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Critically acclaimed and award-winning — but hardly bestselling — author Georgina Jackson can’t get past the first chapter of her second book. When she receives an urgent email from her agent, Georgina is certain it’s bad news. Shockingly, she’s offered a commission to complete a newly discovered unfinished manuscript by a major nineteenth-century author. Skeptical at first about her ability to complete the manuscript, Georgina is horrified to learn that the author in question is Jane Austen.
Torn between pushing through or fleeing home to America, Georgina relies on the support of her banker-turned-science-student roommate, Henry, and his quirky teenage sister, Maud — a serious Janeite. With a sudden financial crisis looming, the only way Georgina can get by is to sign the hugely lucrative contract and finish the book.
When author Georgina Jackson, stalled after one chapter into her second book, is offered a lucrative opportunity by her agent to finish an incomplete Jane Austen manuscript, she has to face up to the fact that she has never read any Jane Austen. But she needs to have a job to stay in England and she needs money to pay her rent, so she buckles down to learn about one of England's most famous authors and, in the process, learns about herself. A surrounding cast of charming characters (Henry, her landlord; his teenage sister, Maud; and Henry's Polish housekeeper, Anna), all thunderstruck that Georgina has never read Austen, are eager to help her get the job done. Despite her best attempts to procrastinate, Georgina ends up with a real appreciation for Austen and a remarkable novel to call her own. Aston writes with appreciation and respect for Austen and great affection for her own characters. Austen derivatives have become their own genre, but Aston is doing something different. She's written a witty page-turning love letter to Austen's work. (Apr.)
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Stephen Kanzee
reviewed Writing Jane Austen on January 07, 2011
Writing Jane Austen
This book is just not right. The pacing and plot development are terrible.
We learn pretty much right away that Georgina's supposed to finish a Jane Austen book. She says nononono, even literally running away like a child, until page 140!! Then suddenly she agrees to it. She then spends the next hundred pages NOT writing, whining about how stupid Jane Austen is (and lying about not having read any of it), having writer's block, and panicking. Also having visions of people from that time period--why is the author slapping the reader upside the head with this while the character remains completely oblivious and really rather unsympathetic?
Then, all of a sudden, in one line, "something clicked" and she was ready. What? What kind of character development is that? You don't move a plot forward by just suddenly saying there it is. It has to come from somewhere! Oh, and it's not from those visions, which clearly present interesting story bits.
But she starts writing, she's in a groove, la di da. She hurts herself from typing too much, okay sure. Then she falls in love with someone out of the damn blue (Author, please. It's not hard to drop hints, do some lingering gazing, have unsettling questioning thoughts--just sprinkle it in there). She writes a big chunk of the book, but oh no, it doesn't work.
(This should be the halfway point of the book, not 2/3 or 3/4 to the end.)
From who knows where, she gets a new story. She writes a whole damn book in about a page and a half. But oh no, something else is wrong! Don't worry, everything is resolved in another page and a half, tied up with a cliche little bow.
Seriously??
The main character doesn't grow as a person. She doesn't seem to learn anything about herself or the world. At least she randomly falls in love one day.
The other characters, Henry, Anna and especially Maud, are more thoughtful, interesting and developed characters.
I think there's some fascinating potential in this storyline, and I don't understand why an editor didn't rip it apart and put it together again in a more pleasing way. Especially what with all the talk of Austen's brilliance--the lack in this book stands out even more.
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