Karen Joy Fowler The Jane Austen Book Club

The Jane Austen Book Club

Karen Joy Fowler

Plume, Aug 29 2007, $14.00

ISBN: 9780452289000

Six people with a "private Austen" philosophy decide to form the "all-Jane-Austen-all-the-time book club". Jocelyn's private Jane is love without marriage; Bernadette felt Austen was a comedic genius; Sylvia's private though is she is everyone's favorite single female relative; Grigg the lone male member seeks the masculinity of Jane; Allegra's Austen wants financial female independence; Prudie desires solace in reinterpretation and early death.

Over the months this sextet discussed Austenian views on the requirements by society to marry whether love entered the relationship or not and other societal demands on individuals to conform. However, these discussions serve as back drop to the emotional uproars in each of their lives. Jocelyn has never tasted love and fears she never will; Prudie desires untouchable males, but wants never to have a fantasy thought about her spouse; Bernadette in her sixties figures she can do anything so no longer uses a mirror to look perfect; Sylvia is heartbroken as she loves her spouse even as they divorce; Allegra and her girlfriend split; Grigg understands first hand unrequited love.

This well written complex character study is not an easy book to read as the story line focuses on the modern issues of six people rotating perspective. There is a somewhat nebulous link to Jane Austen via the "private" Austen inside of each of the sextet's psyche, but that is secondary to the issues each confronts. Fans of contemporary character driven fiction will enjoy this fine tale once the nuance of the methodology employed by Karen Joy Fowler is grasped; this reviewer came close initially to quit reading, but fortunately (for my sake) continued into the second pass and became hooked.

Harriet Klausner