Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Review: "Austenland" by Shannon Hale




If you love “Pride and Prejudice”, watched the BBC version or read the novel and love the story-then most likely you will like this book.  The story focuses around Jane, a single 32 year old woman who has never had the best luck when it came to men and has a secret obsession with Mr. Darcy who she measures every other guy up to.  When her great-aunt sends her on a 3 week vacation to “Austenland” Jane feels that this is her chance to once and for all say good bye to her fantasy and move on in life.  There she gets to live in 1816, dress up in period clothing, participate in period activities, live under the rules of the society at the time and play-act in her very own story and possibly “fall in love.” 

I enjoyed this novel from cover to cover.  It was funny, some-what witty, and shows that actually living life can be more enjoyable than living in a fantasy.  I did not have high expectations for this novel but I was pleasantly surprised.  The writing was great, character development at least on Jane was fantastic.  I liked how Hale kept you guessing on what was real and what was fantasy all the way to the end.  One of the aspects I loved the most was how Hale wrote about the ex-boyfriends.  Instead of trying to fit them into the actual story, she introduced them chronologically at the start of every chapter.  It gave great insight into why Jane acted the way she did, why she even fantasized about Mr. Darcy and it was such a natural way to bring this important part of the background into the story. 

You do not necessarily have to know the story of “Pride and Prejudice” to enjoy this book, but it does help to give more of an understanding of the overall aspects of the story.  Over-all a great little novel, you will not regret picking up. 

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