Sanditon - Le chef-d'oeuvre inachevé de Jane Austen

by Jane Austen, Juliette Shapiro, Nathalie Huet (Translator)

Le chef-d’œuvre inachevé de Jane Austen.

Cette petite ville renferme bien des mystères...

D’abord heureuse de contempler le spectacle tranquille de la plage depuis la vaste fenêtre de sa chambre, Charlotte Heywood ne tarde pas à deviner les nombreux scandales dissimulés sous cet abord serein, tout en se laissant séduire par le charme romantique de la vie au bord de la mer et par ces résidents hauts en couleur. Au fil de ses rencontres, elle va croiser le chemin du vaniteux Edward Dunham, qui ne la laissera pas indifférente. Mais Sanditon est-il réellement le petit paradis annoncé et Charlotte y trouvera-t-elle le bonheur ?

Aujourd’hui achevée par Juliette Shapiro, auteure respectée et spécialiste de Jane Austen, cette nouvelle édition de Sanditon nous offre la fin de cette histoire, dans un style vivant que tous les admirateurs d’Austen reconnaîtront.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Regency, Historical

333 pages, Paperback

Published May 22, 2014

About the author

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are an implicit critique of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her deft use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), were a modest success but brought her little fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies. Her novels have also inspired many films, including 1940's Pride and Prejudice, 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 2016's Love & Friendship.

Reviews

[Mary Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Appalling. I don't mind that someone finished Austen's novel: I find such ventures fun when a talented contemporary author undertakes such a project. Jane Austen's novels are all about fun, and I have seen the fragments of Sanditon and the Watsons completed in interesting fashions by competent authors.

But Ms. Shapiro's completion is deplorable. Shapiro is completely unfaithful to Austen's intentions and redefines characters that Austen had already drawn carefully. And where Austen's characters are revealed by means of their own dialog, Shapiro's characters are constantly having their innermost thoughts explained to us over and over again by Shapiro.

At one horrible point, Shapiro strays woefully from Austen's policy of leaving torrid details out of her stories: Clara Brereton (intended to be a Jane Fairfax type) is found ravished in a field...the supposed victim of one of Austen's handsome comic characters. Not only is this scene impossible in Austen fiction, but neither of these two characters, as Austen created them, would have been caught up in such an event.

In Shapiro's completion, the details of the relationship between the novel's hero and heroine are ripped straight from Pride and Prejudice. And I suspect that this is the only one of Austen's books that Shapiro has read. (Shapiro admits in her strangely worded biography at the end of the book that she has read Pride and Prejudice many times. Charlotte, our lovely heroine, is turned into a cheap imitation of Elizabeth Bennett.)

Shapiro populates her completion with so many characters that were not in Austen's story that the book becomes her own, and a jumbled mess it is. Shapiro even changes the name of one minor character. Austen names a young girl Mary at the beginning of the last chapter of her fragment; Shapiro completes the chapter by renaming the child Alice. Sloppy.

At the end of the book, in what is really the Austenesque last chapter, when hero and heroine are united properly in marriage, Shapiro finds that she must wrap up the destinies of all her other hastily created characters. What ensues is three insane chapters of "surprises", new stories and and contrived outcomes for all stray characters. Awful.

Yes. I own a copy of this book. Please someone take it off my hands!

[Joy D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane Austen began this novel not long before her death and she never had a chance to finish it. I had expected the written version to mimic Jane Austen’s refined prose; however, this proved not to be the case. It is a shame that Austen could not finish this book because the premise is unlike anything she had previously written.

The storyline involves a strong female character, Charlotte Heywood, who meets Mr. & Mrs. Parker due to a carriage accident that occurs near her home at Willingden, Sussex, where she lives with her parents and siblings. She is later invited to the visit and stay with the Parkers. Mr. Parker is an entrepreneur who is transforming a small fishing village into a seaside resort at Sanditon. Charlotte meets the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Parker, and it appears a relationship may develop between the two.

This is where the new material begins. It includes much more contemporary content than anything ever written by Jane Austen. It includes cursing, anachronisms, and much more sexual content than anything in Austen’s chaste romances. I did not care for the new material. I wish there had been some attempt to blend the two styles. Oh well. For me, the first half is great. The second is awful.

[Celestina1210 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alors je dois avouer que j’ai été déçue par ce roman pourquoi? Parce que le Sidney de la série était tellement bien, tellement typiquement le type de personnage masculin qui me fait chavirer mais ici je l’ai trouvé légèrement énervant. Alors j’aime toujours le personnage de Charlotte, j’espère vraiment qu’Amazon England va nous faire la deuxième saison.

[Mela · Rating 4 out of 5]

no one suffers a headache any longer than is necessary

Anne Telscombe had stayed faithful to the wit of the original, and most of all, she didn't "damage" Mr. Parker. I am very glad and happy.

For the rest, it was charming. Finishing Jane Austen's book had to be an almost "sacred" job. Telscombe did it well. The idea for love stories was wonderful - although I would have preferred more meetings, dialogues, etc. The mystery part was nice too. But all was too short. There was material for a longer novel, probably with more action/plot. So although I have enjoyed it more than QNPoohBear, I agree with most of her comments.

[Jimena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historia iniciada por Jane Austen poco antes de su muerte y dejada inconclusa por este fatídico hecho. De lo concebido por la autora puede decirse que difiere un poco de sus otros trabajos pero resulta, tanto como aquellos, intrigante. En qué podría haberse convertido es algo que jamás sabremos incluso si otra escritora intervino para tratar de terminar el relato. Es terriblemente evidente donde una pluma desaparece y toma relevo la otra. Juliette Shapiro no logra emular el estilo, la prosa ni el filoso ingenio de Austen. Sanditon acaba siendo un texto fácilmente olvidable.

[Tammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm in a group that does a monthly challenge. For April the challenge was to read the books I’ve been saving for a rainy day, with the intent being that I find something I love. This was one of those books.

After watching the first season of Sanditon on PBS a couple of years ago I was very disappointed when I found out it was canceled. Now, I knew the TV adaptation wasn't very true to Jane Austen's book, because it was obvious that some of the elements that were added into the story would never have been written by Jane Austen, but nevertheless, I enjoyed the show and wanted it to continue after that terrible, heartbreaking cliffhanger. Imagine my delight when my wish came true and it was rescued and given another season! Then imagine my disappointment when the actor that played Sidney wouldn't come back to finish the story! So I gave up on the TV version. I decided not to watch the second season and instead decided to try this book in hopes that it would give me closure to the story of Charlotte and Sidney.

There was a bit of confusion for me concerning the finished versions of Sanditon. I did not realize that there were multiple versions that were completed. I picked this one up thinking it was the only one, only to find out differently afterwards. There is one other in particular that I want to read that is finished by Anne Telscombe, referred to on some of the covers as "Another Lady" I think it would be fun to compare the two different versions.

As for this version of the work, I feel like this gave me some good closure, and I enjoyed listening to the audio version of it. I do recommend it, but keep in mind that it's not going to be perfect. No finished version of another author's work ever is. I have to say though, that not knowing where the original story left off, I couldn't tell at what point Juliette's part of the story took over.

Review also posted at Writings of a Reader.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sandition is the novel that my beloved Jane Austen was working on just before her health declined for the final time. At her death she had written just eleven chapters or 24,000 words of this novel. And the style has been described as more relaxed and varied than her previous work with a new maturity, rhythmical freedom and a fresh use of language. It is also one in which Austin varied her social setting and takes her story out into an invented seas side village.

In those eleven chapters, Austin creates a setting in which her usual clear eyed and slightly sardonic approach to people and their foibles shines. Of her cast of characters there is much to illustrate peoples idiocies, and we see them through the eyes of Charlotte, a country girl who is going to visit with the Parker family, well known in Sanditon and Mr Parker, passionately involved in it's promotion as a new seaside destination.

It is very, very sad that Austin never completed it, I love the lightness and competence of those first chapters, and while over the years I have read at least three completed versions of the story, I quite strongly believe that Austin could have done it better than them all. Of the three one I loved (and wish I could remember who completed it!), one I loathed and hope never to encounter again. This version didn't excite any strong feeling, it was ok, but I didn't love it. I think there are at least eight in total.

It seemed to me, that while the initial chapters 12 to.... maybe 20? went all right, the characters slowly devolved from interesting, largely believable with slightly exaggerated tendencies which the author is mocking, to caricatures. Certainly, by chapter 28 I was regularly thinking that individuals were too much caricatured to entirely satisfy. Another thing that Austin fan fiction and re-writers are inclined to do is to take phrases of hers from other books and then insert them in the text, this starts to happen increasingly in latter chapters as well. By the end of chapter 28 Juliette Shapiro, Austins post hummus collaborator, has neatly tied up the romance between Charlotte and Sydney Parker. Not sure if such a romance was in fact Austin's intent, but it works well enough. From there on though, things take a turn for the worse. Shapiro seems to feel the need to tie up EVERY SINGLE mention of every single minor plot element, in a way Austin never did. She also disintegrates into an odd mish mash of styles in which we have a 'dear reader' here, a 'looking back in history' there, a deathbed scene and a odd 'happily every after' ending that is just.... odd. By chapter 34 the final chapter, I felt the narrative had entirely lost any focus, any reason for being and entirely failed to satisfy. It was, kind of, drivel to be honest. That it was far from anything Austin would have done I have no doubt, but I also don't understand why anyone else would think that this obsession with butlers and housemaids and soup ladles was useful. I guess that Shapiro just has an entirely different style of writing, much more insubstantial and hilarious than Austin, and that by the end of the book she had run out of ideas.

So, a sad ending, to what might have been a great story. Still not the worst I have read though. My fondness for Austin is great enough that I can concentrate on the richness and beauty of the early chapters, accept the filler story of the later ones and edit out the writing. I hope.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting to see Austen's satirical treatment of hypochondriacs, one of the main flavors of eccentrics in her day, as well as medical grifters and spa towns. Also, there were some hilarious lines from a "gentleman" who had read too many horrid novels and modeled himself after the wicked seducers. But overall, this felt like a rough draft. Too bad Austen didn't live to edit and finish it.

[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't think this was that well done at all. The main romance has no more than a few pages devoted to it, and I just didn't think the writing was that great. I could tell exactly where the switchover took place from Jane Austen to Juliette Shapiro (and verified it later). It introduced additional characters that basically took up the last third of the book and were unnecessary. It wasn't anything special.

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not memorable. It was not bad, just meh!

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pour commencer, un petit rappel rapide de l'histoire de ce livre: Jane Austen en a commencé l'écriture quelques mois avant sa mort mais n'a malheureusement pas eu le temps, ni la force de le terminer. Cela laissa place à de nombreuses spéculations et différents auteurs ont depuis décidé de l'achever, avec plus ou moins de brio.

Nous y rencontrons les Parker, un couple fort sympathique vivant à Sanditon et ayant décidés de faire de leur village, la nouvelle destination à la mode. Et pour lui faire découvrir toutes ses merveilles, ils y inviteront la jeune Charlotte Heywood, notre héroïne.



Je dois dire qu'avant même d'ouvrir cet ouvrage, j'étais déjà mal disposé envers lui, je plaide coupable. Non seulement j'ai adoré la version de Marie Dobbs mais les critiques des lecteurs anglais et américains me laissaient craindre le pire et déplorer, une fois de plus, les choix de Milady.

Pourtant, j'ai essayé de mettre tout cela de côté et de juger de façon impartiale mais les éléments perturbateurs et agaçants n'ont fait que s'enchaîner les uns après les autres et m'énerver d'autant plus.

Le premier, et non des moindres, est qu'il n'est spécifié à aucun endroit quelle est la partie du texte écrite par Jane Austen. C'est déjà pour moi un manque de respect total et une mauvaise entrée en matière mais les choses ne s'arrangent pas vraiment avec la traduction de ce fragment. Passons sur ces petits inconvénients et concentrons nous sur la partie de Juliette Shapiro.

Dès que nous basculons de son côté, il se passe deux choses: au moins trois des personnages principaux changent complètement de caractère et pas cinq pages ont été tournées qu'une jeune fille est retrouvée échevelée dans les fourrées. Seriously????

Du coup, vous êtes en train de vous demander pourquoi j'ai quand même mis 3 sur 5 à ce roman. J'ai beaucoup hésité je dois dire mais comme c'est souvent le cas avec ces austeneries, le livre en lui-même est sympathique et agréable et se lit facilement, ce qui explique cette note. Mais si je devais juger seulement de son rapport à notre auteur adorée, je n'aurais mis qu'1/5. Une fois encore, un auteur prend Jane Austen pour prétexte pour faire vendre ses livres, tout en écrivant quelque chose qui n'a rien à voir avec elle et ça m'agace. Si je comprends les motivations de ces auteurs et autres éditeurs, il faut bien se rendre compte que ceux que l'on prend pour des imbéciles une fois de plus, c'est nous. A vous de voir si vous êtes prêt à passer au-dessus de cela pour lire un livre agréable ou si c'est pour vous rédhibitoire.


http://janeausten.hautetfort.com/arch...

[Wayne]

The first attempt at completing Jane Austen's "Sanditon" which I came across in 1975 was written by Marie Dobbs, an Australian journalist who
moved to Europe.
I bought it and read it.
Things were going smoothly until there came in a certain chapter a certain JARRING of my Literary Sensibilities!!CRASH!!KABOOM!!(Marie was writing, not Jane.)What was my radar system informing me of? Of WHAT?
Two gentlemen were speaking.
To each other.
Alone.
The heroine was nowhere in sight.
Even more damning, nowhere in EARSHOT!!!
OH dearie me, Marie! Jane NEVER did this.
If two gentlemen were talking in Jane's book it would have been as related to the heroine by someone who HAD been present,or the heroine would have overheard it. Weren't D'Arcy's offensive remarks to Bingley
overheard by Elizabeth at the assembly ball?

How will Juliette handle HER section of "Sanditon"?
Will she make of it just another 'Regency Romance'?(Jane's romances always have so MUCH MORE going on.)
Why the Hell is she finishing it in the first place??!!!Weird.

More to come.....

[Ruby Grad · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded down. I am a Jane Austen fan, and I was curious to see how someone would finish her last book. She only wrote a relatively small fragment, up to where Charlotte and Mrs. Parker are visiting Sanditon House, Lady Denham's residence, and had entered the drawing room. I had seen the Masterpiece series (at least season 1 so far), and, although I liked it, it seemed pretty salacious for Jane Austen. This version is more in keeping with Austen's style, but at the other end of the spectrum, seemed very tame. In this version, everything turns out fine and everyone but one character is redeemed. It was enjoyable but ultimately not all that interesting.

[Janet Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the part that Austen wrote, tried to keep an open mind about the part that Shapiro wrote, but found myself skimming and gritting my teeth. I found the completion dull, the heroine self-righteous, and the writing just so-so.

I wanted to love this but I think the completion from the 1970's, by Another Lady, to be much better. It's silly in part, but at least it made me laugh and held my interest.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started out strong and interesting but ended weakly. You could tell where it was no longer Austen's work as the story sagged quite a bit and drifted into the rather ridiculous and far fetched. There was also little depth to the story line - you were presented with facts, but no longer had a fleshed out story so what plot there was was hard to follow and understand.

[Miloš Lazarević]

Drugo, neplanirano čitanje, ali je utisak ostao skoro pa nepromenjen. Ipak, sad mi se nametnuo još jedan ugao iz kog bismo mogli da posmatramo nedovršene rukopise: iz perspektive nedovršenosti kao estetskog kvaliteta. S tim da ovde nema o čemu toliko da se misli…

[Chouquette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je vais être très dure avec ce roman. S’il m’arrive rarement (voire jamais) de déconseiller un roman, je ne peux que dire aux fans de Jane Austen de tout simplement fuir celui-ci tant je me suis ennuyée et n’ai rien retrouvé (ou presque) de ce que j’aime avec cette auteur. On était à la limite de la lecture insipide, et si c’est pour lire un vulgaire copié/collé, je préfère rester sur ma fin et ne connaître que les pages écrites par la plume de Jane Austen.

Qui ne connait pas Sanditon ? Ce roman inachevé de Jane Austen qu’elle a commencé à écrire l’année de sa mort avant de l’abandonner et de mourir quelques mois plus tard… On ne connait de ce roman que les 80 premières pages, que l’on peut retrouver dans une vieille édition de Lady Susan publié chez 10-18 avec Les Watson. Pourtant, cette oeuvre a fait l’objet de nombreuses réécritures dont deux actuellement publié chez nous : celle de Juliette Shapiro chez Milady et celle d’une auteur inconnue publié chez Le Livre de Poche. Difficile de dire quelle version est la meilleure mais, clairement, pour moi ce n’est pas celle-ci.

Ce n’est un secret pour personne, j’adore Jane Austen. J’ai dévoré quasiment toute son oeuvre et Orgueil & Préjugés fait partie de mes romans préférés depuis des années, au point de l’en connaître presque par cœur. Pourtant, avec Sanditon, j’ai eu plusieurs fois l’impression de survoler ma lecture, de ne pas retrouver ce qui fait Jane Austen et son talent, mais pire que tout : de lire un banal (et bancal !) copié/collé d’Orgueil & Préjugés !

Si bien que, par curiosié, je suis allée voir les notes/avis sur Goodreads après ma lecture. Et j’ai pu constater qu’ils sont à peu près aussi mauvais que le mien. Alors je me pose une question : pourquoi l’avoir publié ? Ce roman est fade, insipide, et on est très loin du talent de Jane Austen qui est capable de nous écrire des romances plaisantes, passionnantes et qui critiquent acerbement la société anglaise de l’époque. A mon sens, Juliette Shapiro, en piochant un peu partout dans les romans de Jane Austen pour finir celui-ci, a complètement dénaturé l’oeuvre de l’auteur. Une écriture qui se lit facilement (contrairement à celle de Jane Austen, soyons honnêtes) ne fait pas tout. C’est plat, c’est fade et on s’ennuie. On se demande même parfois si on lit le même roman qu’au début tant il y a trop de personnages, et surtout trop de personnages complètement inutiles qui semblent ne servir qu’à meubler le vide de l’intrigue…

Juliette Shapiro avait toutes les clés en mains pour faire de cette histoire, une bonne histoire. La base de Jane Austen, des idées qui auraient pu être intéressantes, une plume qui n’est pas désagréable à lire et qui est abordable. Mais au lieu de cela, elle nous propose quelque chose qui est un "mélange" des romans de l’auteur original, et son roman devient une belle pagaille dont on vient difficilement à bout si on ne s’accroche pas réellement. Tout au long du roman on se demande si Juliette Shapiro a lu du Jane Austen avant, si elle s’est documentée sur son écriture pour lui rendre hommage tant c’est dénaturé…

Je sais combien une réécriture est compliqué, mais j’ai lu des romans comme ceux d’Amanda Grange ou Pamela Aidan qui étaient tout simplement excellents et qui, loin de dénaturer l’oeuvre, lui rendait hommage. Ici, on a juste l’impression de lire un roman qui aurait été écrit avec l’idée qu’avec le nom de Jane Austen dessus, il serait plus vendu et rapporterait plus d’argent. Je suis amèrement déçue de ma lecture qui a été une très mauvaise expérience. Je ne vois pas souvent rien à sauver dans un roman, mais ici, à part les pages écrites par Jane Austen, tout est à jeter.

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[QNPoohBear · Rating 3 out of 5]

by Juliette Shapiro

The small seaside town of Sandition is without a doctor preventing it from becoming a fashionable resort for invalids and hypochondriacs. Mr. and Mrs. Parker of Sandition head off to Willingdon in search of a doctor to bring to Sandition. Upon arrival, their carriage meets with an accident and Mr. Parker's foot is strained. It seems that his injury was in vain, for the Parkers have come to the wrong place and one without a doctor! However, they are taken in by they Heywoods, a local gentry family and return to Sandition with Charlotte, the eldest Heywood daughter still at home. Mr. Parker sings the praises of the inhabitants of the small town he loves and Charlotte is eager to meet them. Her unbiased eye reveals that Sandition's residents are not as pleasant as they seem. The most prominent resident is Lady Denham, a wealthy, elderly, miserly woman who is quick to judge. She has survived two husbands and the young relatives of those husbands hover around her hoping to be rewarded with her fortune. Also in hopes of some good fortune is Lady Denham's companion, Clara Brereton, a sober minded young lady. Chief among the fortune hunters is Sir Edward Denham who praises Charlotte's beauty and spouts poetry in her ear, giving her a disgust of the flirtatious young man. The Parkers are kindly and well-meaning and soon Charlotte becomes well-acquainted with Mr. Parker's eccentric family of hypochondriacs. Only one among them shares Charlotte's sarcasm and sense of humor at the ridiculousness of the characters who make up the residents of Sanditon. All through the summer flirtations and love affairs happen, misunderstands occur and hearts are broken and before the season is over, Charlotte's life will change in ways she never expected. Austen's story is told with her usual sly, subtle humor and if she had been given the time to fully develop the story, the characters would have been as memorable as Lizzie Bennet, Lady Catherine and Mr. Woodhouse. Shapiro captures Austen's style well enough so that it isn't obvious where she picks up the thread of the narrative. The minor characters are every bit as quirky and funny as Austen imagined them. The story is rather lacking in action though. Most of the events are told by the narrator and things happen without the heroine being an active part of the story. There's almost no romance and certainly not the grand passion of Lizzie and Darcy or the quiet pining of Elinor Dashwood. The story spends too much time on the secondary characters and then the author rushes through the end to wrap up Charlotte's story before tying up lose ends with the other minor characters. I would have stopped at the end of Charlotte' s story. The rest made it took long and I lost interest. There were also too many characters to keep track of. The novel isn't bad, it's hard to live up to Jane Austen's reputation and I think Shapiro does a credible job with the material she had to work with. I would recommend this above the tawdry sequels and adaptations and even some of the other Austen adaptations. I have not yet read any other versions of Sanditon.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been on a quest to read all of Jane Austen’s books. This one was brought to my attention because of the eight part mini series on Masterpiece with Theo James ❤️ Austen had only half finished the book when she died. So, I believe it has been finished by multiple authors. This one was written by Juliette Shapiro, and the more I have read about it, I think that there is a book version more based on the Masterpiece show that is different. I could tell that it wasn’t all written by Austen, or do I just feel that way because I knew? It was by far the most silly of her books, downright goofy at times, but I liked it!

[Lynne-marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

One always hopes that these attempts will be intelligently done, but in this case, the "co-author" rumble up Jane Austen with Jane Eyre and forgot to read her primer on Regency romances. The cross should be amber NOT topaz. Austen never spoke of women as become "animal[s:] from childbearing"; her characters were too solidly middle class to be brought down so violently. She never spoke of her characters as "gushing"; she demonstrated it in their flow of words. Anachronisms abound. The plot line is not straight-forward and Austen-like. I despair to say more.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars 7/10

So, listen.

There's nothing unexpected here: Dashing gentleman has idiosyncratic [read: stupid] behavior that causes intelligent young lady to misunderstand him. He confesses his love. She spurns him, then quickly has misgivings and wishes for a second offer of love. Through a series of confusing situations played out by well-meaning, but bumbling, supporting characters (don't forget the wealthy, over-bearing dowager) the couple comes together. (Sorry. Spoilers.)

Unexpected: the side story involving a soup ladle.

Mostly fun, but never won my heart.

[Sondra Retzlaff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been obsessed with the Masterpiece production of Sanditon, so of course I had to read at least one version of the completed manuscript. No surprise that I enjoyed it immensely and finished it voraciously...or that I'm now going to see how another version or two compares. What an intriguing thing it is to learn how few chapters Ms. Austen had completed before her death and then wonder which of the several versions that have since been completed I might enjoy most...not to mention, which version out of all of them (books and the series) I will like best of all. Only time will tell...

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK but Shapiro's portion read more like an early Jane Austen work (like Catharine or Lady Susan) rather than a great novel. I guess that's because there is only one Jane Austen. Everything was neatly wrapped up in the end but the book overall just made me wish JA had written more.

[Clare Snow · Rating 1 out of 5]

This might have been started by Jane Austen, but it was finished by an incompetent. I might try one of the other versions.

And what's with the cover? The woman has bare feet(!), a modern hat and hair style and she got her dress from who knows where.

[Coline Rose Manier · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vraiment décevant ! On est très loin de la plume de Jane Asuten... l'histoire avait pourtant du potentiel mais je la trouve très mal tournée... Si vous êtes fan de Jane Austen je vous déconseil ce livre.

[Charlotte Vasseur]

DNF. Je m’ennuie et je pense comme certaines dont j’ai lu les commentaires, la série a mis la barre tellement haute qu’il est difficile de faire mieux après.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are some elements in this story that I appreciated (some that show that the author did her research well before writing and that a lot of thought went into how story was built), and some of those elements are really clever, but overall I found the book melodramatic, unbelievable/unrealistic, and hard to get invested in. I ended up skimming a lot.

If you’re looking for an enjoyable completion of Sanditon, I recommend the version called Sanditon: Jane Austen's Last Novel Completed by “Jane Austen and Another Lady.” The Suspicion at Sanditon by Carrie Bebris, though not a completion per se, is also a lot of fun. Bebris takes the original fragment, reconstructs it as the beginning of a mystery (which Mr. and Elizabeth Darcy are in town to solve) and takes it from there.

[Maria Grazia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I made up my mind to read Jane’s fragment of Sanditon (12 chapters) first in the original version I’ve got in my edition of her MINOR WORKS (including also LADY SUSAN and THE WATSONS). Then I went on reading what Sanditon has become in J. Shapiro’s hands and imagination.
You all probably know that Jane was seriously ill when she wrote the opening chapters of Sanditon; she had less than six months to live. It is thus remarkable that the book is so fresh, innovative, and original. In her last completed novel, Persuasion, Austen had depicted how men of merit and small means could rise to affluence and position by means of service in the British navy. Sanditon builds on this theme, depicting the commercial development of a small watering place and the social confusion of its society (one character is a mulatto heiress from the West Indies, Miss Lambe).


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[Jacq Jardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

i didn't know there have been several completions of Sanditon by other writers. i would've picked two so i could compare but this is the only one available at the library. i have to say it was more fun reading elizabeth bennet than charlotte heywood. bennet was more interesting, moer feisty. then again, i should remember that jane austen never finished this book, and probably never even got to revise the first few chapters she wrote. i really, really wonder how Jane Austen might've ended this had she lived to complete it.

[Patrice Doten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is clearly written by two different authors in two different styles. Perhaps only readers intimately familiar with Jane Austen's work would pick up on it, but I assume the vast majority of people who read Sanditon will be Austen fans. I gave it 3 stars because it was an entertaining story and that's probably the rating I'd have given it if it was some other author's book in its entirety. I wanted to only give 2 stars, but I admit I had unrealistic hopes. There is (was), after all, only ONE Jane Austen.