Summary: Jane is unhappy. Despite her career in advertising, a great apartment and a fabulous best friend, she has a problem. She is obsessed with Mr. Darcy. You know, the Colin Firth Mr. Darcy. And yes, I know we're ALL obsessed with Mr. Darcy, but Jane just can't quite seem to find a real guy to live up to her ideal. When Jane's wealthy aunt passes away and bequeaths her a trip to an Austen-themed vacation resort, Jane decides to use this immersion experience to cure herself once and for all. Hilarity ensues. Is her trip to the land of petticoats and top hats going to help Jane or just make everything worse? It turns out that Mr. Darcy is even more irresistable when he's up close and personal.
My thoughts: I loved this book. It's a stellar tribute to all of us who enjoy Pride and Prejudice more than is healthy, and who wish our significant others would put up with a Colin Firth poster on the wall.
I snickered through the whole book. Jane's attempts to live in an accurate period recreation are funny in and of themselves, but Hale has also given Jane some great characters to spend time with. There are actors who work in the resort, playing the romantic interest and extra characters. You can have a great time playing "spot the Austen archetype." And there are the other guests. Miss Charming, a 50-something woman spending her vacation pretending to be 20, gives you an idea what to expect.
This is definately not a deeply introspective read, but beyond the romance and fun of this book, it was interesting seeing Jane come to terms with herself. Jane's romantic history is chronicled in the form of short summaries at the beginning of each chapter and they are very funny. At the time same time, you realize that Jane has given up a lot of who she is over the years and maybe that's more her problem than the Darcy obsession.
Final word: I rate this book four sideburned bachelors out of five! Escapist reading at it's best. This is a great book for anyone who loves book characters more than real characters (at least some of the time).
Website for Shannon Hale. Be sure to check it out for the story of how this novel came to be and some alternate endings.
Click the book cover image to purchase from Amazon.
2 comments:
Great review - I've been meaning to read this. It sounds like something I'd definitely enjoy.
RYC: I recently saw the movie (The City of Ember) and my sister-in-law says I bet there's a book on it. I wasn't sure so the next day she buy the first 3 books. She read them and is now lending them to me. I, of course, loved them. I read The City of Ember on Monday and The People of Sparks on Tuesday (I should have review up by Friday). I'm still waiting on the 3rd and 4th books. I can't wait.
This reminds me of a British miniseries I saw recently called "Lost in Austen."
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