February 26, 2008

Review: Austenland

Austenland
by Shannon Hale

On the merits of Booklogged's little review I loaded this audio book on the Zune for my listening pleasure. It has been a pleasure to listen to the slightly neurotic thoughts of an Austen obsessed, 30-something young women, not too unlike myself.

Jane Hayes is given the gift of a trip to Pemberley Hall, an Austen reenactment vacation site in England, as a sort of therapy. See Jane is so in love with Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy that no other man can compare. She is now in danger of giving up on men all together. Will Pemberley Hall suck her into her wildest dreams or will she risk the pains of the real world?

I had a lot of fun with Austenland. I loved the wishy-washy character of Jane. The story had a sitcom quality to it that was just right. Where Bridget Jones' Diary was over the top, Austenland was perfectly balanced. I enjoyed the ending and encourage an Austen fans to give it a try. Shannon Hale will go on my list of "authors to read for a little something fun."

5 comments:

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Sounds like a fun book! I really need to watch the BBC Pride and Prejudice version--but its sooooo long. :)

Framed said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed Hale. She is one of my favorites. While I enjoyed Austenland, I absolutely loved her fantasies. I have Book of a Thousand Days on the shelf and plan on getting Rapunzel's Revenge (great title) as soon as it comes out. Hale has a wonderful descriptive ability and a great sense of humor.

Petunia said...

Trish-It is long but you need all that time to do justice to the storyline and develope the right amount of depth. It's worth it.

Framed-If Carl V. does the Once Upon a Time Challenge again I will include a couple of Hale's fantasies in my stack. She's fun.

Booklogged said...

I really liked Austenland, but I love her YA books: Goose Girl, Enna Burning and River Secrets (these 3 are a series) and Princess Academy.

Unknown said...

Seems like I'm repeating what everyone else has said! I really enjoyed Austenland, and I've read most of her YA books which are excellent and very popular.