Amy Elizabeth Smith

In All Roads Lead to Austen, Smith recounts a year in which she traveled throughout Latin America doing small book group discussions of Jane Austen's works with the people she met on her travels. This was an impulse grab at the library, and normally this is the kind of book I would probably avoid. It's a memoir of a "created" event (in other words, the author went out and did something so she could write about it), and those often feel gimmicky to me. And Latin America has never much sparked show more any interest for me. But something about this book drew me to it, and when I started reading I was immediately captivated. Smith creates a likeable narrator and describes the places she goes and the people she meets with an earnestness that pulled me right in. Sometimes descriptions in books of the traveler meeting new people have a cold, observational feel to them; not so in All Roads. The characters are vivid and Smith is there making friends and discovering what her travels have to show her. Her treatment of the countries she visits (Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina) is perhaps slightly rose-tinted, but not so much as to be off-putting.

While I enjoyed the descriptions of the places she visited and of their histories, I was most interested in Smith's recounting of her Austen book groups. She discussed Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice on her travels (and heads up: there are spoilers for each in All Roads), and hearing the reactions and interpretations of multiple different reading groups to the same novels (and novels with which I am familiar myself) was like getting to listen in on a series of the best kinds of conversations about books I've ever had with my own friends. This isn't a study Smith's done, though--on a few occasions I found my scholar side "yeah, but"ing about some of the conclusions she comes to. If you have any methodology quibbles you'll have to put them in your pocket in your pocket to enjoy the book, but if you can, you'll find a delightful read. Recommended. show less

I have always loved Jane Austen's books. I thoroughly enjoy modern re-tellings as well as prequels or sequels. I rush out to see movies based on her novels or her life. Compare something to one of Austen's works and I'm almost guaranteed to jump on board. It's pretty safe to say that I am definitely an Austen fan. Amy Elizabeth Smith's All Roads Lead to Austen was already going to capture my attention but throw in the subtitle A Yearlong Journey With Jane and I couldn't read it fast show more enough.

Smith is an English professor at Pacific University where she has the opporutnity to teach Austen's novels. Faced with the question of what to do during her first development leave year away from the university, Smith decided to travel to six different countries in Latin and South America and read Austen's novels in Spanish with people in each of these unique countries to see if the popularity and perceived universality of these works translated as readily as the words on the page. First Smith had to learn Spanish though, at least enough to discuss the books with native speakers.

After a five week stint in Antigua learning Spanish, Smith set out on her year-long exploration of Austen's appeal for non-English speakers who not only don't share a language with Austen but who also live in far different cultures than that with which Austen was familiar. The six countries she chose were Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina. In some of the countries, Smith would have friends, acquaintances, or contacts of some sort who would help her organize her Austen reading groups. In others, she would leave things to chance. She chose to read three different novels, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice, twice each.

Divided into chapters set in each country, Smith does a good job introducing readers to the six different countries and their inhabitants. Part travelogue, part Latin and South American history, part personal memoir/romance, and part literary examination, Smith's story is accessible and entertaining. She took the precaution of taping the book club discussions so that she could accurately transcribe them, especially when her Spanish is stretched a bit. She shares the wonders and problems with traveling so far from home, the culture shock, the fortuitous surprises, and the genuine welcome she receives everywhere she goes. She cheerfully exposes her own gaffes and quirks to the reader as she moves from country to country. Her enthusiasm for each of these different countries and the people she meets in them and the bookstores and the local literature is contagious and engaging. And what she discovers about the universality of Austen's novels will probably not surprise any Janeite. Appealing and fun, Smith's year-long adventure is a wonderful, humorous, and personal read. show less

All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Smith is an entertaining memoir about the year-long travels in South America of an English professor and Austenite from California who sets up book clubs for Jane Austen books in six different countries. She wanted to see whether this very English author would appeal and have meaning to the women, and a number of men, who agreed to participate. She went to Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Argentina, and recorded vivid exchanges with the book show more groups. Those, and other informal exchanges she has, show once more the universality of Austen's writing, while at the same time providing insights into the local cultures and mores. Relationships between women and men, class distinctions, prejudice, the travails of the lower classes and foibles of the upper classes, among others, are points of commonality and also points of departure in all the countries.

People from many walks of life get involved with her project and her journey, including two romantic interests for her, an always-optimistic Mexican taxi driver who may be a Mr. Bingley type, and a curmudgeonly bookseller who may be a Mr. Darcy. The various cultural differences among the Latin Americans are fascinating, and I now want to visit Argentina, the book-reading capital of South America, more than ever. When she's in Buenos Aires, at one point Smith's in an eight block stretch that has more than twenty bookstores.

The author can "whinge" a bit much, but she has legitimate reasons when she gets dengue and ringworm and experiences other setbacks. If you love Jane Austen's books, you're likely to enjoy this light account of Latin American reactions to them, and if you fancy armchair travel, there's much of that to enjoy, too. show less

Ms. Smith has a brilliant idea - hold bookclub meetings in six different countries in central & south America and read Jane Austen in translation. As a professor who has lots of experience with student reactions to Jane, Ms. Smith wants to see how other cultures react to her writings. This memoir is equal parts Jane and Amy Smith, who is having her own cultural reactions to different countries and relationships and thoughts on such human themes as prejudice, privilege, and family show more relationships. I really enjoyed it. show less