Laurie Viera Rigler

I have faith that Rigler could be a fine writer - some day. She's like the girl in the back of the choir who's got strength and emotion, but can't find the damn tempo. She just needs a few lessons & everyone will be clamoring to have her baptize their new stadium with her personalized rendition of the national anthem.

So I didn't enjoy this companion book as much as Confessions of A Jane Austen Addict - probably because I read this one after the first, and so I knew the the story before it show more happened. The heroine (one Jane Mainsfield, circa 1813) is far more charming than Courtney Stone, whose body she unexpectedly inhabits one balmy day in modern Los Angeles. Courtney was a bit acerbic and, frankly, stupid - she claimed to be obsessed with Austen, but didn't prove her reading comprehension enough to get through a simple family breakfast without massive blunders. Jane has a gee-whiz! attitude to this crazy modern world (and who can blame her? The internet is WACKY!). It's mostly adorable.

The trouble is, Jane can't claim as much life experience as Courtney, who at least has had sex (it's a theme.) and is not shocked to pieces when a man speaks to her without being formally introduced. Courtney travels back in time (maybe, sortof? the details are incredibly vague) and finds that men are men and love is love, no matter what the year. It's an initially-depressing-but-finally-redeeming modern take on Austen, whose romances were lovely but not satisfying to those readers who feel the need to shriek, in unladylike tones, "NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT AT A BALL!"

Rigler's first book - no matter how poorly written, no matter how gratingly narrated - is redeemed by hard won self-knowledge. "The truth is," Courtney sighs, "that (he) is not a man to be trusted, and the truth is that finding him attractive should have been my first clue." Ouch! But brilliant, in its way.
Poor Jane's most interesting sin was getting a kiss and wanting more. It's a thin achievement to carry nearly 300 pages. show less

Life has gotten a little strange for Jane Mansfield: she's woken up in a cramped apartment in Los Angeles, wearing frighteningly little clothing; her beloved maid Barnes is nowhere in sight; all sorts of strange appliances and glowing boxes are around her, producing very curious noises; and an incredibly good-looking, decidedly ungentleman-like man is tending to her monstrous headache, which he says is the result of whacking her head against the bottom of a pool.

Oh -- and it's 2009.

When Jane show more fell off her horse on her father's estate in England, the year was 1813. Heartbroken and battling to get out from underneath her mother's meddling thumb, Jane had wished for another life -- a new chance in a new time. And after her nasty spill, her wish has been granted.

The modern era is a complete and total mystery to Jane, filled with cars, cell phones, iPods, the Internet, television and film adaptations of Jane Austen's work on boxes with moving pictures (ooh, Colin Firth!). With the help of friends Paula, Anna and Wes, Courtney's former friend and current ally, Jane-as-Courtney begins to piece together how in the world she may have come to find herself in L.A. -- and in the body of blonde, petite assistant Courtney Stone, a woman whose problems, heartbreaks and indecisions Jane has now inherited.

This sequel to Laurie Viera Rigler's Confessions Of A Jane Austen Addict follows Jane as her friends come to grips with her funny way of talking -- Regency dialect, you know, just without the British accent -- and her complete inability to understand any sort of technology. At first chalking up her confusion to the concussion she's suffered, they slowly begin to realize that Courtney has changed. And it's all thanks to Jane.

Though I enjoyed Confessions very much, I have to say that I loved this novel even more than Rigler's debut. Her observations on modern relationships, technology and friendships were spot-on, and I absolutely loved discovering the things we take for granted anew through Jane's eyes. Contraptions like cell phones and computers are alien to her, and the descriptions of them are often hilarious. How often do we stop and think how strange it is that we're sitting in front of little glowing boxes right now, tapping out sequences of letters to pull up information from anywhere on the planet? Once Jane discovers the wonders of Google, there's no turning back. It's a magical feeling!

The development of Jane's friendships with Paula and Anna was really fun, as were her interactions with philandering ex Frank and good friend Wes. The romance felt believable, and I thought her descriptions of modern courtship were particularly astute . . .and thought-provoking.

Overall, an incredibly entertaining, interesting and fun look at our world through the eyes of a Regency woman, and a wonderful treat for Jane Austen fans. References to our favorite author abound, and a love of all things Austen -- and Mr. Darcy -- is just one of the many things Jane discovers she shares with Courtney. Now I want to go back and re-read Confessions, if only to spend more time with funny, perceptive Jane. show less

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is the complementary story to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. In that first book, Courtney Stone, a 32 year old from the year 2009, wakes up in 1813 Somerset, England in the body of Jane Mansfield, daughter of a gentleman. Rude Awakenings tells what happens to Jane, who wakes up in Courtney’s body in 2009. The books can be read independently but probably flow better in order.

Both young ladies, rabid fans of Jane Austen, wished for different show more lives, and both hit their heads at the same time. Thus, we presume, some sort of cosmic Karma has enabled this switch. Like the movie “Back to the Future,” these books focus on the humorous confusions that result from dislocations in time. Coming to 2009 from 1813, there is plenty to astound a person, from televisions, computers, telephones, cars, and airplanes to the astonishing change in manners and morality, especially for a young woman. And there is no shortage of opportunity for satire either. One uproarious passage has Courtney’s friends take her to a therapist; after Jane/Courtney goes on about how she is really someone else from the year 1813, lost in the future, and doesn't know how to get back, the therapist says: “Soooo… how do you feel about that?”

Courtney, ostensibly recovering from a severe concussion, finds herself attended to by Wes (the best friend of her ex-fiance), old girlfriends Paula and Anna, and a new girlfriend Deepa (who speaks with a reassuring English accent). She also finds herself reluctantly feeling responsive to the importunings of the ex, Frank, whom everyone (including Courtney) now recognizes as a scumbag.

It is Anna, who is into “new-age crap” as Paula calls it, who gives Courtney the most to think about when she says:

"I believe that each of us has the power to create heaven or hell, right here, right now.”

Reflecting on this later, Courtney, always the Austenophile, says:

"Each of us has the power to create heaven or hell, right here, right now. I do not know how I have come to be in this time, in this place, in this body. But I do know that any place where there are six novels by the author of Pride and Prejudice must be a very special sort of heaven.”

When Courtney expresses angst about how to understand what has happened to her, her friend Deepa takes her to see a fortune teller, who turns out to be the same one she saw as Jane back in 1813. The woman tries to teach her that knowledge about ourselves and others is structured by preconceptions. To truly know someone, you need to be open to fresh perspectives. That is to say, like Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, one must let go of ones' pride and discard ones' prejudices, not only to know others truly, but also to know ourselves and our true desires.

She also teaches Courtney not to be intimidated by the nature of 21st Century relationships. Even if someone has loved before, it doesn’t preclude loving again:

"When you unite with your true love, it will be as if he is your first, and you his. In the eyes of love, there is no past.”

But can Jane/Courtney somehow reconcile her knowledge of who she really is with her new persona, and overcome the mistakes of both of those lives to make a new beginning? Or will she get cold feet and go back, with the help of the fortune teller? In short, will she create a hell, or can she create a heaven?

Evaluation: I liked this book much better than Confessions, in part because this story tended to tie up the lose ends left by the first story (and I do like all the ends tied!). It was also fun to see Jane/Courtney’s reaction to all the modern conveniences (such as toilets!) and watch her figure out how to use them. And looking at such modern wonders (electricity!) through Jane’s eyes helps you appreciate them so much more!

I envied Jane for having the opportunity to create a new life as Courtney, combining their personalities to make a kinder, better Courtney and a looser, more compromising Jane. It's sort of like having a rewind button but with an editing capability. What a lovely premise! show less

I enjoyed this little time travel romp into Regency, not so much for the story-line, as for the glimpses into what the world looked, sounded, and smelled like back then. (After all, it's not all Colin Firth in a wet shirt, though that's pretty impressive.) One of my other favorite back in time books is a favorite for that very reason -- it brought the period alive for me through the author's research into the times. Of course, I had to stop early on to assure myself that there was a parallel show more book about what happened to poor Jane, thrust into our time, as Courtney was pushed into the past. Once I saw that this was covered, I could enjoy the book again. Some places were a little forced, some a little weak, but others were utterly charming. Not bad for an ear-read by audio book! Especially nice since I've been immersed in Miss Austen's work again of late. (I picked this up at That Big Book Sale this year, sponsored by our Friends of the Charleston Library. Yay!) show less