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    The Jane Austen Book Club
    The Jane Austen Book Club
    The Jane Austen Book Club
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Jane Austen Book Club

    Written by Karen Joy Fowler

    Narrated by Kimberly Schraf

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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 social comedy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherListen & Live Audio
    Release dateJan 1, 2004
    ISBN9781593163068
    The Jane Austen Book Club
    Author

    Karen Joy Fowler

    Well known in the mainstream for her New York Times bestseller, The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler is a well-respected and considerable force in SF and Fantasy as well. She is a two-time winner of the Nebula and World Fantasy awards, and cofounder of the Tiptree Award, given for works dealing with the politics of sex and gender.

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    Reviews for The Jane Austen Book Club

    3/5

    133 ratings97 reviews

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    • 1/5
      I was really excited when this book came out but found it disappointing. For me, the writing was very dry and the plotline was dull.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I saw the movie of this book before I actually read it, and I have to admit that, for once, I liked the movie better. The book was clever but there were a lot of things that went on in the book that were left hanging. Many of the relationships lacked the spark that they had evinced in the movie. I also felt that Jane Austen, though definitely an influence, was not as big a part of the book as it could have been. Sometimes it seemed like Fowler simply added something in on a whim, feeling that she hadn't mentioned Austen in a while. All in all, there were some laughs, but it's nothing more than a quick, coffee table read.
    • 2/5
      The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler... not utterly terrible, but not very good, either, in my opinion. The main thing that stuck out to me, throughout, was that the narrator was weird and the narrative jumped about in the most irritating way. It wasn't just that there were flashbacks -- I don't mind those, deployed correctly -- but there were flashbacks and then there were chapters in the present. And the narrator seemed to be a member of the book club, but an unnamed, invisible one. And for all that she closes it at the end with a neat little Austen quote, I didn't feel much closure. Not much happened with Prudie. Allegra and Corinne don't seem exactly suited. Bernadette has another husband, another happily ever after. Daniel and Sylvia are apparently back together with virtually no fuss. Jocelyn and Grigg, the same.

      I also didn't really buy into the magic of Jane Austen. Or the theme of Jane Austen's books binding everything together. The members of the club didn't all really know each other, or meet up outside of the group, it seemed.

      I did like the way Ursula Le Guin sneaked in there. I'd believe in the magic of her books, any day.

      It wasn't really terribly interesting, really. Women being married, or in the process of divorce, or getting boyfriends. Yawn.
    • 4/5
      I wasn't sure what to expect with a book titled The Jane Austen Book Club, but it wasn't this. That's not to say I didn't like the book, which I found to be clever and inventive. I enjoyed how the sections of the book mirrored themes from the six major novels by Jane Austen, and I always enjoy a good book about how people act and interact with each other. However, there was something I can't quite place that made the book less than great. This is one instance where I actually enjoyed the film more than the book, as I felt the characters really came alive on screen in a way they didn't in the book.
    • 3/5
      The book was alright. I mean i didn't feel compelled to actually complete it but i guess i had to because something left incomplete has to be completed. There actually wasn't that feeling i usually get when i read a good book. All in all it was an okay book.
    • 4/5
      This was a pleasant little read, about 250 pages and fast moving. By now those who are interested probably have already seen the movie, as I have. It being a favorite of my wife and I.Readers typically think that a movie from a book is just never as good as the book was originally. This may be an exception.The movie took what Fowler wanted to do, shows that each of Jane's books ties into the characters in her novel in some way. That there lives in our modern world might be a parallel to characters from the novel.The movie, with the ability to hear more than one voice to craft a structure, does this a great deal better. The book has its wonderful moments, and you can see how the team for the movie did not do anything but enhance the work of Fowler to make the movie a pleasure to watch and rematch. To declare that this inspiration can turn out to be a gem.Fowler though needed more editing to have achieved that goodness that the movie gave us. There were whole pieces of information about the characters that needed to be cut and slashed. While there were insights that were poetical in the development of our reading group.These though, were hampered by great long stretched of Tell not Show. Perhaps Show don't Tell is dying out. It used to be Tell a century and a half ago. But in this work, there was no balance about it, and in this work, the insights into the Austen Canon, along with that of the matching of the characters of the story were not as good as the casting in the movie gave us.It is not a never again, but this is not a read for every year, or every other year. The movie, however is something worth watching each year, and each time more depth by the team is shown.
    • 3/5
      Five women and one man come together to read the complete works of Jane Austen.I initially liked this book very much. I found it very readable, and I appreciated the structure. It's well-paced, and Fowler presents some lovely character studies as she moves through the months, (and the Jane Austen novels), with these individuals. There are some good parallels between the characters' lives and the books they study, too. It was an interesting premise, and Fowler seemed set to make it pay.As the book progressed, though, I felt my interest wane. Each character receives very little attention after her or his chapter is over. There's almost no further growth. The parallels wane somewhat, too, and the Jane Austen discussion fades into the background. I found it rather unsatisfying.In the end, this was a mildly entertaining book, but certainly nothing special. I felt okay about passing along to someone else.
    • 2/5
      I'm really not up to doing full book reviews, replete with literary allusions and knowledgeable analysis. I don't want to go to work every time I read a book. So I am giving myself permission to do book reviewettes: reviews lite.I just finished The Jane Austin Book Club which I liked, but didn't love. There were several times that I laughed out-loud, and several hearty chuckles, but I won't reread it or force my circle of readers to read it. Here's my favorite line from the whole book: She’d recently announced that she was, officially, letting herself go. ‘I just don’t look in the mirror anymore’ she’d told us. ‘I wish I’d thought of it years ago . . .Alas, this line came early in the book and my funny bone spent the rest of the pages wishing for another tickle. The characters and their relationships with one another are indeed well-crafted and enjoyable. There is nothing wrong with the book at all so I ought to have liked it more than I did, but I didn't. When it was over I was pleased that I could move on to the next one. That's not a great sign. If you NEED a book to read, you could do worse, but I wouldn't make a point of reading this one.That being said, if you ever wished for a brief plot synopses of the Austin novels, Karen Joy Fowler provides some very nice ones at the end of her novel. I may keep the book around just for that.
    • 4/5
      This is a simple and very real story of a group of friends that decide to get together to read the complete books of Jane Austen. As we listen to their tales and their thoughts on the books, we fall into their lives. Problems that sound so simple become complex as we see them through the people living them.Readers of any sort will be able to relate to this group of readers. I did find some of what happened to be a bit predictable, but it was in a comfortable sort of way. I've always enjoyed books that about life, and I think this one will be read for years to come.On a side note, I've ordered the movie from NetFlix to see how well they did it.4/5 stars
    • 3/5
      A brilliant marketing idea, but pretty forgettable as an actual book.
    • 3/5
      Significantly different from the movie.But I mostly mean that in a good way.In an effort to distract Sylvia from her impending divorce, Jocelyn decides to start a Jane Austen book club, one Jane Austen book a month for 6 months. The book club is made up of Sylvia, Sylvia's daughter Allegra, Jocelyn, Bernadette, Prudie and Grigg, the lone guy.The book has some odd flashbacks to several incidents during Jocelyn and Sylvia's high school years which serve little purpose. They don't advance the narrative nor do they really seem to shape Jocelyn's future behaviors.As a Jane Austen neophyte, I found the insights into and analysis of the Jane Austen books intriguing and a redeeming feature of the novel.And yet, I must say that this is one of those circumstances where, even having read the novel after seeing the movie, the movie was more enjoyable. Generally, I feel that movies suffer in comparison when seen after having read the book, but in this case, it is the book which suffers in comparison.
    • 4/5
      To my surprise, I admit, this is a good book. Filled with funny insights and lively characters, this really captured the lives of the women - and one man reading Austen. And I liked the Patrick O'Brian references. But, I swear, you can fall in love over a plate of toasted cheese!
    • 3/5
      5 women from their late twenties to their early sixties and one man somewhat in between, ages wise (either too old or too young for any of them), form the Jane Austen Book Club. Each Chapter is dedicated to one of Austen's books and focuses on one of the characters. In the end everyone has settles down to everyone's satisfaction - OMG just like in the Austen books! So clever.I was disappointed in this book. I heard so many good things and the little critique quotes on the book made me anticipate a funny and wise read.The first thing that threw me was the weird use of a collective "we" as the narrator's voice. Either all of the women speak in unison the whole time (Grigg, as the male, wasn't included in the "we" IMO) or there is in fact a seventh memeber of the bookclub. This device so didn't work for me!To me the characters stayed flat throughout, little anecdotes of their younger selfs didn't help to establish a feeling for them today - there's a lot of telling instead of showing going on. I always felt like being led to the point where I would be able to understand the reasons for their reactions and decision in events to come - but when those events finally came around - a Magic-8-Ball made all the decisions for the characters. No kidding. *seethes*Weird shifts of POV made it hard to read at times, again especially in regard to the male character. His chapter mainly consists of Jocelyn's POV and what was up with that? Why include a male if his only reason to be there is to bring in the unworthy science fiction geek factor? Oh, and to be part of the "Emma"-Jocelyn comparison? And to hammer down the point that men won't function w/o women in their lives?(which is why Grigg needs one of his sisters to make everything right for him.)Every other male is perfect in his own faulty husband-y way, by the way. Even the sinner is forgiven.In the end I also felt like there were many plot ends still floating about: like why the hell didn't Allegra, the open lesbian who tells everyone about her sexuality, tell Grigg about it? There is much ado about that in the novel, (so that I believed she was interested in Grigg) but this was obviously only a lead on as the question is never answered.Fan that I am: Buffy the Vampire Slayer referencing, yay!So, on the whole, a light read, and good if one (me!) doesn't start to think too hard about what is being said. Or doesn't over analyze everything, I guess.
    • 3/5
      I liked this novel more than I thought I would, having heard mixed reviews before reading it. It is interesting as a collection of character studies -- the lives and thoughts and types of people who read Austen -- but I have to say that my favorite part was the reproduction of original "criticism" (comments on Austen's work from her family, acquaintances, and scholars through history) in the back of the book. In these days of "trendy" Austen, it was nice to see how that tradition and perspectives on it have evolved. Frankly, though, I still long for those recent but bygone days when you could tell kindred spirits by whether or not they had read Austen. :)
    • 3/5
      I liked this better than I thought I might. The book club meets once for each Austen novel, and the story of each meeting is accompanied by stories about one of the six members of the group (the stories are interrelated). The first one involves a sexual assault, and that part of the story comes really early in the book. It seemed startling, out of place, and gratuitous. After that, though, it got better. I enjoyed the group members' observations on the Austen novels, and I especially liked the Austen Magic 8 Ball that one of the characters made! It did annoy me that one of the characters is named "Prudie" because it seemed completely unrealistic for a modern character.
    • 3/5
      5 women and 1 guy form an “all Jane Austen, all the time” book club and sort out their own (love) lives in the process. A light, fun read, if rather frivolous and predictable. I was a bit thrown off by the use of the first person plural as the narrator, as if it were written by some sort of hive mind amalgamation of all the characters, and the various plot lines could have used more developing. Enjoyable for what it is (summer beach reading), but don’t except it to last you very long. And I personally would not have wanted to read it without having read all (or at least most) of Austen’s works beforehand, due to all the references/plot spoilers.
    • 2/5
      I picked up The Jane Austen Book Club because it seemed like nice, light reading to take up some time before I dove headfirst back into 1100 pages of dense historical whatsit. For that purpose, this book worked well. It is a quick read, you don't have to work at it, and in my case it was so impossible to become invested in the characters that this book didn't create even the slightest ripple in my awareness of literature.But really, to summarize my opinion on this work, I would give it a resounding "meh." Taking the time to support this with references to the book itself sounds time-consuming, and not worth it for a "meh" book. Perhaps if it had been worse, or better...?If I were to review this book with a smiley, I would use :.My favorite part was the appended selection of commentary on Austen, from people she knew and also from critics all the way up to the modern day. It was quite interesting, unlike the rest of this novel.I'm a big fan of Jane Austen, and this is my first attempt at reading a book about Austen. I think I shall avoid such things in the future, as well as those Pride and Prejudice sequels that certain women of my acquaintance seem to like so much. I would much rather just read the real thing again.
    • 3/5
      This book was disappointing. While I usually enjoy Jane-referencing reading, this book rambled on and was drudery to read. The characters were more than a bit plastic and the storyline predictable.
    • 4/5
      I found this really quite compelling and enjoyed it more than I would have expected. Don't tell the members of the Jane Austen book club, but I haven't read Ms. Austen's novels. But they have made me want to. One thing I found interesting was the shifting perspective of the narration. Often, it was the typical third-person limited point of view, with a chapter devoted to each of the six members of the book club, who schedules six meetings to discuss the six Austen novels. But occasionally collective narrator takes over, explaining how "we" the book club felt or thought. At fist, I thought this voice would be Jocelyn's, as she is the one who has put together the book club, but I'm quite it wasn't actually Jocelyn or any other member's voice, as the "we" voice gave thoughts about how it felt about each of the six members. So the "we" voice was never an all-inclusive "we" comprising the perspective of all six members of the club (as the voice was there to describe how "we" felt about one of the members of the club") but it may have reflected the perspective of the five members who weren't being commented on, so that it shifted to exclude a different member each time. In any case, it was an interesting voice. The characters were well drawn out and it was easy to remember who was who -- no one became interchangeable with each other. Each one had an interesting back story that was provided in their respective chapters.And there were a few uniting elements woven in to make this more than six loosely connected short stories, and give an overall cohesion to the story.
    • 2/5
      There are a lot of other books I'd recommend before this one. It wasn't horrid, exactly, but I didn't find it a worthwhile read. I didn't believe any of the characters, and there wasn't much of a story there. However, it's gotten me interested in reading and re-reading some Jane Austen, so the book's got that going for it.
    • 2/5
      I read this book one day while sick and home in bed. It was disappointing, but that's not really the book's fault. I mean, how can you live up to Austen? (Unless you're Helen Fielding.)
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable read where life reflects fiction as we follow the lives of the members of the Jane Austen Book Club. As each title is discussed we see the parallels in the characters' lives as Fowler shows us that the conventions of modern society are not so vastly different as in Austen's world. While not necessary, a re-reading of Austen's titles certainly makes for deeper insights and appreciation of Fowler's craft.
    • 5/5
      Every word is a pure delight. I was sad when I came to the last page because such greatness is hard to come by.
    • 2/5
      I never had the urge to read any Jane Austen books even though one of my closest friends loves her beyond belief. I picked this book up because I recently saw five minutes of the movie and I never watch the movie before reading the book. I was eager to read to start reading so I could watch the movie but half-way through I realized the book wasn't going to get any better. I always finish a book no matter what I think I owe it to the author, characters, and to myself to finish what I start, but it was so hard. I found myself falling asleep while trying to finish it, which never happens if I am really into the book which proves my lack of interest. I will however watch the movie just because of the actors in it (Hugh Dancy, Marc Blucas, Mario Bello, and Emily Blunt) and hopefully it will keep my attention better than this book did. The POV switched so frequently from character to character that it was hard to keep up. There was a lot of backstories that were not exciting or captivating in the lease bit. In the end you have a six time divorcee that loves to talk way to much and makes me want to tune her out, a French teacher in an unhappy marriage, a dog lover that has never loved a man the way she loves her dogs, a lady facing divorce after her husband leaves her, her lesbian daughter (she was my favorite character of the book, unfortunately she didn't get as much time as I would like), and the only man of the group is a sci-fi lover who I think was only there to give a male perspective. They meet to discuss Jane Austen's books (which they do very little discussing, in my opinion) and tell their life stories, bond, and talk about relationships.
    • 3/5
      I had been looking forward to this as a bit of light reading since I heard about it a couple of years ago. I like Jane Austen, I like books about reading, I'm not adverse to a little chick lit, and I wasn't expecting to have my socks knocked off. Which is a good thing, because they weren't. By the end I cared a little bit about the characters, but not much. I guess the first person plural narrator was a nod to Austen's style, but I found it distracting. I kept thinking, "When are we going to find out about the speaker? Where's her chair on the cover?" JABC was the promised chick lit light reading, and provided a few chuckles - I especially liked the book club's interaction with mystery writer Mo Bellington and the unepxpected inspiration it provides him. But given that I found a single, throw-away page the most clever part of the novel, I can't really recommend this ultimately unsatisfying read.
    • 2/5
      Well, this book surely had a really cool idea, but it was kinda boring, and I found myself not caring about any of the characters.
    • 4/5
      A book about readers, book clubs, and fans of Jane Austen. At first, I was at a disadvantage since I haven't read any of Austen's book (fans don't throw anything. I've seen the films and I plan to real all her novels as time allows), but as I started to learn about the members of the club I enjoyed myself more. I really liked Grigg the SF fan who joined the club. He was a blast. You just never know who is going to show up in a book club.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book, although not as much as an actual Jane Austen novel. The different characters maintained my interest, although I felt that the book dragged a bit at times, and I felt that some of the characters were not as developed as others.
    • 1/5
      I found this story trite and was bored with this book. I don't even remember why I didn't like it; maybe it was just a visceral reaction. I wanted to like it. And I will admit it made me want to revisit Austen. But overall not an enjoyable read.
    • 2/5
      Having seen the movie, I picked up the book. It surprised me that the movie shaved off around 5-10 years off of each character. the characters did not have the same appeal in the book nor did the book go into the details that the movie did. The story was flat and even dull at points. Having seen the movie, saved the story for me, but if I were to have read the story first I doubt I would have had any connection to the characters or events.Skip the book and go rent the movie.