Jane Austen Ruined My Life

Now the only friendship I still had, however unexpected, had been upended. I was tired of being adrift. Tired of romance and attraction and all the complications and ruination it entailed. Tired of trying to find some pattern, divine or not, in what had happened, what was happening to me. Most of all, though, I was tired of Jane Austen ruining my life. – p.146

Emma Douglas has just found her husband cheating on her, and she blames Jane Austen’s novels (as well as her parents’ own happy marriage) for leading her to believe that there are always happy endings. Devastated by her personal and professional life, she travels to England in search of Jane Austen’s missing letters, where, coincidentally, she also bumps into her old show more college friend Adam.

I really enjoyed Beth Pattillo’s ‘what-if’s’ concerning Austen’s personal life and letters, particularly her take on which of Austen’s books most closely mirrored the author’s (imagined) life. I was also fascinated by Emma’s treks around Austen’s old haunts and the real personal history of the author. Mixing fact and fiction, this book is a fun and quick read that most Austen fans will appreciate.

2009, 270 pp. show less

Pre-judgements on books are always iffy. Without some kind of pre-judgement, without the weighing of cover art and blurb, opening a book cover would be like opening an unlabeled can: will it be beans, or cherry pie filling, or one of those gag snakes-on-springs things? But so often the data available on the outside of the book sets up the wrong expectations (or gives away too much of a mystery, but that's another rant)...

I thought, based on the cute title and the cover photograph of a swooning woman and not much else, that Jane Austen Ruined My Life was going to be sheerest chick lit. A fluffy, funny, maybe occasionally biting romance novel. (Something can be both fluffy and funny - I have been chewed on by many's the puppy.)

It show more started out that way. It started out fulfilling my expectations as fluff. Here is Emma Grant (speaking of Wrong Cover Blurbs - she's named as Emma Douglas on the back cover, though that may or may not be Edward's name?) on her way to England, leaving the ruins of her life smoking behind her. She discovered her husband om flagrante delicto, and her career as a professor at a prestigious university has been destroyed by a baseless claim of plagiarism. Now, unemployed and financed only by judicious sellings-off, she is flying across the Atlantic on the basis of some mysterious correspondence to get her hands on the letters of Jane Austen - long supposed to have been, at Jane's request, destroyed. With these letters she can "get back at" Jane Austen - Jane, who valued her privacy above all and wanted her letters never to be public; Jane, whose every book ended in a Happily Ever After which Emma has found resembles real life not at all. Jane, whose effect on a girl named Emma was to make her look for and expect her Mr. Knightley. It's all her fault, and exposing her letters to the public will not only be vengeance, but it will also most satisfactorily restore (and launch into the stratosphere) Emma's career. Win-win, with Jane's laundry, hopefully dirty, hung out for all to see.

I knew a little about Jane Austen's life from whichever movie that was that I saw (not that one, the other one), and from general reading, but this did a lovely job of pointing up a few parallels (concrete and apocryphal) between her life and her work. Her situation when her father retired - and then when he died - is very like the Dashwoods' in the same position, except that Jane's brothers were kinder (not much more able to provide, but kinder). There is the fictional parallel between Jack Smith and Harriet Smith, and between Lt. Jack Smith and Captain Frederick Wentworth - how poignant to have Jane rewriting her life as it might have been, and for her sister Cassandra to take the place of Lady Russell. The sisters adored each other in reality, but it's a fascinating idea that Jane's portrayal of Lady Russsell, that scheming pompous bitch, was a way to vent her emotions ... Of course, what I just said is the best argument against any such thing, as the family knew the books as well as Jane did, and Jane would not have written to hurt any of them. The only problem with the parallels drawn in the book is that I was saying "Anne" and "Persuasion" chapters and chapters before Emma - and she should have said it long before me.

A more valid parallel is "Jane Austen fainted when they told her they were moving" from their beloved home to Bath: this reminded me of Anne, when because of her father's insolvency they had to pack up and leave. Anne and Jane were both also at the beck and call of their siblings, though where Anne was cosseting her hypochondriac sister, Jane (and Cassandra) were in demand and happy to oblige assisting their beloved siblings with their large broods.

As I said, it started out as fluff, and in fact I was cynically prepared to take umbrage on Jane's behalf ... Somewhere along the line, though, as Emma made her way through a series of tasks set by the letters' guardian; as she - to her surprise, if no one else's - reconnected with her old best friend, long out of touch, who also happened to be a highly attractive English professor; as she became occupied by something other than her own misery ... Somewhere in there it stopped being fluff and became the story of a woman in pain, starting to recover and remember why she's always loved the things she's loved. Like Jane Austen. I admit it: I welled up at the end, for Jane, and for Emma. And for other reasons. The ending probably was not to a lot of readers' tastes - but I thought it was perfect. This is smart and funny and steeped in Austenism (if not entirely reliable as a reference, I believe), and really very human.

And there were some lovely quotes:

"Have some more tea, dear," Hester said, reaching for the pot and refilling my cup. "I always find that helps."

"I took my time, running my fingers along the spines of books, stopping to pull a title from the shelf and inspect it. A sense of well-being flowed through me as I circled the ground floor. It was better then meditation or a new pair of shoes- or even chocolate. My life was a disaster, buth there were still books. Lots and lots of books. A refuge. A solace. Each one offering the possibility of a new beginning." show less

I'm always interested in trying these books inspired by Austen, but they invariably disappoint--after all I'm expecting them to be as good as Austen and that's a high standard. But this one was particularly bad with very weak characterization and a boring, predictable, and unbelievable plot. At times it seemed like the author was trying to make it a "Da Vinci Code" for Austen lovers what with the secret society and missions to uncover hidden details, but it wasn't even as good as that. I was particularly annoyed at how the author kept referring to the men in Austen's stories as heros, as if they did nothing but save the damsels in distress and sweep the women off their feet--but what makes Austen's characters so good is their complexity show more and real humanity. That seems to have been too much for this author to realize, much less mimic in her own novel. show less

Emma Grant, has sold off most of her possesions, left her lying, cheating husband and run away to London for a Jane Austen truth finding- fact finding mission. She is hoping to uncover some secrets that will shed new light onto the life of Miss Austen, and when she meets up with the mysterious Mrs. Parrot who claims to have 'numerous' unpublished, unedited letters written by Jane Austen, Emma's head start to spin with publishing possibilites. The quest is more than she bargained for, especially when she runs into an old friend who just happens to be staying with her at her cousin's London flat. Will this trip make or break her?

A great quick, easy read Austenites won't want to put down. As someone who feels 'ruined' by Jane Austen, the show more book is a balance of love, intrigue and fun. A must read to add to your list, fast and fun for a trip (great plane read) or a lazy afternoon. show less

A fun book for any Jane Austen lover!

Fresh off an ugly divorce from her cheating husband, who also ruined her career, Emma goes on a pilgrimage to England to find the lost letters of Jane Austen. Emma is an Austen professor, an Austen fanatic, an Austen "junkie", as she sets out on her quest in hopes of restoring her credibility and reputation. What she restores is her faith and hope in all things Jane Austen...and herself.

"It's hard for modern-day people to imagine how lives used to be changed by the receipt of a letter. Today, bad news comes over the phone, in an e-mail, or via a text message. But in Jane Austen's day, important information had to travel by post, and so many historical, life-changing moments still rest upon the pages show more for us to witness."

Jane Austen's life was recorded in her letters, but her sister, Cassandra, is believed to have destroyed Jane's letters before her death, leaving her fans without the knowledge of several years of her life. Thus, much of Austen's life remains a mystery, adding to the magic of her novels. This much is true. We also know from our literary texts that Jane Austen never married - but how could the woman who penned some of the greatest love stories ever told not have found her own true love?

Beth Pattillo takes us on a wonderful journey to help fill in some of the gaps in Austen's personal life with a fictional tale of a secret society known as The Formidables, who swore to secrecy and to protect the lost letters of Jane Austen. She takes us from Austen's humble birthplace, her family's retreat in Bath, several stops in between, and finally to her last home where she spent her final days. This is not the fan-lit that is so popular now, taking Jane Austen's books and retelling them or creating would-be sequels. This is a book all unto its own.

If you loved Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Emma and Sense and Sensibility as I did, you will thoroughly enjoy reading this lovely story of how these novels might have given us some clues into Jane Austen's true love life. Did she find her Mr. Darcy? Her Mr. Knightly?

I will say, if you have not read Austen's classics, you might miss a few key references, like the Cobb from the scene in Persuasion where Louisa Musgrove jumped from the higher level of the Cobb instead of the lower steps, expecting Captain Wentworth to catch her. Even though Pattillo reminds us of the scene, it may not resonate with readers who haven't read the novel and feel a connection to it. Jane Austen's novels move me to laughter and tears, and reading Jane Austen Ruined My Life was pure joy. I read it in one day, I couldn't put it down.

The only thing I would change about this book is the ending, which of course I won't give away. Still, I enjoyed this book so much that I have Beth Pattillo's Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart on my nightstand, and I can't wait to read that one!

If you are a lover of Austen's novels as I am, read this book. It's a wonderful, light, fun story, and one that I had to keep reminding myself was fiction. I so wanted it to be true. show less

We all have our favorite escapist reading. Mine are Chick Lit books based on the novels of Jane Austen. Really, there are more of them out there than you think. So this should have been an easy hit with me. My standards are very low for these books. It is a light romance set in London and the author does know the city and its surroundings. But the plot of the book wasn't based (however loosely) on any of the Austen novels. Instead it had the protagonist being fed letters that revealed that Austen had had a perfect romance of her own. So, there was that heresy. Don't mess with the lives of actual people, especially not such a well known one. An author can imagine around the known facts, but wholesale invention is not nice.

And then there show more was the contrivance. A certain amount of coincidence or a secondary character telling the protagonist something is standard in chick lit. But this had a well organized conspiracy to get the couple together. It required so much work from so many people that there was no sense that the couple in question belonged together. The guy never made a move. The girl whined about her poor love life and loneliness and also never made a move. (And by that, I mean that neither ever indicated to the other that they were interested in more than friendship.) Neither were likeable.

So I didn't love it. show less

Before a proper review begins...I must rant about something that really bothered me about this book. It's a tiny flaw, but it really gets to me.

If one says "I love Jane Austen, I will write a book about her life and novels..." then one should ensure that every tiny detail is correct. At one point in the novel, the main character (Emma) is talking to Adam about a home in a park and they say it possibly inspired the great homes in Austen's novels. Emma then says that the family in Mansfield Park did not appreciate the beauty of homes because they were too self-involved. That's all fine...but she calls the family the Rushworths. "But I can't imagine a family like the Rushworths living in someplace this elegant." Really?! You love Jane show more Austen and her novels, but you say that the main family in Mansfield Park is called Rushworth? Seriously?! You write a book about an academic who has dedicated her life to studying Austen's works and you have her say that the family in Mansfield Park is called Rushworth?! AND NO ONE EVER CAUGHT THIS TO CORRECT IT?! What?! The family that LIVES at Mansfield Park is the BERTRAMS! Rushworth is the doofus that marries Maria Bertram!

Ok...beyond that:

The book is like a lightweight Da Vinci Code for Austen fans. I also find it very difficult to understand how this woman can keep blaming Jane Austen for her sad love life when Austen wrote everyone of her leading male characters with flaws. Darcy his pride (and his prejudice against those with lesser means), Wentworth his inability to forgive Anne, and Knightley his constant need to correct Emma and treat her like a child. Yes...they overcome these flaws, but they exist! And...by the end, I was just over the main characters blindness to what she has right in front of her. Ugh.

Cute story...but it could definitely use some work. show less