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Austenland: A Novel Paperback – May 27, 2008

3.9 out of 5 stars 843 customer reviews
Book 1 of 2 in the Austenland Series

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; Reprint edition (May 27, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9781596912861
  • ISBN-13: 978-1596912861
  • ASIN: 1596912863
  • Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (843 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

By Rebecca Huston on June 24, 2007
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Shh, now. We really don't want to let this one get out, but there's a subculture afoot in the world. And I, alas, am hopelessly mired in its tentacles. Most of us are women, but there are a few men in our ranks, and we have a secret in common, tucked away on our bookshelves and video collections.

We are all hopelessly in love with Mr Darcy. Or rather, the most perfect manifestation of him in the form of Colin Firth.

This slim novel opens with Jane Hayes having a conversation with her elderly aunt, a very wealthy woman at the tag end of her life. Jane is more than a little nervous about this conversation, having been pushed into it by her bullying mother who's hoping for a piece of the old woman's estate. Jane is both fascinated and humiliated by the conversation, but a few months later gets a phone call from a lawyer who informs her that she's been left something by her aunt.

You're not rich, is the first thing that he says. But he does have a bit of a surprise for Jane -- an all-expenses paid holiday at a very private, very discreet resort in England for three weeks. Pembrook Park promises to fulfull the visitor's dreams of entering the world of genteel, simmering romance that the works of Jane Austen. After some qualms, and facing the fact that the trip is indeed, nonrefundable, Jane embarks on her trip. Perhaps now she can finally dispell her unrealistic fantasies of Mr Darcy and get on with her life; the solution is very simple, just immerse herself into the world of Austen until she is heartily sick of it, and disenchanted, and then she'll be free.

It's not that easy, and Jane's already nervous when she arrives at the inn where she's to shed her modern persona and turn into Miss Jane Erstwhile.
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Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Austenland could almost work. This very readable offering from a hitherto trusted author explores vital issues that need resolution in more lives than the fictional Jane's. I anticipated real resolution. Instead, we got to watch Jane set herself up for yet another unreal relationship, only this time, with a man who's given evidence of profound capacity for real commitment. It is almost tragedy.

I'll try to explain without giving too much away. Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy gets the blame for Jane's lengthy history of failed relationships, but the little vignettes about them reveal the real problem -- Jane's overeagerness to fall in love and to idealize her beloved rather than come to really know him and relate to him as a living, breathing, fallible but lovable individual. Prime example is the boyfriend of 5 months that Jane "experiences" without "trading psychological profiles", only to drop him cold when she hears him snort while laughing. That's not a relationship, but a failed fantasy. And yes, she collects creeps, but how could she avoid doing so when she persistently throws herself into a romance without first solidifying a friendship? She doesn't give herself time to discern whether he's a creep or not, or to discover the mixture of quirks and strengths that form the basis for a real, loving relationship.

Austenland is supposed to be therapy for Jane's penchant for fantasy. And it almost is, with a few twists and turns through layers of self-deception. At last, the moment of truth comes, Jane discovers that she's been deceived yet again and walks away. (Good for her)! And reality -- or the potential of a genuine, committed relationship, follows her onto the plane.

She is astounded. She is disbelieving. She says "you don't know me.
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Format: Hardcover
This is an absolutely wonderful book.

Our protagonist Jane is a contemporary young New York City "spinster." While she has a great career, she longs for the Regency era of olde England. She loves the BBC series with Colin Firth (and that woman who played Elizabeth, too).

Then something happens which thrusts Jane into a fictional resort in England, where visitors have to behave exactly like Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. For three weeks, she has to become Elizabeth, pretty much.

The result is great fun and great learning, too. Just like with Jane Austen, it's a funny and insightful trip for all of us. The wit and pacing are quick, and the language carefully crafted for atmosphere.

I enjoyed it, but, regrettably, it made me wish that Austenland really existed. Last year my wife and I enjoyed visiting the hotel on the Vanderbilt estate outside of Asheville, NC, and can understand the escapist appeal offered by experiences of this kind...any private venture capital available??
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Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I wanted to read this book because of the upcoming Keri Russell movie, and comparison's to Bridget Jones's Diary.

I regret this decision.

The only thing in common between this book and Bridget Jones is that both characters like Colin Firth.

The concept is fun and exciting: people go to a Jane Austen-themed estate (resort, or theme park, lacking better terms) and pretend to live in that era, complete with costumes and dialog. Tension arises as characters don't know if other characters are falling in love with them, or if it's just the part they're playing to fall in love.

Austenland is a lot zanier than Bridget Jones. Yes, Bridget is kooky, but to me she's believable (at least in the first book). Austenland's daffy premise leaks over into its characters. The main character, Jane something-or-other is a dizzy idiot who will flip-flop back and forth between one man, another man, or no men, multiple times *on the same page*. In about 190 pages, the character must change her mind at least 600 times.

The main character is the type that is all "woe is me, I'm unlucky in love and giving up men," and we're supposed to sympathize with her. The poor victim in the game of love! However, she's also the type that will break up with a man because he snorts (that's seriously the only reason) and laugh at another man in bed. Yet when something humiliating happens to her, she wants us to feel sorry for her. Not going to happen.

A man says to her, earnestly, in the end: You are irresistible. If he hadn't told me, I wouldn't have realized.

I wish I had realized that this book was about someone obsessed with the movie version, not with the works on Jane Austen. As such, it feels like a movie. It's talky and flashy, but with no substance.
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