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A review by michellewatson
The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn
3.0
Premise? Outstanding. Fulfillment of the premise? Just so-so. I wanted to like this book. The setup is fascinating, and the beginning build is actually very interesting. But by the time I got to the halfway point in this novel, I was asking, "OK, what is this story about? What's the central idea?" I felt like the narrative wanted to take me somewhere...it just wasn't sure where. By three-fourths through the story, I was ready to stop, but since I'd invested so much time, I decided to finish, and I'm actually glad I did. The ending is quite interesting, if not exactly fulfilling.
*******Spoilers follow********
What I Liked:
I really did like the beginning of the book, how it all unfolded. I like that it starts with Rachel and Liam arriving in 1815, providing flashbacks to how they were chosen for the mission, how they prepared, the basic context of time travel, etc. There were clear goals and parameters for The Jane Austen Project, yet it became clear that things weren't going to go as planned, and I was interested to see what was going to unfold.
The other thing that I really liked was how this book took the parlor room novels that Austen was famous for and took the stakes up a notch (or ten). The minute, mundane details of life (for the gentry) carry a lot of weight in 1815. Will he pay a call today? Have they received our letter? Will we be invited to dinner? For Rachel and Liam, these small details hold much more significance — they matter hugely to the success of their mission. Because they must ingratiate themselves into the Austens' social sphere, anything that has to do with social niceties and customs is a huge deal. Does it matter what Mrs. So-n-so thinks? Uh, yes! Will the seating arrangement at dinner have extreme ramifications? Totally. Can the wording of this letter make or break our success? You bet. You can't give these mini-dramas an eye-roll when slip-ups have the potential to send Rachel and Liam to the gallows — or strand them in the past with no way back to present day.
What I Didn't Like:
I never got a strong sense of character for either Rachel or Liam...or maybe I just didn't like who they were as written. I couldn't connect to them for some reason. I didn't have a great grasp on who they were — their thoughts and actions weren't consistent enough. I think I connected more with their mission than them as people. That's why I couldn't really care about their relationship. They're in love? Yawn. I began to care again after they return to an altered version of the present day, and were left to grapple with everything that they experienced and wrestle the choice to either wipe away those memories or keep them. That's when I was like, OK.
I also felt that the plot was somewhat meandering. It wasn't clear exactly what themes the book was trying to convey. For example, is it about comparing 1815 life with modern life and deciding what's good and what's not? Is it about how humans should or shouldn't meddle with time and history and fix past wrongs? Is it about love and what makes a successful relationship? Is it about what's really important in life vs. what we think is important? The novel touched on all these, but never enough to present a unified theme that strongly weaves throughout the work.
This always happens in Austen retellings...there's a hugely confused sense of morality that's supremely inconsistent with everything Jane Austen stood for. Austen saw the inconsistencies with the way the world was and the way it should be. She was able to brilliantly illustrate these inconsistencies through character and plot, and that's why her work resonates with us. We see all of the ways in which we, as humans, compromise, rationalize, and justify ... and then she holds those up to a greater, better way. Like Dickens, I believe Jane Austen felt that true Christian love had the potential to solve the world's ills, and her work points to Christian love as the ideal for which we should strive. The characters who repent are rewarded. Those who dig in their heels and continue in sin are not. All of the retellings I've ever read just refuse to juxtapose this sinful world with the divine ideal, and therefore they don't touch our souls the way Austen's work did. One small example in this novel: Rachel thinks it's highly immoral to read Jane's private letters without permission, yet she doesn't scruple to sleep with Liam who is engaged to another woman. (I sure wouldn't want to contract some crazy vaccine-resistant STD in 1815, that's for sure. But I digress.)
Anyway, I have to describe this novel as full of promises that just weren't delivered. Oh well.
*******Spoilers follow********
What I Liked:
I really did like the beginning of the book, how it all unfolded. I like that it starts with Rachel and Liam arriving in 1815, providing flashbacks to how they were chosen for the mission, how they prepared, the basic context of time travel, etc. There were clear goals and parameters for The Jane Austen Project, yet it became clear that things weren't going to go as planned, and I was interested to see what was going to unfold.
The other thing that I really liked was how this book took the parlor room novels that Austen was famous for and took the stakes up a notch (or ten). The minute, mundane details of life (for the gentry) carry a lot of weight in 1815. Will he pay a call today? Have they received our letter? Will we be invited to dinner? For Rachel and Liam, these small details hold much more significance — they matter hugely to the success of their mission. Because they must ingratiate themselves into the Austens' social sphere, anything that has to do with social niceties and customs is a huge deal. Does it matter what Mrs. So-n-so thinks? Uh, yes! Will the seating arrangement at dinner have extreme ramifications? Totally. Can the wording of this letter make or break our success? You bet. You can't give these mini-dramas an eye-roll when slip-ups have the potential to send Rachel and Liam to the gallows — or strand them in the past with no way back to present day.
What I Didn't Like:
I never got a strong sense of character for either Rachel or Liam...or maybe I just didn't like who they were as written. I couldn't connect to them for some reason. I didn't have a great grasp on who they were — their thoughts and actions weren't consistent enough. I think I connected more with their mission than them as people. That's why I couldn't really care about their relationship. They're in love? Yawn. I began to care again after they return to an altered version of the present day, and were left to grapple with everything that they experienced and wrestle the choice to either wipe away those memories or keep them. That's when I was like, OK.
I also felt that the plot was somewhat meandering. It wasn't clear exactly what themes the book was trying to convey. For example, is it about comparing 1815 life with modern life and deciding what's good and what's not? Is it about how humans should or shouldn't meddle with time and history and fix past wrongs? Is it about love and what makes a successful relationship? Is it about what's really important in life vs. what we think is important? The novel touched on all these, but never enough to present a unified theme that strongly weaves throughout the work.
This always happens in Austen retellings...there's a hugely confused sense of morality that's supremely inconsistent with everything Jane Austen stood for. Austen saw the inconsistencies with the way the world was and the way it should be. She was able to brilliantly illustrate these inconsistencies through character and plot, and that's why her work resonates with us. We see all of the ways in which we, as humans, compromise, rationalize, and justify ... and then she holds those up to a greater, better way. Like Dickens, I believe Jane Austen felt that true Christian love had the potential to solve the world's ills, and her work points to Christian love as the ideal for which we should strive. The characters who repent are rewarded. Those who dig in their heels and continue in sin are not. All of the retellings I've ever read just refuse to juxtapose this sinful world with the divine ideal, and therefore they don't touch our souls the way Austen's work did. One small example in this novel: Rachel thinks it's highly immoral to read Jane's private letters without permission, yet she doesn't scruple to sleep with Liam who is engaged to another woman. (I sure wouldn't want to contract some crazy vaccine-resistant STD in 1815, that's for sure. But I digress.)
Anyway, I have to describe this novel as full of promises that just weren't delivered. Oh well.