Book Review: The Jane Austen Book Club

This is the version I have. I
don't really like the cover that much? But
I think it's the original cover from the
first publication, so that's cool.

     It's that time of year again when the woodstove has been stocked up with logs for the very first time! It's nice and cozy warm in here right now, but I know that soon it'll just be hot, so I'll try to enjoy the snuggly warmness whilst I can.
    Anyway, this past week, I bought myself a copy of The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, and yesterday, I finished reading it. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about it. :)
     First of all, it had no plot. That sounds like a bad thing, but really, it made it interesting. This book is about a group of women (and one man) who form a book club centered around reading all of Jane Austen's published works. So while there's no definitive storyline, and it's really just a collection of events from the lives of each of the book club members, it is very moving and entertaining. The Jane Austen Book Club has also been made into a movie, and I really want to see it, but haven't had a chance yet. If it's anything like the book, I think it will be good.
     The cool thing about this book is that it's written in first person, but you never really find out who "I" is. She's part of the book club, but you don't get to hear her personal story. You don't even know her name. So I'm especially interested in how that is translated into the film world. I'll stick the trailer to the movie version at the end of this post (I've probably already posted this trailer some time before, but oh well). And having read the book, I notice things in the trailer that I didn't before, and I only want to see the movie even more because it looks amazing. All the actors they chose seem fitting to the story, and it looks like it will be pretty true to the novel.
     The Jane Austen Book Club was the perfect book to read right now, because it's not too intense, not too serious, just enough fun and the right amount of thought provoking that I needed right now. It will definitely be a book that I reread in years to come, because I liked it a lot.
     One of the things I really liked about it was all the extra interesting stuff that was included in the back of the book. Even after the novel itself is wrapped up, your still not completely done. There  are notations about Jane Austen's life and works, which includes a section of reactions from Austen's family members and friends to her original manuscripts, recorded by Austen herself. I thought that was really cool, because I often wondered what her family thought of her being a novelist in a time when being a woman and having an actual talent and passion was considered unattractive and unprofitable. So it was really cool to hear her brothers and sisters and parents reactions to her books and stories.

     Another cool "special feature" at the end of this book were the discussion questions. I know, I know, a lot of books have discussion questions, but in The Jane Austen Book Club, the questions are written from the characters' points of view. So each member of the book club has their own set of questions that goes along with the book, and I just thought that was really unusual and cool.
     Anyway, even though, as I said, the book doesn't really have a clear cut plot in the sense that it follows the whole exposition-rising action-climax-falling action-resolution plot chart, it was still somehow incredibly captivating, and I couldn't put it down. It's really unique because although it does have a lot to do with Jane Austen, I honestly wouldn't say that she's the main focus of the novel. It focuses more on the characters lives away from Austen, and how Austen's novels are the one thing they all have in common despite their completely different lives. So it's a book that I think would be enjoyed not only by Austen fans such as myself, but also by people who just want a good pick-me-up type novel. I highly recommend it. :)

                              -VaughnDL