We watched the new pride and prejudice movie last night. I can't say I was too rapt by it. Despite lovely settings, some great casting and well done moments, overall it seemed too rushed. It was certainly hard to live up to the BBC mini series production, but even given the time limitations the movie didn't do justice to the spirit of the book. For example, I think Elizabeth came across as quite shallow and thoughtless, and Darcy as weak and insubstantial. The chemistry between the two was good. But I don't think that you'd understand the reasons behind the title, as neither seemed particularly prejudiced or proud. I even think there were some errors in the historical accuracy. I can't remember most of what I noticed now, but one example might be the daughters being called "Miss Bennet" "Miss Bennet" and "Miss Bennet" - I thought if there was more than one daughter present only the eldest was called this?

One viewer's blog called it a fanfic rewrite of the book by Marianne Dashwood, and I can see this being true. But the movie has inspired me to go and read the book again, and a night spent watching pretty English countryside and stately homes can never be too bad.

Tags: austen, books, movies

I've recently finished The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler.  It was a great novel, one that I think will improve with a second read. I love Jane Austen for all of the reasons outlined in the prologue on the above website - she writes funny, romantic stories that are also very clever and perceptive. However, there's a summary of Austen's novels at the end of the book if you haven't read them or can't remember a plot. There's also a fantastic collection of quotes about Austen's work, including some Jane collated herself when she wrote the books. I love what she said about a friend's reaction to Emma - "read only the first and last Chapters, because he had heard it was not interesting"! And I reacted like a true Austen fanatic to the negative comments (hit Jane over the head with her own shin bone indeed! I know what I'd like to do to you Mark Twain!)

I enjoyed the minor sub-plot of one character winning over a self-professed science-fiction hater  - you can certainly see Fowler has encountered the instinctive dislike and condescension of many people to science fiction literature!

A list of possible discussion questions is provided at the end of the book for those who are inspired to start their own book club. I always find that when I'm with other Austen lovers that we can endlessly discuss and defend our favourite Austen, as well as quarrel over the relative merits of the movie adaptions. (For the record Emma is my favourite, not just for the title ;) but because I think it's got the lightest touch and is a great combination of sly wit and a light-hearted story line)

The main problem I had with the book is that I feel it tried to cover too many characters in too short a space, leaving me feel unsatisfied with what happened to some characters. 

Plus I am annoyed that Fowler's other books, some of which sound very interesting, don't seem to have been released in Australia, as they aren't available at Aussie online bookstores or at my library!

Great quote from the The Jane Austen Book Club:

Bernadette was our oldest member, just rounding the bend of sixty-seven. She'd recently announced that she was, officially, letting herself go. "I just don't look in the mirror anymore," she'd told us. "Nothing could be simpler. I wish I'd thought of it years ago.

"Like a vampire," she added, and when she put it that way, we wondered how it was that vampires always managed to look so dapper. It seemed that more of them should look like Bernadette.

Tags: austen, books, fowler