The Jane Austen Book Club (2004)

by Karen Joy Fowler

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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Fiction. Romance. Humor (Fiction.) HTML: A sublime comedy of contemporary manners, this is the novel Jane Austen might well have written had she lived in twenty-first century California. Nothing ever moves in a straight line in Karen Joy Fowler's fiction, and in her latest, the complex dance of modern love has never been so devious or so much fun. Six Californians join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they meet, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her finely sighted eye for the frailties of human behavior and her finely tuned ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships. Dedicated Austenites will delight in unearthing the echoes of Austen that run through the novel, but most readers will simply enjoy the vision and voice that, despite two centuries of separation, unite two great writers of brilliant... .… (more)

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Showing 1-5 of 185 (next | show all)

Had looked forward to this and was a bit disappointed. I dont know whether it was because I was reading it in fits and starts, or whether because I had read "Angry Housewives eating Bon Bons" and was expecting something similar.

nordie | Oct 14, 2023 |

This is another book I wish that there were half star ratings for. I would have given it 3.5 stars. It was a good fun book. The story of five women and one men who meet once a month to discuss the works of Jane Austen. Through the different books and meetings you come to learn about the lives of these characters and the reflections of Jane Austen's work in their lives. A cleverly writen story that shows the classics are modern in so many ways. (

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MsTera | Oct 10, 2023 |

I found reading this book to be a chore (read it for book club.) The characters are bitchy (god forbid anybody in their lives not read, or not enjoy Jane Austen,) and hard to keep straight. Their stories seem assembled haphazardly, and the perspective switches weirdly between first and third person. It's a miracle I made it through the book.

I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 because there were a few genuinely interesting anecdotes about the main characters' history, but this book was NOT for me. (

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veewren | Jul 12, 2023 |

I really enjoyed this, I'm not sure what stopped me giving it full marks but maybe the fact that I read it over a period of time with breaks, a full marks novel usually proves fairly unputdownable. (

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Susan-Pearson | Feb 23, 2023 |

I enjoyed the movie so picked up the book. The book proved to be sluggish and just this side of uninteresting enough that I finished it, though it took me a while. I didn't connect with any of the characters, who were more or less interchangeable, despite Fowler's attempt to make them quirky. There was too much focus of the characters' background instead of the here and now of the book, with each section focusing on a different character -- which only made me annoyed as the first characters were boring, and the later interesting backgrounds came up too late to make me appreciate the characters. (

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wisemetis | Jan 14, 2023 |

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thingScore 25

The real problem, though, is that the book club remains a convenience for gathering the novel's capsule stories. Fowler does not contrive any pleasing symmetries between her stories and Austen's, and the characters' discussions of Austen's novels are thin and uninteresting. They manage little more than "I think Catherine Moreland's a charming character", versus "She's very, very silly. Implausibly gullible." Fowler may have faith in Austen, but she does not trust her characters to make you interested in their particular readings. And she is certainly not prepared to make these characters as foolish or parti pris as some of the readers whose judgments Austen so mercilessly recorded.

added by KayCliff | editThe Guardian, John Mulland (Oct 30, 2004)

If, as a writer, you are going to take on Jane Austen - a novelist whose art, as Thornton Wilder put it, is so consummate that its secret is hidden, impossible wholly to illuminate - you had better make damn sure you are up to the job.

added by Nevov | editThe Observer, Rachel Cooke (Oct 10, 2004)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (7 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Karen Joy Fowler	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Cardeñoso, Concha	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Doizelet, Sylvie	Traduction	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Ingendaay, Marcus	Übersetzer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Loósz Vera,	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Schraf, Kimberly	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Is contained in

The Jane Austen Book Club | Pride and Prejudice by Karen Joy Fowler

Has the adaptation

The Jane Austen Book Club [2007 film] by Robin Swicord

Has as a student's study guide

The Jane Austen book club by Karen Joy Fowler : notes by Gillian Bouras

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

The Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year (Nominee – Best Novel – 2005)

Distinctions

Christian Science Monitor Best Book (Fiction – 2004)

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

Original title

The Jane Austen book club

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2004

People/Characters

Important places

California, USA

San Francisco, California, USA

Silicon Valley, California, USA

Sacramento, California, USA

Important events

Related movies

The Jane Austen Book Club (2007 | IMDb)

Epigraph

Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken. - Jane Austen, Emma.

Dedication

For Sean Patrick Jmes Tyrrell,
Missing and forever missed.

First words

We sat in a circle on Jocelyn's screened porch at dusk, drinking cold sun tea, surrounded by the smell of her twelve acres of fresh-mowed California grass.

Quotations

Above Daniel's head, one leaf, and only one leaf, ticked about on the walnut tree. How exacting, how precise the breeze! It smelled of the river, a green smell in a brown month. She took a deep breath. (p.243)

In general, librarians enjoyed special requests. A reference librarian is someone who enjoys the chase. When librarians read for pleasure, they often pick a good mystery. They tend to be cat people as well, for reasons more obscure. (p.213)

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

O'Connor, Patricia T.

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

The Jane Austen Book Club

▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Romance. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:

A sublime comedy of contemporary manners, this is the novel Jane Austen might well have written had she lived in twenty-first century California.

Nothing ever moves in a straight line in Karen Joy Fowler's fiction, and in her latest, the complex dance of modern love has never been so devious or so much fun.

Six Californians join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they meet, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her finely sighted eye for the frailties of human behavior and her finely tuned ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships.

Dedicated Austenites will delight in unearthing the echoes of Austen that run through the novel, but most readers will simply enjoy the vision and voice that, despite two centuries of separation, unite two great writers of brilliant...

▾Library descriptions

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▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary

Jane Austen as a
Plot device, badly written
Drivel: not worth it.
(passion4reading)