Le Manuscrit Perdu De Jane Austen (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
I want to be clear that I love Jane Austen and I empathize with the desire to wield her pen. But that doesn't excuse this book.The premise here is that Jane Austen wrote a seventh novel that was stolen, and is found in the present by an Austen enthusiast. The entire text of this "found novel" is included in this book, as the main character reads it. So in other words, Syrie James has written a pretend Jane Austen novel and wrapped it up in a barely-there frame of incredibly prosaic characters who can't stop gushing about how great this pretend novel is. Seriously, picture if I wrote this review pretending to be Roger Ebert, while talking about how brilliant a reviewer Ebert was, and then added characters into my review saying what a great review it was. It's a self call on so many levels it boggles the mind.But all that might be okay if James really was channeling Austen. Sadly, she's not. At best, James's fake novel (The Stanhopes) is nothing more than a wax figure of an Austen novel; potentially deceiving from a great distance, but with no spark of life. There's no WIT in it, no cleverness; it's a novel Austen herself would have made hearty fun of.Now, I know the novel is based off of Austen's satirical Plan of a Novel, which outlines a gothic plot based on silly writing advice she received. But if Austen HAD written that plot (which she clearly never intended to) she would have never done so with such sickly sentimentality; indeed one of Austen's trademarks is an impatience with such maudlin fluff. It's not only an insult to the reader to try and pass The Stanhopes off as believable Jane Austen writing; it's insulting to Jane herself (better to be criticized than praised for something you disdain), and it makes Syrie James, who claims to be an Austen devotee, look like a clumsy outsider who thinks the word "amiable" is all that's needed for a forgery.So if you love Jane Austen, here are two pieces of advice: one, don't read this; and two, please, please don't pretend to be Jane Austen. Imitate her, be inspired by her, but for God's sake, have some respect. This book is really two stories in one. A delightful read if you are a Jane Austen fan.Samanthaa McDonough, a Special Collections Librarian at a California university, finds an old book of poems on a trip to England. Inside the book is a letter from Jane Austen to her sister, Cassandra.Samantha tracks down the house mentioned in the letter which the Austen family had visited in England. The home, Greenbriar, is to be sold as it is falling apart and too expensive to upkeep. Samantha meets the deceased owners son, Anthony, and together they find a novel that Jane, wrote by hand, but lost and never had published.Together Samantha and Anthony read aloud the manuscript and hence the story within the story. I was in our local library and happened to turn around and on the shelf was this book. So, I picked it up and I'm glad I did.
What do You think about Le Manuscrit Perdu De Jane Austen (2014)?
This was a very fun book to read. I read it while on a trip to England which was especially fun.
—naika13
Another book within a book. I loved it! Now on to read some Jane Austin!
—Hope
Every Jane Austen fan should read this. Highly entertaining.
—Gladys
Liked the story in the book better than the book
—j0jj0s
