Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
The next best thing to being Elizabeth
Help for Pride and Prejudice fans in want of greater plot control.
By Review by Kate Brassfield
Published August 19, 2007
Every girl secretly wants to be Elizabeth Bennet, or at least Elizabeth's best friend. Emma's too pushy, Fanny Price too prissy, Anne Eliot too perfect. But Elizabeth has the total package. If we were Elizabeth, we could get Mr. Darcy too. So Lost in Austen seems to have the perfect premise: a choose-your-own-adventure story in which the reader is Elizabeth, navigating her way through dinners, balls and whist parties on a mission "to marry both prudently and for love" while avoiding scandal and gruesome death at the hands of Miss Bingley. The book begins with the Bingleys' entrance to the neighborhood and proceeds predictably at first. Since we all know how Elizabeth's story ends in Pride and Prejudice, we think we know which choices will lead us to the guy. But author Emma Campbell Webster throws in a little humor and a little chance, and soon Elizabeth has the opportunity to meet characters from Austen's other books. Some of these meetings seem forced, but Elizabeth - guided by the reader - always acts in character, to sometimes hilarious, sometimes grievous effect. Unfortunately, Lost in Austen is less engaging than you want it to be. Webster relies too heavily on her source material. She lifts passages from Pride and Prejudice, and Austen's drily witty prose is reduced to book report. Webster uses another crutch, too. As though afraid her adventure choices aren't entertaining enough - they would be - she asks the reader to tally points in such categories as Fortune, Confidence and Connections. It's optional, luckily; who wants to do math while reading Austen? Lost in Austen is worth the read, if only to see Elizabeth beat the tedious Mr. Collins to death with a book. Don't worry, I've told you an ending, but you'll have to find out how to get there on your own. Kate Brassfield can be reached at 727 893-8216 or kbrassfield@sptimes.com. Lost">href="mailto:kbrassfield@sptimes.com" mce_href="mailto:kbrassfield@sptimes.com">kbrassfield@sptimes.com. Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure By Emma Campbell Webster Riverhead Trade, 345 pages, $14
[Last modified August 16, 2007, 10:42:45]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Letter to the editor
