Austenland

I picked this book up from the library this week, thinking it would be a fun little diversion (from what? I don't exactly read Doystoyevsky on a regular basis). A slim little volume from an author who primarily writes YA fiction, it told the tale of a thirty-something single woman, unlucky in love, who receives a vacation as a parting gift from a dead relative to attend "Pembrook Park", a spot where lonely Austenites can live out their fantasies.

You can understand why this would appeal to me - what fan of historical fiction in general and lover of Austen specifically wouldn't want to do exactly that? In theory, I would love to dress up in a corset and parade around in a manor house for three weeks. What this book does deliver on is in fact remedy from this fantasy. In your imagination, it sounds like fun. In reality (as the protagonist learns), it's just lame and sad.

Overall, this story is pretty thin on plot, and more than a little cheesy in character. It does deliver some pretty witty writing, and I did find myself giggling a few times out loud. In the end, however, it became the same tired chick-lit climax (tee hee) in which two equally handsome but completely different mannequins fight for the hand of the fair lady. Boring. It had such potential too - earlier in the book I found myself contemplating the nature of fantasy and the lengths people go to fulfill them, and at what point it becomes unhealthy. I guess I over thought it.

Finally, I want to question some of the plot points - why would this character get such a gift left in a will? This seemed bizarre and unnecessary. Also, why was it so insistent that it be known that the main character was not the usual sort of patron to grace Pembrook House, financially? Why was the owner such a bitch? And lastly, what kind of vacation place demands financial statements from it's guests? So bizarre, and frankly a bit hacky. In places, it kind of read like an amateur erotic novel, minus the fun stuff. Maybe it was trying to do the whole P&P "different classes" thing in a really heavy-handed way? Fail.

Anyway, I give it 2.5 Mr. Darcys out of 5, but if you're wanting something ridiculous and fun and mildly guilty (like a foot fetish), read it.