Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford
3.25 stars
Reasons for reading: sounded fun, recommended by a co-worker, Austen-esque novel for Four Month Challenge
Best review: ""It's impossible not to love Ford's sharp-witted, sharp-fanged Jane Austen (and I'm not just saying that because she spares my life in Chapter Six)."—Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"
My thoughts: That was actually one of my favourite parts of the book, Jane's ire at Grahame-Smith and other people who have used her books and her name to gain fame. The - I hope - fictitious Jane Austen Workout book was the best one, with an empire-waisted woman holding dumbbells. The book is fluff, but it's pretty good fluff and I'm an Austen fan, so I enjoyed seeing her come to "life." The premise that Jane Austen has been rejected by 116 publishers over the past 200 years is pretty hilarious and Ford's Jane is sharp-tongued and smart but sometimes still rather bewildered by being a modern-day woman. I'm not 100% sure I'm intrigued enough to read the rest of the series as it comes out, I'd have been happy with this as a one-off, but I might if I'm in the mood for something light.
1 comment:
I saw this book in the library and was debating taking it out. On one hand, I'm kind of sick of all the Jane Austen (specifically P&P) sequels, prequels, midquels, pov retellings, modern retellings, etc. But if the book pokes fun at the Jane Austen mania...maybe that would make me less apprehensive about adding it to the reading list.
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