Riddle’s Reviews > Jane Austen: Her Life > Status Update

It amazes me that the hearing of the death of a woman, who I have never met or had any chance of meeting, can bring me to tears. I will give this book 3 stars. There is a lot of interesting info on Jane Austen, such as her interest in books and music and some of her life; and the analysis of her books at the end was splendid! But while you'll learn a lot about her, the same can be said about half a dozen others.

I'm a little confused. Up until, say, 30 pages ago, I couldn't have told you who this book is supposed to be about. While there is a good deal about Jane, there's also a good bit about Eliza, Cassandra, both her parents, both her brothers, some relatives, Nelson, a Navy officer if I remember correctly, Frank, etc. While that's nice, I want to know about Jane Austen, not several detailed accounts of those nearest her.

The thought of Jane Austen going out and essentially "people watching," then creating a story about it and giggling with one of her friends is one of the most fascinating and coolest things I have ever read.

Honestly, I'm liking it so far and I'm learning a lot. One thing of note is, with several notable figures I have read about, is the amount of social support they all seem to have. One thing I was taught growing up was doing things by yourself, but from the looks of it Austen, Tolkien, Napolean, and Schwarzenegger, to name a few, had quite a bit of help socially. It took me forever to even get help at my job!