Jane Austen discussion

I am not separating the discussion into spoilers/no spoilers this time, but please mark your comment if you add a true plot spoiler right off the bat. Thanks and enjoy the discussion!

I read this book last year, but I remember being vaguely disappointed with it. Did anyone else feel that it missed the mark?

That's a good overall question, Jeannette. Also, what are readers looking for in a story like this? I read someone referring to it as mystery, but I didn't really see it as that. Was it a "find yourself" book mainly? Did anyone expect it to be more romantic? More about Jane Austen? What was it missing?

We don't judge a book by its cover, but after all it IS the cover and these days a lot of effort is put into these covers. What was the impression given by the cover of this book?

Okay, now I remember what I didn't like about this book. The main character, a Jane Austen scholar, loses her husband, her job, the house -- was she dumb or what? Couldn't she afford a decent lawyer? She should have been suing a lot of people and winning.

Then, she gets the chance to move to England and join a secret Jane Austen society and they throw in a man who wants to marry her as part of the package. Was she dumb or what? (Do I need to elaborate here?)

Instead she moves back in with mom & dad to write her book.
(Okay, I read this before I swore to be more open-minded about plot in JA stories).

This book couldn't decide what it wanted to be. It was a mystery that everyone saw but the heroine. It was the typical love-hate-love romance that failed to deliver in the end. And, she wasn't very empowered, was she?

Not to rant, I hope. The muse just struck me. Happy to hear any or all of my arguments debated. :)

Ok, that was a little rant!! -- but fair enough. ha ha

The only thing I could figure about her legal marital situation that would have made the setup plausible is that after finding what she had found in her own kitchen, Emma just had to walk away for a while -- prior to getting any legal action started. And that is why she didn't have any money, because no property was settled yet. It was kind of like she didn't care -- she was running away on this Austen mission.

I liked that Emma didn't run on back with Adam right away. If she was a real person that would be a pretty smart thing. And that didn't wrap the story up into the usual gift-packaged ending. And knowing she wasn't ready for another relationship was a step toward empowerment anyway.

I just think they left out all the legal details on purpose.

Something did bother me about the way Emma and Adam communicated at the end though. I am not sure how to describe it.

And my last question -- is this chick lit?

Yes, I think this is chick lit.

She should have gotten a nice settlement from her husband and she should have been able to ruin his career. She came across as a bit of a doormat to me.

I did like all of the things she got to do in England, so I don't understand why she didn't want to stay.

Hahaha...like i said in another thread, i haven't read this book. But these comments are cracking me up. Makes me want to read it just to see if she's really that stupid.

Just finished the book and it was interesting enough that I read it straight through. Came away unsatisfied, though, and I think it might be the main character Emma. This woman is a PhD professor, but comes across as just a "fan" of Austen. She's looking for Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightly or whoever and, when that doesn't happen for her, she runs off to England to do a "DaVinci Code" search for lost letters. At some point, she decides that doing an expose on Austen's real life will reinstate her credibility, but that doesn't seem to be her purpose on the front end.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but thought the ending was inconsistent with the message that was being attempted. I believe the message was the fact that Emma was now going to pursue her own dreams and stand on her own feet --- but she moved back in with her parents at age 34 instead of getting a hefty divorce settlement from her husband and suing the university for wrongful termination! A strong woman in today's society would have stood up for herself instead of allowing her Dad to get her a teaching job at a private school.

Inconsistent.

I get the feeling that Pattillo wasn't going to write the kind of book that described the characters divorce and what happened afterward with the lousy husband. She was keeping this on the track of mystery, fairy tale, quest or something. I have to confess that I liked the tone that way and I don't usually like reading about that other stuff. I guess my real-life conversations with people I know usually have all those details! (Sorry to say.)

And really from knowing some of these real life situations they don't always go the route of the big settlements and law suits. It is about half and half of the women I know. And some of them do move back in with their families as part of the process of stabilizing themselves. Degreed women, successful businesswomen, business owners, etc. A lot of them follow different paths after a life crisis.

Anyway, it does puzzle me too, Jeannette, that the story set up this nice setting of London life and didn't keep her there in some capacity. Maybe further books will bring her back? Because that feel of the London setting was also a plus of the book, like you said.

Also, maybe I am into speculating on storylines and maybe the book should have provided the details more substantially. It seems like you JA's commenting here would have liked a more substantial storyline to really tell us more about Emma and what the heck she was thinking and going to do afterward. It would have been a slightly different type of book, but I definitely understand what you are saying and it might have upped the value of this story.

Yes, Sarah, maybe that's why it left me sort of "flat" about the whole thing. It didn't work as a romance, because she didn't get her man. It didn't work as a fairy tale, because she rejected the fairy tale life in England (wouldn't a Jane Austen scholar want to be keeper of her letters?). And, like I said, the mystery was a bit obvious.

Maybe if the book had been set up without her losing her job at the University the way she did, it may have had a better story arc. I know that divorce is devestating, that spouses cheat and that people have to move back home, but she doesn't seem to have taken a stand against it. She must have had some value to someone who could have helped her fight the allegations. She could have tarnished his reputation! (I don't want these kinds of details in a "fluff" story! The author could have given her story a better set up, IMO.)

I am curious now about what the next Pattillo book will be like and how she will shape her main character.

I really like what Sarah has to say about this book. I personally read this book last month. It took me some time to decide whether or not I liked this book.
I decided that I did like the book. I liked following Emma through her little adventure in England and reading about the historical facts that the author put in the book.
Divorce is rated, I think, third as the most stressful life changes anyone can go through. I agree with Sarah that she took a chance to step away from that and go to England. I also decided that Emma, for me, was someone who had low self esteem. From the authors words, I got the impression that her husband put her down a lot throughout their relationship. Her low self esteem contributed to her seeing Barry, which I thought was a mistake.
I think the ending was disappointing because Austen did not end her books in this way. However, after I thought about what Emma was feeling it really made sense to me that she would not take the offer to stay.
I think she was being very true to herself and responsible in rejecting the offer she was given at the end of the book. I think she needed to come to terms with herself as a woman and a person in society. Ultimately, her offer was given in bad timing. By taking another job and moving in with her parents Emma could step back and be able to discover herself and reconnect with her worth. After all, I think, she struggled with being worthy a lot of the time.
As for myself, I would have taken the offer in a heart beat and never looked back. But I am not Emma and I think she made the right decision for her.

This is what I love about these book discussion threads -- I usually gain a new perspective on a book or a character. I agree totally that Emma was written to have very low self-esteem. This explains how easily her ex was able to completely ruin her life (I think Jane Austen was not to blame!). I would hope in any subsequent books. that Emma would learn to recognize her own worth!

The book has some things to think about. I guess it doesn't really present large resolutions to Emma's trials, but I liked that she decided she would go it alone for a while without Adam, The Formidables, the academic world, etc. and just write and reform her thoughts about herself.

I also liked she stood where Austen stood, so to speak, in different scenes --- like standing beside the writing desk and realizing that Austen created a life for herself through her writing, in spite of all the odds against her.

*Spoiler*
I just finished this book tonight and I think like Claire it is going to take me awhile to decide if I really liked this book. There are aspects that I enjoyed such as all the places she went to in her adventures to the letters but the book feels very lite and fluffy to me. None of the characters feel really well rounded and true, especially Emma which really prevented me from feeling that connected to her or caring what happens to her. I like the the whole idea for the book but I think it could have been written better with greater depth. The fact that we did not get a "hollywood" happy ending is also something I really liked. Adam stays in London while Emma returns to the States and who knows what happens. I like that.

I know I'm about a month late, but I have finally read this book!

For me it was the kind of book I enjoyed the ride but I hated the destination. While I do feel that Emma being broke and ruined after a divorce could be a little contrived, it didn't really bother me. I loved the Jane Austen story, and enjoyed how much facts the author used from Jane Austen's life. It was a captivating book and very hard to put down, but the ending felt so weak and I was a little disappointed.

That is well put, Meredith. The feel of the writing, the settings and the story along the way were the most enjoyable parts to me also. Do you think you will put her next book on your to-read list?

Yes, I enjoyed her writing style and premise very much, all she needs is a better ending this time!