WordsofaReader

The Jane Austen Book Club is an international best seller which ultimately became a successful film in 2007. I brought my edition late in 2004 and shamefully only just got around to reading it this week.I picked this up thinking it would be great but like any best seller there were quite a few negative reviews floating around at the time, dispelling all the good press it had received. I stupidly got put off and left it to languish on my bookcase.I thought about reading it when I saw that a film was being released but at the time I was living far away from my family home where I'd left most of my books in storage so once again it was pushed out of my mind.Recently I've searched the majority of my books out of storage and placed them back in their rightful position on my shelf. Doing so, I stumbled back across The Jane Austen Book Club and knew that I couldn't delay things any longer.I am pleased to say, the wait? Totally worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience that the talented, Karen Joy Fowler pieced together. I was engaged and entertained from beginning to end and I honestly believe that books come into peoples lives for a reason. If I had of read this when I orginally brought it back when I was 18 I don't think it would have been anywhere near as appealing to me as it was now, reading it when I'm 25.The story revolves around six main characters and a solely Jane Austen dedicated book club that they've created. The novel is sectioned off into six parts as well. One for each character and the corresponding Jane Austen novel discussion that is to be hosted at their house.While the book club itself is the main premise of the story and the link that brings all our characters together it is not, in my opinion, the main focus of the novel.The Jane Austen Book Club is about relationships and people at their core. Who they are, how they relate and how who they are affects how they relate.I don't want to give too much away for anyone who has yet to read this and now might be inspired to do so, so I'll leave you with one final thought and the reason that made this book so appealing to me -We as readers shape our own reading experiences. We all have themes and styles we prefer. It's possible for two different people to infer utterly opposing few points from the exact same novel, as I'm sure it is of most things. The thing that The Jane Austen Book Club does; however, is show how a common love can unify. It deals with the way we live with books, how they become a part of our subconscious and shape who we are and what we expect from life. The Jane Austen Book Club reaffirms the power of the novel and if there's one thing I believe in with all of my might, that is it. Long live the written word and the deep and abiding affect it has on all who hold it dear.