Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This biography was suggested by my thesis supervisor as background information for my thesis topic. I had started reading it the previous summer, but had to stop due to time constraints and because the hardcover edition available from my local library was a bit too cumbersome. I ended up buying a paperback edition while visiting Bath, England in March.
It was a stop and go sort of journey with this book and I am on the fence about my opinion of it. I’m completely torn and wondering how much detail and example of my split opinion I should include in this review.
I assume I should begin with the obvious; the overall argument the author is trying to make. In her introduction she explains the importance of the concept of home for Austen with respect to her creativity and her ability to write. It is a good argument and I could definitely see the theme of it running through Austen’s life story. But, there was no need to either start or conclude each chapter with an attempt to tie it all back together to the concept of the home. I got very repetitive, very quickly.
The author’s meticulous research is commendable and impressive. She not only refers to Austen’s major and minor works, but also includes information on people that lived close by, had any sort of connection with Austen or residences, and includes relevant historical and political facts.
Everything appears to have been diligently researched, yet throughout the book the author changes her objective from historical research to literary analysis and fails to provide any evidence to back up her claim. For example, the author claims that in Georgian times the sea represents sex. Where is the support, the research for such a profound argument that could clearly have a great impact on the interpretations of Austen’s Emma, Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion.
It is one thing to conduct a lot of research and present it and another to correctly interpret those results. I found the quotes the author uses, and her interpretations and explanations contradict each other.
Another thing that was very confusing was her writing style. It was very awkward trying to deceiver what the author was actually trying to say and by the time the reader sort of had a clue the author jumped to the next point in the very next sentence, without using a paragraph break. It got tedious and tiring to read a 352-page book that could have benefited from a few more edits.
At some point I found the information repetitive and did not go further than scratching the surface. The chapter on Austen’s friendships was particularly disappointing.
In addition, I felt the author particularly enjoyed the notion of a difficult relationship between Austen and her mother, something the author seemed to relish, while advocating an indisputable affectionate relationship between Austen and her sister, Cassandra.
Overall, it took me along time to finish this biography. I needed to constantly motivate myself and ended up pushing through the last 140 pages in one sitting. Perhaps I looked at this book with more academic scrutiny than I usually do, but for all the hype and research that is already available it had to be something above the rest. I still found a few good tidbits of information on Austen, but I was surprised that some parts of her life the author chose to skip completely. I would suggest it, but with a warning.
