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lisa_buchanan 's review for:
The Jane Austen Society
by Natalie Jenner
Really 2.5 stars. A pleasant read about Austen devotees for Austen devotees. On the flip-side, the characters' rather constant references to Austen, her characters, plot points, and direct quotations feels unrealistic even coming from folks who re-read her work.
With so many characters, it takes its time getting going and then feels a bit rushed later, but I did find myself coming to care what happened with at least some of the characters, so perhaps the slow development is somewhat justified.
The timestamps at the beginning of each chapter are sometimes unnecessary (considering how rarely the location changes) and rarely add anything that couldn't be achieved in the main text, especially considering you've got an omniscient narrator who can simply tell you whatever they care to. Early on, there are a few chapters that jump back and forth in time for reasons that are not clear — it seems unnecessary to the flow of the plot.
With so many characters, it takes its time getting going and then feels a bit rushed later, but I did find myself coming to care what happened with at least some of the characters, so perhaps the slow development is somewhat justified.
The timestamps at the beginning of each chapter are sometimes unnecessary (considering how rarely the location changes) and rarely add anything that couldn't be achieved in the main text, especially considering you've got an omniscient narrator who can simply tell you whatever they care to. Early on, there are a few chapters that jump back and forth in time for reasons that are not clear — it seems unnecessary to the flow of the plot.