Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
Publisher: Plume, 2008
Genre: Romance
Sub-genre: Alternate history/time travel, chick lit
Rating: 2 pints of blood
I see what they're trying to do with the cover, adding a little bit of a modern twist to the Austen-esque cover, but I'm not sure it's really working out for them. The configuration of the title is more confusing than eye-catching, and the trees in the background just makes the whole thing look really busy. There's just too much going on, like someone got a little too ambitious and didn't know when to stop. Which is... oddly suiting to the book itself, although I'm sure it's not the impression the marketing people were aiming for.
When she went to bed, Courtney Stone was a woman of the 21st century, nursing a broken heart over her philandering fiancé and the best friend who covered for him. When she wakes up, she's surrounded by people in period costumes who insist her name is Jane Mansfield and that what she really needs to get over her illness is a little bloodletting. Convinced her love of Jane Austen's novels is affecting her dreams, Courtney plays along, but after the first few days of continuously waking up in the same time period, she realizes it's not a dream, that she's caught in another's woman's life and time. Not only that, but this time isn't nearly as romantic as she'd once thought; washing her hair once a week and rusty medical equipment aren't exactly the details she thought about dealing with when she delved into the novels she loves so much.
With no memory of the family and friends now surrounding her, Courtney does her best to piece together the life she's expected to live while trying to figure out how to make her way back home. Things get more complicated when she starts remembering things from Jane's life, causing her to wonder who she really is and what's really going on. But at least her modern knowledge will keep her safe from the flirtations of the dashing Mr Edgeworth, who's clearly no better than the cheater she left behind in the twenty-first century. Or is he?
I'm fond of Jane Austen myself, and I was intrigued by the premise, an obsessive reader finding herself in that world. The story starts with a promising beginning, as Courtney wakes up to unfamiliar faces in the world she's dreamed about, only they're insisting she's sick and needs to let the doctor cut on her with his razor for awhile. The situation is well presented, with a comical twist, and I was able to simultaneously laugh at Courtney while sympathising with her.
Unfortunately, this is the best scene in the novel. A lot of the situations and characters Courtney comes across should have been familiar to someone who claims to have read Pride and Prejudice twenty times, but she's apparently either self-absorbed or thick-headed enough to have missed those parts of the stories. She's apparently completely unaware that it's considered a big deal if people knock boots before they get married. In fact, she doesn't seem to pick up the implications of a one-night stand until the end of the book. I'm pretty sure even casual fans, whose impressions of Jane Austen's novels consist entirely of Colin Firth prancing around in ruffly collars picked up that little piece of history, so I'm not entirely sure what Courtney's problem is.
Actually, I take that back. Courtney has a lot of problems, not just one, and they add up to her being an unsympathetic character. She comes to the conclusion early on that she's caught in someone else's life, but she really doesn't care about the effect her actions might have on the person returning to that life, since she'll be back in her modern apartment by then. In fact, it's not until the end of the book that she decides maybe she should consider how her actions affect other people, and she can't exactly claim ignorance when she's been expressly warned about the things she does before she does them. Then she makes the same mistakes over and over. The combination of idiocy and self-absorption Courtney had me banging my head against the wall through most of the book.
The prose is written in first person, present tense, which was an interesting choice, especially considering this is a story that deals with time travel. Since the novel's "hook" is following a modern girl into the past, the first person narrative makes sense, but I'm not convinced the present tense was the natural choice for a story like this one. It felt a little awkward at times, and was unusual enough that it took me awhile to get past the tense.
Rigler has done her research on the time period and on Austen's novels in particular, but her knowledge and premise fall flat when she tries too hard to draw comparisons between modern attitudes and those of Austen's time, creating a very inconsistent set of scenarios, all tied up with a confounding ending.
It's too bad, really. From the title and concept, I really wanted to like the book. I get annoyed when something with potential goes horribly, horribly wrong, and this book had my annoyance levels going through the roof. This is not a book I will be keeping on my shelf.
Genre: Romance
Sub-genre: Alternate history/time travel, chick lit
Rating: 2 pints of blood
I see what they're trying to do with the cover, adding a little bit of a modern twist to the Austen-esque cover, but I'm not sure it's really working out for them. The configuration of the title is more confusing than eye-catching, and the trees in the background just makes the whole thing look really busy. There's just too much going on, like someone got a little too ambitious and didn't know when to stop. Which is... oddly suiting to the book itself, although I'm sure it's not the impression the marketing people were aiming for.
When she went to bed, Courtney Stone was a woman of the 21st century, nursing a broken heart over her philandering fiancé and the best friend who covered for him. When she wakes up, she's surrounded by people in period costumes who insist her name is Jane Mansfield and that what she really needs to get over her illness is a little bloodletting. Convinced her love of Jane Austen's novels is affecting her dreams, Courtney plays along, but after the first few days of continuously waking up in the same time period, she realizes it's not a dream, that she's caught in another's woman's life and time. Not only that, but this time isn't nearly as romantic as she'd once thought; washing her hair once a week and rusty medical equipment aren't exactly the details she thought about dealing with when she delved into the novels she loves so much.
With no memory of the family and friends now surrounding her, Courtney does her best to piece together the life she's expected to live while trying to figure out how to make her way back home. Things get more complicated when she starts remembering things from Jane's life, causing her to wonder who she really is and what's really going on. But at least her modern knowledge will keep her safe from the flirtations of the dashing Mr Edgeworth, who's clearly no better than the cheater she left behind in the twenty-first century. Or is he?
I'm fond of Jane Austen myself, and I was intrigued by the premise, an obsessive reader finding herself in that world. The story starts with a promising beginning, as Courtney wakes up to unfamiliar faces in the world she's dreamed about, only they're insisting she's sick and needs to let the doctor cut on her with his razor for awhile. The situation is well presented, with a comical twist, and I was able to simultaneously laugh at Courtney while sympathising with her.
Unfortunately, this is the best scene in the novel. A lot of the situations and characters Courtney comes across should have been familiar to someone who claims to have read Pride and Prejudice twenty times, but she's apparently either self-absorbed or thick-headed enough to have missed those parts of the stories. She's apparently completely unaware that it's considered a big deal if people knock boots before they get married. In fact, she doesn't seem to pick up the implications of a one-night stand until the end of the book. I'm pretty sure even casual fans, whose impressions of Jane Austen's novels consist entirely of Colin Firth prancing around in ruffly collars picked up that little piece of history, so I'm not entirely sure what Courtney's problem is.
Actually, I take that back. Courtney has a lot of problems, not just one, and they add up to her being an unsympathetic character. She comes to the conclusion early on that she's caught in someone else's life, but she really doesn't care about the effect her actions might have on the person returning to that life, since she'll be back in her modern apartment by then. In fact, it's not until the end of the book that she decides maybe she should consider how her actions affect other people, and she can't exactly claim ignorance when she's been expressly warned about the things she does before she does them. Then she makes the same mistakes over and over. The combination of idiocy and self-absorption Courtney had me banging my head against the wall through most of the book.
The prose is written in first person, present tense, which was an interesting choice, especially considering this is a story that deals with time travel. Since the novel's "hook" is following a modern girl into the past, the first person narrative makes sense, but I'm not convinced the present tense was the natural choice for a story like this one. It felt a little awkward at times, and was unusual enough that it took me awhile to get past the tense.
Rigler has done her research on the time period and on Austen's novels in particular, but her knowledge and premise fall flat when she tries too hard to draw comparisons between modern attitudes and those of Austen's time, creating a very inconsistent set of scenarios, all tied up with a confounding ending.
It's too bad, really. From the title and concept, I really wanted to like the book. I get annoyed when something with potential goes horribly, horribly wrong, and this book had my annoyance levels going through the roof. This is not a book I will be keeping on my shelf.