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readingoverbreathing's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I will readily admit that I am an Austen purist, often with little patience for much of the modern Jane literature. It's difficult to align your own fierce love for an author and her body of work with someone else's and thus usually disappointing, at least for me. But this book came on a strong recommendation from my best Austen friend and tackled a new, intriguing angle: what actually was in all of those letters of Jane's that her beloved sister Cassandra burned after her death?
We get into some serious Austen lore here, spanning multiple decades and a variety of locations spread across southern England. The writing straddles Austen's sophisticated, cheeky style and something more aligned with light modern fiction, which works better in some instances than it does in most others. The affectational style Hornby took here was somewhat fun, especially at first, but by halfway really started to irritate me a bit.
To be honest, the core 1840 timeline, was honestly quite boring. None of the Kintbury characters had much to them, other than maybe Dinah. Really, the flashbacks were where the drama was, but they were for the most part quite sad. There is just a lot of death in this book. None of it is unexpected, given Cassandra's circumstances from the outset, but I will say that I was not expecting this much sadness to permeate this kind of book.
There was clearly a commendable amount of research that went into all of the Austen family history Hornby explores, which I truly appreciated. However, though I was willing to give this a go, my personal distaste for implanting real historical figures into narrative fiction ultimately won out here. There is just something about it that I can never take seriously, especially in a case like the Austens', where so much has been written about them. I was hoping for a creative, dramatic angle here to really take advantage of the legendary mystery with the letters, but, honestly, there was nothing here that was particularly juicy or revealing. I don't know if Hornby was just too conscious of staying true to reality, but, whatever the case, I could have gotten pretty much all the drama this offered by simply reading a biography, and probably would have enjoyed that more than a lot of the cringing I experienced here.
Did I still have some fun? Yes, I would say so. But ultimately, this is just not the kind of Austen indulging I am interested in doing.
We get into some serious Austen lore here, spanning multiple decades and a variety of locations spread across southern England. The writing straddles Austen's sophisticated, cheeky style and something more aligned with light modern fiction, which works better in some instances than it does in most others. The affectational style Hornby took here was somewhat fun, especially at first, but by halfway really started to irritate me a bit.
To be honest, the core 1840 timeline, was honestly quite boring. None of the Kintbury characters had much to them, other than maybe Dinah. Really, the flashbacks were where the drama was, but they were for the most part quite sad. There is just a lot of death in this book. None of it is unexpected, given Cassandra's circumstances from the outset, but I will say that I was not expecting this much sadness to permeate this kind of book.
There was clearly a commendable amount of research that went into all of the Austen family history Hornby explores, which I truly appreciated. However, though I was willing to give this a go, my personal distaste for implanting real historical figures into narrative fiction ultimately won out here. There is just something about it that I can never take seriously, especially in a case like the Austens', where so much has been written about them. I was hoping for a creative, dramatic angle here to really take advantage of the legendary mystery with the letters, but, honestly, there was nothing here that was particularly juicy or revealing. I don't know if Hornby was just too conscious of staying true to reality, but, whatever the case, I could have gotten pretty much all the drama this offered by simply reading a biography, and probably would have enjoyed that more than a lot of the cringing I experienced here.
Did I still have some fun? Yes, I would say so. But ultimately, this is just not the kind of Austen indulging I am interested in doing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death, and Death of parent
mariamsaidwhat's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
amythebookworm's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.75
I was really excited to read this book because I absolutely love Jane Austen and it also looked like a genuinely entertaining and enjoyable read. However, I was slightly let down.
I really liked/liked the:
I really liked/liked the:
- period/historical style
- the descriptive style of writing
- telling the story with letters and flashbacks
I think whether or not you like the book totally depends on what you like to read. If you like something with an interesting plot, and I guess, an obvious point to it; this isn’t for you. If your just looking for something to cosy up with on a rainy day and want to know more about Jane Austen and her family, it is.
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Content Warnings
Minor: Grief, Violence, and War
booksjessreads's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I really wanted to enjoy this book but honestly I did feel a little let down by it. I felt like the characters were honestly so flat, and I felt like the only redeeming quality that this book had was the way in which Hornby portrayed Jane Austen herself. In my mind, Hornby captured the way I imagine her to have been - jovial and outspoken with a strong personality and dry humour. Her character clearly took time to craft, but I felt like this was then at the detriment of other characters and an actually strong plot line.
The constant flicking back and forth with the characters was hard to get used to at first, particularly since it was a slow-paced novel, but I did persevere. I just wish there had been some more substance to the plot line and the characters. I was also shocked to also see that there was a scene in which furniture had been compared to "slaves in a slave market", as well as continual use of the word "queer". There is absolutely no need to compare furniture to enslaved people and this casual racism should have been picked up by editors and publishers, and should not have even been used in the very first place by the author. In regards to the term "queer", this is also completely uncalled for. I appreciate that hundreds of years ago, it was used to mean something different, but in a historical fiction novel written in 2020, there are lots of other words you can use to say 'weird' or 'unusual' whilst still using language that sounds as though it fits that specific time period.
To put it in one sentence, the only redeeming quality of this book was the way the author portrayed Jane Austen's character. However, if we are being completely honest, you can completely gauge that just by reading her work instead, rather than wasting your time reading this.
The constant flicking back and forth with the characters was hard to get used to at first, particularly since it was a slow-paced novel, but I did persevere. I just wish there had been some more substance to the plot line and the characters. I was also shocked to also see that there was a scene in which furniture had been compared to "slaves in a slave market", as well as continual use of the word "queer". There is absolutely no need to compare furniture to enslaved people and this casual racism should have been picked up by editors and publishers, and should not have even been used in the very first place by the author. In regards to the term "queer", this is also completely uncalled for. I appreciate that hundreds of years ago, it was used to mean something different, but in a historical fiction novel written in 2020, there are lots of other words you can use to say 'weird' or 'unusual' whilst still using language that sounds as though it fits that specific time period.
To put it in one sentence, the only redeeming quality of this book was the way the author portrayed Jane Austen's character. However, if we are being completely honest, you can completely gauge that just by reading her work instead, rather than wasting your time reading this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Death and War
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