The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler {Book Review}

I only chose this book because I needed to find one with a book club setting and since I’m quite familiar with the Jane Austen novels, I thought it would be a great pick because I would understand any references within it.

Also, the cover played a slight part in making the decision to read the book too.

DISCLAIMER: This review could contain possible spoilers based on my opinions. All opinions and views are my own.

Book Review: The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler #bookreview ##karenjoyfowler #chicklitbooks #booktwt #bookaddict #booktwitter
Tweet

Challenge prompt: A book about a book club
Originally published: 2004

Pages: 288
Format: Paperback

Plot from GoodReads:

Six people – five women and a man – meet once a month in California’s Central Valley to discuss Jane Austen’s novels. They are ordinary people, neither happy nor unhappy, but each of them is wounded in different ways, they are all mixed up about their lives and relationships. Over the six months they meet, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable – under the guiding eye of Jane Austen a couple of them even fall in love.

Thoughts:

This isn’t a book with a plot to be followed.

Most of the book is spent on telling the backstories of the six characters, each within its own section and reads more like short stories than a novel. There is very little real-time interaction between the characters. I didn’t find the characters unlikable and I also didn’t find one that stood out more than the others.

The bookclub isn’t as focused on the actual club as I thought it would be. The book focuses on the resemblance that each character finds themselves with from Jane Austen’s characters and that’s how the stories are written. While I understand this concept, the real-time could’ve been drawn out more for emphasis.

There are times where nothing really happens and when there is a moment, it’s easy to miss because it’s not drawn out enough.