Yesterday, flipping channels while working out, I happened upon the movie, The Jane Austen Book Club, and of course had to watch:)
Jane Austen first worked her magic on me in college, though, like so may of the relationships Austen portrays in her novels, mine with Pride and Prejudice was a reluctant one at first. After all, I had hundreds of pages to read for my Psych 101 class and this novel where nothing much seemed to be happening was really mucking up my schedule...until the afternoon I curled up on one of the filthy dorm couches to muscle my way through Lizzie's stay at Charlotte Collins' house when Darcy burst through the sitting room door to unexpectedly and reluctantly propose, only to have Lizzie...REFUSE him?! I was IN from that moment on, alternating between wishing the worst upon the haughty Mr. Darcy and rooting for him to win Lizzie over. Like Lizzie's attitude toward Mr. Darcy, mine toward Pride and Prejudice did a complete 180-degree turn...
...which is exactly what happens to some of the quirky characters in The Jane Austen Book Club, which I read a decade or so after my first encounter with Jane Austen and just watched yesterday. Watching the movie adaptation of the book, I was struck by the myriad of ways Karen Joy Fowler's characters identified with Jane Austen's. Both authors have found a way to show both humor and sadness in seemingly mundane human experience. In their stories we recognize bits of ourselves and the people who populate our lives and so are able to think about how our own lives are progressing and puzzle out the meaning of it all.
There are those who may think that Austen is outdated and irrelevant and not for them, and to these poor souls, I say, just give her a try. Fowler's character, Grigg, did this and it worked out well for him. Even my husband, who meets my occasional spouts of love for Jane Austen's works with a sigh and a good-natured half-eye-roll and who unfortunately (he thought at first) found himself also working out in the basement when I discovered the movie, found himself chuckling at parts and putting off his shower so that he could see how it ended (happily, of course).
Newly added to my "to-read" list: my final Jane Austen novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion
Newly added to my "to-watch" list: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Enjoy, and READ ON!
Vicki- I think your blog would truly "hook" any reluctant readers to at least giving Jane Austen a try. Your writing voice makes me smile….and I love how you tied the movie into the book. This, too, would make students go, "Oh, I can watch a movie of it?" And I can just picture your husband chuckling. Your words kept me smiling throughout the entire time I read your blog entry. So…I expect to see a blog entry on Persuasion someday - perhaps after your DLIT homework is done. Happy Austen reading!
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