking I would be dissapointed in what this author does to Jane Austen and her great work, but I found quite the oppoosite. Introducing the readers to Jane's first muse instead, a flesh and blood man named Fitzwilliam Darcy, from Pemberley Estates, Virginia, twenty-first century, Miss O'Rourke invites every Jane Austen fan in to see one theory on the creation of such an elemental literary figure. Please read this book and meet the man who believed in Jane Austen, who encouraged her and who--well, duh--loved her. And listen to his story through the one person who can believe him, and who has the evidence to prove his outlandish story true, a girl named Eliza. (tongue-in-cheek)
Meghan
Meghan
Dolly P. (IAMADOL) reviewed The Man Who Loved Jane Austen (Man Who Loved Jane Austen, Bk 1) on + 25 more book reviews
Found this review on Amazon
By M. Sellers "Bookworm500" (Pennsylvania)
I recently read The Man Who Loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O'Rourke. (Do not confuse it with the novel of the same name by Ray Smith!) This is an interesting take on the imagined background of Pride and Prejudice.
The novel begins as the heroine, Eliza Knight, an artist, and her passionless accountant boyfriend, Jerry, peruse a used furniture store. Eliza finds an antique vanity table, falls in love with it, and purchases it (against the advice of the money-practical Jerry).
The next morning, while in conversation with her cat, Wickham, Eliza notices that the panel backing to the mirror is pulling away. When she investigates, two letters fall out. One is addressed to Jane Austen, and the other--an unopened one--is addressed to F. Darcy.
Shocked but wise enough not to open the unsealed letter and thereby ruin the value of the document, Eliza decides to research on the internet to see if Darcy was a real person. Of course, with over a million Austen cites on the net, she is daunted. She chooses one and posts a question, "Was Fitzwilliam Darcy real?"
Strangely enough, a man has been watching and waiting for such a question for the last three years, and he quickly replies. The kicker is that his name is Fitzwilliam Darcy, and he is a horse breeder at Pemberly Farms in Virgina. Eliza dismisses him as a lunatic and goes on with life.
The novel moves along--the letters are authenticated, she meets the current Mr. Darcy (who is just as Austen described him in the original book), and they mysteries of these letters and of Darcy's identity are revealed. Of course, in order to believe this mystery, you also have to believe in time travel, but anything is possible in fiction, right?
The novel was an entertaining read, by no means excellent. (Although the scene where she cleans the vanity table had me cringing--what would the Keano brothers of Antique Roadshow be saying! AHH!) There seemed to be some character confusion as the woman who wants to marry Darcy is described as a tall, beautiful blonde sometimes, and then she's described as looking like a vampire in her yellow dress. There isn't any major swearing that I recall. Alcohol is drunk, and some secondary characters do get drunk. There are no sex scenes, but Eliza's relationship with Jerry is clearly stated, and some other relations are mentioned in passing.
I liked the character of Darcy in this book, and Eliza was likeable as well. Some of the other characters seemed more like page filler than like full-blown characters. Even Jane Austen herself didn't strike me as amazing.
If you read this book expecting a lighthearted romance, then you won't be disappointed. If you expect high drama or Austen's characterization or writing style, you will be.
By M. Sellers "Bookworm500" (Pennsylvania)
I recently read The Man Who Loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O'Rourke. (Do not confuse it with the novel of the same name by Ray Smith!) This is an interesting take on the imagined background of Pride and Prejudice.
The novel begins as the heroine, Eliza Knight, an artist, and her passionless accountant boyfriend, Jerry, peruse a used furniture store. Eliza finds an antique vanity table, falls in love with it, and purchases it (against the advice of the money-practical Jerry).
The next morning, while in conversation with her cat, Wickham, Eliza notices that the panel backing to the mirror is pulling away. When she investigates, two letters fall out. One is addressed to Jane Austen, and the other--an unopened one--is addressed to F. Darcy.
Shocked but wise enough not to open the unsealed letter and thereby ruin the value of the document, Eliza decides to research on the internet to see if Darcy was a real person. Of course, with over a million Austen cites on the net, she is daunted. She chooses one and posts a question, "Was Fitzwilliam Darcy real?"
Strangely enough, a man has been watching and waiting for such a question for the last three years, and he quickly replies. The kicker is that his name is Fitzwilliam Darcy, and he is a horse breeder at Pemberly Farms in Virgina. Eliza dismisses him as a lunatic and goes on with life.
The novel moves along--the letters are authenticated, she meets the current Mr. Darcy (who is just as Austen described him in the original book), and they mysteries of these letters and of Darcy's identity are revealed. Of course, in order to believe this mystery, you also have to believe in time travel, but anything is possible in fiction, right?
The novel was an entertaining read, by no means excellent. (Although the scene where she cleans the vanity table had me cringing--what would the Keano brothers of Antique Roadshow be saying! AHH!) There seemed to be some character confusion as the woman who wants to marry Darcy is described as a tall, beautiful blonde sometimes, and then she's described as looking like a vampire in her yellow dress. There isn't any major swearing that I recall. Alcohol is drunk, and some secondary characters do get drunk. There are no sex scenes, but Eliza's relationship with Jerry is clearly stated, and some other relations are mentioned in passing.
I liked the character of Darcy in this book, and Eliza was likeable as well. Some of the other characters seemed more like page filler than like full-blown characters. Even Jane Austen herself didn't strike me as amazing.
If you read this book expecting a lighthearted romance, then you won't be disappointed. If you expect high drama or Austen's characterization or writing style, you will be.
