Most Helpful Customer Reviews
65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deep Learning and Clear Explanations, August 30, 2006
This review is from: Jane Austen For Dummies (Paperback)
I hate the name of this series, but this volume by Joan Klingel Ray, president of the Jane Austen Society of North America is a terrific, clear, concise, and inviting set of explanations for all of those questions that newer readers of Austen have about her world: Why doesn't Elizabeth Bennet just get a job? Why will Mrs. Bennet have to leave Longbourn if Mr. Bennet dies? How rich IS Darcy?
Plus, because Ray's learning is so deep, the chapter on manners, for instance, is framed not by vague ideas of "well, we all want to behave nicely, don't we?" but by Castiglione and the translations of it into Latin and English. This kind of learning is in evidence in every chapter.
I've been reading Austen since I was 13--more than 35 years--and I find new information in this volume. Plus, it's fun to read sections and see just how much I already knew.
For instance, do you know how to navigate via the Tube and trains to the Austen sites in the countryside? I didn't. Dr. Ray tells all.
I do love a clear explanation!
Pamela Regis, Professor of English
McDaniel College
Westminster, MD
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Think You Know Jane Austen?, May 19, 2007
This review is from: Jane Austen For Dummies (Paperback)
You may be surprised to learn how much you don't know about Jane Austen.
Glance over the Table of Contents of Jane Austen for Dummies and you
can't help but envy Professor Joan Klingel Ray's students. She manages to
present in an informative and very entertaining manner Jane Austen's
life, works, literary predecessors, legacy, and so much more. This book
is for everyone who reads Jane Austen - and for those who don't. Think
Jane Austen is only for ladies who sip tea? Think Jane Austen favored the
aristocracy? Think Jane Austen lived a sad, lonely life and never
traveled? Read this book and discover the truth of the matter. You can
buy countless books about Jane Austen and spend the next decade or so
reading them, or you can get just this one.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book and not just for "Janites", September 6, 2006
This review is from: Jane Austen For Dummies (Paperback)
I found this book to be really a great read. It is a good, solid, reference book. There is so much about Jane Austen that is known but this is one place where you can get a lot of information in one place. For non-Janites it is a great introduction to some of the things about Jane. All in all I would recommend this to everyone Janites and non-Janites. You will enjoy it.
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