The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

I really didn't think I'd be setting down to write another review so soon. Yesterday, my apartment was unblessedly hot and it was the perfect excuse to be lazy. Nothing is nicer than spending an afternoon with a book and only pausing to make passion fruit snow cones to help keep cool. I also paused here and there to do a few chores but only enough to keep myself from feeling too guilty over my idleness.

Anyway, yesterday's book was The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. Now this isn't exactly something I'd pick out for myself to read normally. But it was the next selection for my work book club and we needed something lighter after The Kite Runner (extremely excellent book that should be required reading for anyone who can read.) The Jane Austen Book Club is about a group of women and one guy who get together to discuss…. wait for it… wait for it… can you guess?... the books by Jane Austen. (Yeah, the heat is getting to my so-called sense of humour.) Anywho, the book is broken up in six chapters and each chapter focuses on the character who is the one hosting that month's meeting. We get to learn about that person's past, their present and what problems are currently vexing them at the moment with a general sense of Austen sprinkled in the air.

I like Jane Austen even though I can only claim to have read one of her books (Pride and Prejudice) but I've seen the movies which is a help when reading this book. Otherwise, I would have hated it. We don't get to feel like we really get to know the members of the book club. We don't get to understand why they make the decisions they do. But it does raise some interesting questions about marriage and some of the reasons why people marry or not. For me, the greatest literary mystery is why Charlotte marries Mr. Collins in P&P. Here, a theory is given that perhaps Charlotte was gay and therefore didn't want to hold out for something better. As theories go, it isn't too bad and so far the best explanation as to why she would enter a marriage with the man that never ceases to grate on my nerves.

I didn't hate it. I found it a little too predictable and to be honest, I enjoyed Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants more as an entertaining summer read. But if you love Jane Austen, you should give it a try and let me know how you felt about it. I just ended up feeling a little blah. (So blah that I can't even muster much snark for this review.) Enjoyed it while I was reading it but once it gets placed on the bookshelf, I doubt I'll think about it much after that. Which is annoying, I'll have to reread before my book club meets to come up with some insightful remarks.