The Jane Austen Book Club
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Narrated by:
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Kimberly Schraf
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By:
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Karen Joy Fowler
About this listen
Six Californians join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they meet, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her finely sighted eye for the frailties of human behavior and her finely tuned ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships.
Dedicated Austenites will delight in unearthing the echoes of Austen that run through the novel, but most readers will simply enjoy the vision and voice that, despite two centuries of separation, unite two great writers of brilliant social comedy.
©2004 Karen Joy Fowler (P)2004 Listen and Live Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"This exquisite novel is bigger and more ambitious than it appears. It's that rare book that reminds us what reading is all about." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Sly wit, quirky characters, and digressive storytelling....Like Austen, Fowler is a subversive wit and a wise observer of human interaction of all stripes." (Publishers Weekly)
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Title Should Be Georgeville-It's All About George
- By Sara on 10-08-15
By: George Hodgman
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The Night Ocean
- By: Paul La Farge
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Marina Willett, MD, has a problem. Her husband, Charlie, has become obsessed with H. P. Lovecraft, in particular with one episode in the legendary horror writer's life: In the summer of 1934, the "old gent" lived for two months with a gay teenage fan named Robert Barlow, at Barlow's family home in central Florida. What were the two of them up to? Were they friends - or something more? Just when Charlie thinks he's solved the puzzle, a new scandal erupts, and he disappears.
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Frustratingly Uneven Due to Clumsy Plot Structure
- By Adam on 06-15-17
By: Paul La Farge
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To See the Moon Again
- By: Jamie Langston Turner
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first step to letting go of the past is forgiving it …Every day of her life Julia Rich lives with the memory of a horrible accident she caused long ago. In the years since, she has tried to hide her guilt in the quiet routine of teaching at a small South Carolina college, avoiding close relationships with family and would-be friends. But one day a phone call from Carmen, a niece she has never met, disrupts her carefully controlled world.
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Beautiful Story of Forgiveness and Selfless Love
- By sharon on 09-20-14
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Liberating Paris
- A Novel
- By: Linda Bloodworth Thomason
- Narrated by: Cynthia Darlow
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Woodrow McIlmore, the town's golden boy and local gynecologist, is married to his beautiful high school sweetheart, Milan, and seems by all appearances to be leading the perfect life with his two children and extended family and friends. But when Wood's daughter announces that she is smitten with a college classmate and intends to marry him, her parents are stunned.
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Deeply moving, a great listen
- By Cynthia on 11-27-05
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An Available Man
- A Novel
- By: Hilma Wolitzer
- Narrated by: Fred Sullivan
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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When Edward Schuyler - a modest and bookish 62-year-old science teacher - is widowed, he finds himself ambushed by female attention. There are plenty of unattached women around, but a healthy, handsome, available man is a rare and desirable creature. Edward receives phone calls from widows seeking love, or at least lunch, while well-meaning friends try to set him up at dinner parties. The problem is that Edward doesn’t feel available. He’s still mourning his beloved wife, Bee, and prefers solitude and the familiar routine of work, gardening, and bird-watching.
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Lovely book, easy read, wonderful characters
- By Molly-o on 02-17-12
By: Hilma Wolitzer
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The Pull of the Moon
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Berg
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In the middle of her life, Nan decides to leave her husband at home and begin an impromptu trek across the country, carrying with her a turquoise leather journal she intends to fill. The Pull of the Moon is a novel about a woman coming to terms with issues of importance to all women. In her journal, Nan addresses the thorniness - and the allure - of marriage, the sweet ties to children, and the gifts and lessons that come from random encounters.
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For women over 50
- By Laura on 07-07-15
By: Elizabeth Berg
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All You Could Ask For
- A Novel
- By: Mike Greenberg
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Happily married Brooke discovers her loving husband has led a separate life with…another wife. Newlywed Samantha learns of her husband's cheating heart when she finds the goods on his computer. High-powered career woman Katherine works with heartbreaker Phillip, the man who hurt her early on in her career. Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine don't know one another, but their stories are about to intertwine in ways no one could have imagined. And all three are about to discover the power of friendship to conquer adversity.
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Annoyed by Hidden Theme
- By parsnip on 08-12-13
By: Mike Greenberg
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Tiger, Tiger
- A Memoir
- By: Margaux Fragoso
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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One summer day, Margaux Fragoso meets Peter Curran at the neighborhood swimming pool, and they begin to play. She is seven; he is 51. When Peter invites her and her mother to his house, the little girl finds a child’s paradise of exotic pets and an elaborate backyard garden. Her mother, beset by mental illness and overwhelmed by caring for Margaux, is grateful for the attention Peter lavishes on her, and he creates an imaginative universe for her, much as Lewis Carroll did for his real-life Alice.
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a weirdly loving diatribe against pervs.
- By Dane Flakeman on 05-21-11
By: Margaux Fragoso
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Bitter in the Mouth
- By: Monique Truong
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up in the small town of Boiling Springs, North Carolina, in the 70’s and 80’s, Linda believes that she is profoundly different from everyone else, including the members of her own family. “What I know about you, little girl, would break you in two” are the cruel, mysterious last words that Linda’s grandmother ever says to her.
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"Tasting Words" made this hard to hear!
- By Kate Anderson on 11-06-11
By: Monique Truong
What listeners say about The Jane Austen Book Club
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Shel
- 08-07-06
It passed the time
I have lower expectations for audiobooks. I expect them to help me pass the time driving, cleaning, sorting laundry, running on the treadmill, etc. This book did a good job of that. I didn't have to think too hard and the story was benign. I don't think I'd ever recommend it to anyone as a book they must read as there wasn't much story, the characters were underdeveloped, and there wasn't near enough Jane Austen. However, it was pleasant, I kept listening, and it didn't last too long. If you put it in the 'light read/listen' category instead of with the likes of Jane Austen it is missable but decent. There were times that the narrator was irritating but not enough to avoid anything else read by her.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lisa
- 06-02-04
well written; not well read
The Jane Austin Book Club is beautifully crafted. Interwoven stories of the club members construct a community that is compelling for me as a reader to enter into. Their stories are framed by Jane Austin's to make a socially and historically textured world. The characters are eccentric and the author's descriptive sensibilities are surprising at times and hip. However, the narrator's sing song inflection and high pitch is annoyingly inappropriate for the text. I had to fight against it to enjoy the book.
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26 people found this helpful
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Overall
- E
- 12-24-04
So-so
I love Jane Austen, and I've been in a book group, and so I looked forward to this book. I did not enjoy it. I found that I cared little for the characters - I just wasn't interested in their lives - I guess I didn't want to know them. Having said that, the author has a wonderful, wry humor - I just wish her characters were different.
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Overall
- Kim
- 06-23-04
Tried to like it, but couldn't
I'm a big Jane Austen fan and I thought this book would bring her works into a more contemporary setting. The book started out slow, but I figured it would get better as it progressed. Unfortunately it didn't. There were snippets of each Jane Austen book and the themes were reflected in each chapter, but the whole concept didn't mesh very well. Too choppy at times as each character's story was being told. I had a hard time keeping everything straight. The narrator's voice didn't help either. She sounded condescending at certain points and just plain annoying the rest of the time. I'd like to give it another try, so I'll probably read it rather than listen to it.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kindle Customer
- 08-04-04
Book good, narration not so much
I like the story, but I think the narrator's tone is much too arch for the material. Her reading distracts from the story, alas.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Geraldine
- 06-06-04
Don't--unless you REALLY love Jane Austin's books
Typical Jane Austin stuff. Not funny, hard to follow and contrived.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jae Williams
- 11-30-15
Eh-- so so
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Yes, it was a good story...a bit too much backstory that went into every new chapter
How did the narrator detract from the book?
Her voice was monotone
Could you see The Jane Austen Book Club being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
I did see the movie and LOVED it ten time better the book
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1 person found this helpful
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- Nancy Ehounou
- 09-05-22
Jane Austen Book Club
I am a Jane Austen fan both books and films. When I first started reading The Jane Austen Book Club I couldn’t get into it. After seeing the film I thought I should give the book another try. I liked it better for having seen the film.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-03-07
Disappointing
I was pulled in by the Jane Austen name; I thought the writing would be at least "Austenish." I found myself in a hurry to be finished with it instead of enjoying the process.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Joseph R
- 12-31-09
Austen and Romance in the 21st Century
Kimberly Schraf tells this story as she was gossiping about some absent acquaintances and their doings. She sounds a bit like a gossipy old cat. I am a bit puzzled at myself: I like her. Maybe that is what the book is, a scandal sheet. Yes, I enjoyed it. After all, for years I have had my own little Jane Austen fan club with a membership of one. Ok, I am not going to tell anybody that I actually enjoy books based on Jane Austen and her works to say nothing of her books. I am a big, tough, guy from somewhere along the bayous of Louisiana who has actually read "Lover's Vows", the play that wasn't performed in "Mansfield Park". Just between us, I am a sucker for anything Austen. Like Griggs and Catherine Morland, I have finished "The Mysteries of Udolpho" as well as "The Italian" and even a synopsis of the books in the Northanger Canon. Along with Marianne Dashwood and Anne Eliot, I am qualified to give an opinion on whether "The Lady of the Lake" or "Marmion" is superior. One wouldn't want that kind information getting out, if one has to live here you know.
Now, I wouldn't be caught dead in public with this book but on my Zune...who will ever know? One doesn't have to be a complete Austen nutcase to enjoy this book but it doesn't hurt. It took a while to write a review because the author was hard to pin down. As the synopsis states, the author is very witty but her book is not about Austen. It is cute stories about divorce, marriage, jobs, romance, kids, dogs and whatever comes out of the hat. At the same time, one is surprised how relevant Austen can be after 200 years. I even enjoyed the adventures of the lesbian member of this club. Tender homosexual love scenes are book closers for me but that is not what Karen Joy Fowler did here. She went for lesbian sky diving, rock climbing, broken bones incidents. PS, the movie isn't bad either but the book is better.
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5 people found this helpful