The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
When I first heard about this story I was excited to read it. It sounded like an interesting combination of different genres, set in Jane Austen’s time, with Jane Austen making an appearance herself. I love her work and am seriously considering focusing my master’s thesis on it. But I also couldn’t drop feeling apprehensive about reading a sci-fi influenced story about one of my favourite authors. As so often is the case, one’s gut feeling is rarely wrong.
The characters, the protagonist and her main squeeze, were the epitome of stock characters and had me rolling my eyes almost immediately. She was successful, smart, had a collection of university degrees and was barely 30 years old (good for her, I’m all for successful young women represented in all types of stories, don’t get me wrong). Sadly, there wasn’t any depth to her. She was those all accomplishments and nothing else; no personality, no personal drive, no human emotions that would make her remotely interesting to the reader, except for having the hots for her colleague, which I thought was a pity, since a smart woman was reduced to pining after a pair of pants. Her love interest “eluded her”, was difficult to read and didn’t seems that interested. So, why, oh why waste time trying to go after him. He was boring, a typical “man’s man” with a rumbling voice and probably lots of chest hair.
As I mentioned above, the plot intrigued me, but the reader is thrown into the story straight away, which creates a sort of barrier between story and reader as the reader tries desperately to find their bearing. Also, it is told in the first-person point of view, with so much dry, boring detail that is meant to paint a clear picture of what is going that, but fails to enchant the reader. In addition, the reader gets to be witness to the protagonist’s self-congratulation as she manages certain challenges “perfectly” (again, great for her, not so much for the reader; what’s the point of a story without the character’s struggles?).
The writing I want to say was forced, but not really. It felt too structured, with too many details that seemed separate from the story. It made for a boring read.
Overall, this wasn’t for me. I am perhaps slightly protective of Jane Austen and probably just wished for something more like her own stories. It wasn’t to my taste and would give it a pass.
