Book Review: Austenland

"For The Woman With Everything Except A Mr. Darcy of Her Own."

I wrote a joint review for a couple cute rom-coms earlier this year - Austenland and The Decoy Bride - which are enjoyable, dumb little movies that are fun to watch when you just want something entertaining. So when I saw that Austenland was also a book, I thought "eh, why not?" and gave it a shot. 

Like the movie, Austenland is a quick, fun read. If you've seen the movie, there are a couple differences that you might notice. 

First, Jane Hayes (played by Keri Russell) isn't quite the Austen obsessed nut in the book as she is in the movie, with a room full of 1800s & Pride and Prejudice paraphernalia. Her problem is more that she has romanticized Mr. Darcy (specifically the Colin Firth version) to the point of no man being able to live up to her expectations.  Of course it didn't help that she'd dated a bunch of jerk-butts...there are several chapters with a short synopsis of her various relationships as the intro/heading.  And instead of Jane spending her life savings on the trip, her great aunt divines her secret Darcy obsession and bequeaths Jane a 3 week long trip to Austenland, a Jane Austen themed resort catering to (crazy) women...I mean, "For The Woman With Everything Except A Mr. Darcy of Her Own." :)  Jane decides to go on the trip, in the hopes of having a last hurrah before getting over her unrealistic Darcy-fueled fantasy. 

In the book, Jane Erstwhile (Jane Hayes' Regency era name) isn't just the "poor country cousin" with the "Copper package"...there is no mention of different levels or packages at Austenland. She is "scripted" as the niece of Mrs. Saffronia Templeton on the estate. The movie merges Saffronia and Mrs. Wattlesbrook (played by Jane Seymour) into one person, whereas in the book Mrs. Wattlesbrook is basically just the proprietress of the Austenland estate and only shows up once or twice.  

The other women at Austenland aren't quite as insane in the book as they are in the movie either. It makes sense for them to be a bit more over-the-top for a movie...adds to the drama...but in the book they are toned down versions of their cinematic selves. Miss Amelia Heartwright (played by Georgia King), does not stay up in the main house with Jane and Miss Elizabeth Charming (played by Jennifer Coolidge), but in a side guest house - she hadn't gotten along with the women staying in the main house the previous year and so wanted a bit more privacy. Miss Charming was recently divorced and decided to forgo a "new car and a month in Florence" in order to attend this unique retreat from reality. 

The part of Mr. Henry Nobly, played by the delightful JJ Feild, was perfectly cast (as was Keri Russell as Jane, in my opinion), though there were a few differences between the movie and book versions. In the movie, (SPOILER) Henry tells Jane that her first week at Austenland was his first week as well (so he was new too, bad at playing the game, blah blah blah). In the book, Henry's real name is Henry Jenkins and he has worked at Austenland for four years and had successfully avoided all the phonies, knew she was real and not just pretending/acting, blah blah blah. You also find out a bit more about his ex-wife. Jane runs across a slip of paper with his name on it and emails a friend, asking her to do a background check (not a literal/legal one, but more of a Google search check, I'm sure) on a "Henry Jenkins, Brighton, England." The result of which are more juicy details, including the reason they finally split up...which was because she didn't want to have kids. (cue "awwww"). Also, he hops on Jane's flight in the book, instead of just showing up at her doorstep...so that she's "stuck" with him sitting next to her for the however many hours it takes to fly from England to New York. Ooh, and he hates flying...so extra points for him. 

Overall I would recommend it for a purely recreational, enjoyable read. I bought a used hardback copy on Amazon, which was fun because it turned out to be a library book from Houston, Texas that was still in really good shape. I like buying library books...they feel like they have their own character or personality to them. Who knows who read and enjoyed them before you? 

I know I'm weird, but I like things that are special or unique in their own way. 

So there. :)


~ Katie