The Jane Austen Book Club - Discussion Primer

Welcome to the first discussion of the Ravenous Readers Online Book Club. It seems fitting that we would begin with a book about a book club*. So, I assume that you all have read the book. I will be giving away the ending, so:

WARNING: If you haven’t read/finished The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler – and you want to do so without knowing the ending – do not read any further!

(This has been a public service announcement to all of you on the internets who might accidentally come across this page before you read the book. It has been brought to you by the goodness in my heart. On with the discussion!)

So, let me sum this puppy up. Our cast of characters:

Jocelyn – Founder of the club. Childhood friend of Sylvia. Single. Matchmaker.
Bernadette – Crazy old lady.
Sylvia – Separated from husband (Daniel, who was originally Jocelyn’s boyfriend). Mother of Allegra.
Allegra – Lesbian. Single but pining for her crummy girlfriend. Club’s “Devil’s Advocate.”
Prudie – A young-married. Occasionally question’s her decision to marry her husband.
Grigg – Token Male. Only new-comer to Austen.

I intentionally left out that Jocelyn is a dog breeder. In the beginning I thought it would be important to the story, but I don’t think it was.

Jocelyn (isn’t that a great name?) forms the club as support for Sylvia whose husband has left her. Grigg is invited into the club because Jocelyn sees him for Sylvia. This might have even been the reason to form the club, as it would have been impossible for Jocelyn to convince Sylvia to go on a date with Grigg. I digress; this is merely my speculation.

Well, the club is formed and, well, nothing much really happens. We get a chance to learn about the characters - though just as a character gets really interesting the author moves on to someone else - and appreciate that each “has a private Austen” that colors their interpretation of the book that the group is reading. This seemed, to me, very much an exercise in character development. I felt an understanding for each character, but other than Sylvia getting back together with Daniel and Jocelyn and Grigg hooking up, not much happened. Yes, Prudie’s mother died, but that didn’t add much to the story other than making Prudie absent for a time. Allegra got back together with Corrine at the very end, but you can tell that’s not going to work out (and honestly, I wouldn’t want it to).

So, that’s it in a nutshell. I know it kind of sounds like I hated this book. I didn’t hate it; I just didn’t love it like I thought I might. Is this perhaps because I’ve not read Austen? I didn’t feel a real kinship with the characters that I really think you are supposed to if you are an Austen fan. It also doesn’t make me want to run out and read Austen.

One observation that I would like to make before getting into the actual discussion of the book: it seems that after reading the synopsis of Austen’s books that each of the main character’s in the JABC corresponds with a beloved Austen character. Austen lovers: did you find this to be true (If this was an obtuse observation, please excuse my lack of knowledge!)? My list of corresponding characters went like this:

Jocelyn = Emma
Grigg = Knightly
Allegra = Marianne
Sylvia = Elinor
Daniel = was he John, Edward, or a combination?
Prudie = Fanny
Bernadette = Catherine (perhaps?)

Also, the whole Jocelyn/Daniel/Sylvia/Tony swap seems reminiscent of the love issues in Mansfield Park. I’m sure I missed lots of other references. Please feel free to point them out.

One other thing: Who the hell was narrating this book? I really have no idea as it doesn’t seem to be any of the characters, but much of the novel was written in first person so I was a little – okay, a lot - confused.

Please share some initial comments about the book before I post any questions!

* There is a great book about a book club called Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons by Lorna Landvik that is totally worth a read.

Is anyone getting excited?

You should be! This is gonna be fun!

I finished the book over the weekend and did the first draft of the discussion primer today. "First draft" implies that it's going to be polished and intelligent. I'm more working towards coherent. I think I can pull that off.

So my plan is that I'm going to post the primer and the first discussion question in one post. Then a day or so later, I'll post another couple questions (or three - I wrote lots of questions but I will try not to hog all the question posts) each in their own post. Then comments can be made for each question and hopefully that will allow us to follow a somewhat logical discussion for each question. I will then open up the floor for everyone to be able to jump in and post their own questions/thoughts in posts to be commented on frequently by the rest of us.

Sound like a plan?

Someone has a birthday...

Happy Happy Joy Joy to our own lovely RustyJoy. She's just lucky that I'm not including how many candles are on that cake (not that I'm one to talk as I'm the older one...)!

Brought to you by the letter “X”

ET – this one’s for you. My work week has been viciously busy, so wham! – I got 2 minutes of quiet this afternoon and found myself chomping at the bit to do something. At which point the dictionary in my bookcase caught my eye. We flirted from across the room for a few minutes while I pondered disturbing the cat who had taken residence in my lap (Fat Cat does NOT like to be disturbed; I have the scars to prove it). Well, my leg was falling asleep anyway (hey, she's 18 pounds), so I finally braved the wrath of the claws and flipped through the entire 7 (yes, SEVEN) pages of the dictionary that contain our old friends X, Y and Z.

First of all in the “X” section, there about 20 words to choose from. And that includes “x-mas”, “x-axis” and “x-chromosome”. Is it just me, or does that seem like cheating?

Second – after this discovery I’d like to trade in my XYZ encyclopedia for something different. If I’m going to be stuck on a deserted island with a 7 page book I am going to get bored fast.

Anyway, I’ve picked out my favorite (lack of options here): Xerophilous. Actually, I really just like the way it’s pronounced. Zir-rof-o-lus. Kind of sounds like “metropolis.” It means: Flourishing in or able to withstand a dry hot environment.

So I DON’T have a black thumb…I just don’t buy xerophilous plants.

Hmm, I have the sudden urge to watch Sesame Street.

How’s the reading coming?

From Jenni

"Help! How do you post an original thought, not a comment? My cluelessness is showing, I know, but would welcome insight."

Honey, I have been meaning to get some directions together for those of you unfamiliar with Blogger... I'll get after it... Soon...

As far as keeping up, I use Bloglines to let me know what is new. Plus it lets you keep up with an inordinate amount of blogs pretty easily (I know I'm a junky! So! You will be too! Mark my words! If you need recomendation about which blogs to read, I have TONS I can recommend...).