A few weeks ago a friend of mine recomended that I read Shannon Hale's books. While wandering through the audio books at the Bingham Creek Library last week, I stumbled upon Austenland. I naively took it home and popped the CD into my laptop.
I was quite intrigued by the opening chapter of the book. A "thirty-something woman" from New York has developed a Darcy complex, after a lifetime of loser boyfriends. Whenever she feels lonely she watches Pride and Prejudice and falls in love with Mr. Darcy yet again. She might have lived her entire life this way, spending night after night with her beloved DVD if it had not been for the appearance of her rich aunt. During a visit to Jane's New York apartment, her aunt discovers Jane's addiction. They speak briefly over lunch and then her aunt leaves. A few years later, Jane is notified that her rich aunt died, leaving her a three week trip to a hotel in England. After some deliberation, Jane decides to accept the gift in an effort to expunge herself once and for all of her addiction. Comedy ensues.
I will admit that I had high hopes for the book. The author has obviously read her fair share of Austen books several times. Amusing references pop up all over the place. In the beginning of the book, Hale's tone is hilarious. Then it gets old. Then it gets just plain obnoxious. I felt there were far too many plot twists for the sake of mere plot twitters. She should have just stuck with the Gardner. That seemed to be working out just fine.
I found myself desperately hoping that real women aren't nearly as whimsically lovesick as Miss Jane Erstwhile. If they are, well...I guess I'm in trouble.
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Hmm ... I think Arizona just read this one. She found it amusing, if I recall correctly. You have to remember, never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, and there is no such thing as a sane woman when love is on the line.
Ouch boys! I think guys do their fair share of crazy things when they are head over heals for a girl too...
While I haven't read any of Shannon Hale's books, I must applaud you Jake for picking up the equivalent of a chick flick in a book. However, several people have told me that her young adult fiction is much better than her adult novels, maybe one of those would be more appealing :)
I agree. Love makes you crazy, regardless of your gender. It's been a while however since I've seen or heard of any chick flicks written by or written for guys. Any suggestions?
And yes. I've heard the same thing about Hale's young adult fiction. I have Goose Girl on hold at the library. It should be here any day. I'll let you know what I think.
Read any good books lately?
Kudos for trying more...I have heard good things about Goose Girl and also the Princess Academy. Let me know if it's worth it!
I have had some good reads...I made a post about The Host (too much rhyming) and I'll do one soon about Distraction Point by Dan Brown that I just finished...
There are all sorts of women in this world and some are "as whimsically lovesick as Miss Jane Erstwhile." However, more likely than not, those women are the ones who injest a lot of cookie dough or need to soak their burnt cookies in milk to soften them up.
Oh, Austenland? You read Austenland? WHY? That's a horrible book. I have no idea why people enjoy it. I really don't. If you want to read Shannon Hale read Book of 1000 days or...huh...you know, I'm not really a big fan of Hale. I don't think I'd recommend her to a boy, or anyone over the age of 16 really. Austenland was horrible, in that it was an homage to books that are so far above it, while you're reading it, which I did (unfortunately), you wonder why you're not just reading Persuasion (my favorite) or Northanger Abbey (tied for second with P&P, but I've read it less often).
I read it. It was definitely "fluff fiction" as we refer to it at my house. I didn't hate it while I read it, but I'd give it a solid, "Meh."
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