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froydis's review against another edition
4.0
4 1/2 stars - While I didn't really learn anything new about Austen's life, I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author formatted the book. She uses objects important to Austen's life in some way to illustrate the various aspects and events of her life. The book has a number of color photos of these objects as well as some black and white drawings in each chapter. As with other Austen biographies, I'm left feeling how much the world lost with her early death. This is a must read for all the Janites out there, as well as those new to her life and works.
jamietherebelliousreader's review
4.0
4 stars. Read for the Jane Austen July 2022 challenge - Read a non-fiction work about Jane Austen or her time. I found this to be very intriguing. I love learning new things about Jane Austen and this one definitely had some interesting and new to me tidbits which was fun. I liked the writing style and found it engaging and easy to get into. There was also a lot of cool pictures in this and really added to the reading experience. I’d recommend this for any Austen fan. It’s a pretty fascinating read.
amandacora's review against another edition
4.0
This book is very dense and sometimes hard to follow as the book as a whole isn’t chronological. Each chapter is chronological around a them though and it is super informative and helps gives context to Austen’s life and works.
bibliobethreads's review against another edition
4.0
I’m a big fan of Ms Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility being my favourites, so I was excited to read this new biography by Paula Byrne, having enjoyed her previous biography about Evelyn Waugh. It’s a great read, written to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice and one I’d highly recommend for any “Janeites” out there. What makes it more interesting for me is how it is structured, instead of the factual dryness you can sometimes get with biographies, the author chooses to talk about Austen’s life through objects that belonged to her. The pictures of the objects, in particular the two topaz crosses that Austen’s brother chose to give to her and Cassandra (her sister), are beautiful and it added that little extra bit of charm to the book as a whole.
I certainly found out a lot I didn’t know about Jane which I’m not going to spoil, but the overall picture that emerged of her was as an extremely witty, kind and intelligent person who loved her writing so much that she was prepared to dedicate her life to it, remaining single until her death (although she had no shortage of marriage proposals). What I also loved is the strength of her convictions. When she was invited to write a more “historical romance” novel she politely declined with the words “I must keep to my own style and go on in my own Way.” She absolutely refused to be defined as that kind of writer and made it quite clear that she was a comic rather than a historical novelist.
The closeness of her relationship with her sister Cassandra was lovely to discover, and finding out about her extended family including her cousin Eliza (whom Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park is said to be based upon), was incredibly intriguing. There was certainly a host of exotic and surprising circumstances surrounding the Austen’s and their nearest and dearest. Finally, I think Paula Byrne did a fantastic job with this book, and I cannot wait to see what and whom she delves into next.
Please see my full review at http://www.bibliobeth.wordpress.com
I certainly found out a lot I didn’t know about Jane which I’m not going to spoil, but the overall picture that emerged of her was as an extremely witty, kind and intelligent person who loved her writing so much that she was prepared to dedicate her life to it, remaining single until her death (although she had no shortage of marriage proposals). What I also loved is the strength of her convictions. When she was invited to write a more “historical romance” novel she politely declined with the words “I must keep to my own style and go on in my own Way.” She absolutely refused to be defined as that kind of writer and made it quite clear that she was a comic rather than a historical novelist.
The closeness of her relationship with her sister Cassandra was lovely to discover, and finding out about her extended family including her cousin Eliza (whom Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park is said to be based upon), was incredibly intriguing. There was certainly a host of exotic and surprising circumstances surrounding the Austen’s and their nearest and dearest. Finally, I think Paula Byrne did a fantastic job with this book, and I cannot wait to see what and whom she delves into next.
Please see my full review at http://www.bibliobeth.wordpress.com
losthitsu's review against another edition
5.0
Reading other people's comments, I see I'm not the only one drawn to reading multiple Jane Austen biographies despite the fact that they are all rehashing the same handful of facts we know about her. This one is a good reason why we do so - because sometimes those facts are organised and discussed in a way that is thoroughly pleasing and enjoyable.
slferg's review against another edition
3.0
The author came up with some ideas about Jane's thoughts and feelings that I don't agree with (my privilege as a reader). She does make some interesting observations on Jane's life and interests looking at her letters and her books.
Where she states that in "Mansfield Park" that Tom was obviously homosexual,I reread the book to see what I missed. I only saw that Tom was idle, overly fond of his own ideas and a dandy in dress like many other men of that period. He enjoyed his own pursuits and was careless of other people's feelings and ideas. I didn't see the homosexuality at all in what she stated.
Neither did I see Jane's morbid fear of death in childbirth. She mentions it a lot in her letters, but it was something that happened a lot to women she knew in that time. She often made unkind remarks about women with many children, but she enjoyed her nephews and nieces.
Where she states that in "Mansfield Park" that Tom was obviously homosexual,I reread the book to see what I missed. I only saw that Tom was idle, overly fond of his own ideas and a dandy in dress like many other men of that period. He enjoyed his own pursuits and was careless of other people's feelings and ideas. I didn't see the homosexuality at all in what she stated.
Neither did I see Jane's morbid fear of death in childbirth. She mentions it a lot in her letters, but it was something that happened a lot to women she knew in that time. She often made unkind remarks about women with many children, but she enjoyed her nephews and nieces.
ainiali's review against another edition
5.0
I think i know more of JA through this book since it is about every little things around her. The books include how a simple shawl or hat or whatever event or incident influence her writing. A very fascinating read!
sshabein's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I didn't really know much of anything about Jane Austen before reading this, but since I listened to all those audio adaptations of her novels this year, I thought this would be a good way to cap it all off. And it was!
I admit that I've had an ARC of this book sitting around for 4 different places I've lived now, in the almost 10 years since this was published (oops), but it's for the best that I came to it with a better familiarity with all of Austen's work rather than the bits and pieces I knew back then (mainly, P&P and some of the movie/miniseries adaptations).
Given that the Austens had family money from opium and "West Indian" plantations, I don't know that Byrne is as analytical as she could be when it comes to the disconnect between that income and Jane's written distaste for slavery. The money takes a bit of a circuitous route to the family through their relations, but given the analysis present on other subjects, we could spend a few more words on that disconnect. Women surviving with what was made available to them, the faraway origins of what is essentially blood money and how the English could turn a blind eye, Jane's love for fashion — any of those topics were a way into deeper discussion that would still fit within the premise of the book. Also, there are a couple of other ways Byrne phrased her descriptions of racial relations in the Regency era that made me say "Hmm, dunno if that's how I'd put that," but having not seen the finished copy, I do not know what later changes were made.
Otherwise, this was an interesting look at Jane Austen centered around important objects from her life, giving us a larger picture of her personality, family, and career. I learned a lot, and it was fun to see what real life places and things influenced her work.
I admit that I've had an ARC of this book sitting around for 4 different places I've lived now, in the almost 10 years since this was published (oops), but it's for the best that I came to it with a better familiarity with all of Austen's work rather than the bits and pieces I knew back then (mainly, P&P and some of the movie/miniseries adaptations).
Given that the Austens had family money from opium and "West Indian" plantations, I don't know that Byrne is as analytical as she could be when it comes to the disconnect between that income and Jane's written distaste for slavery. The money takes a bit of a circuitous route to the family through their relations, but given the analysis present on other subjects, we could spend a few more words on that disconnect. Women surviving with what was made available to them, the faraway origins of what is essentially blood money and how the English could turn a blind eye, Jane's love for fashion — any of those topics were a way into deeper discussion that would still fit within the premise of the book. Also, there are a couple of other ways Byrne phrased her descriptions of racial relations in the Regency era that made me say "Hmm, dunno if that's how I'd put that," but having not seen the finished copy, I do not know what later changes were made.
Otherwise, this was an interesting look at Jane Austen centered around important objects from her life, giving us a larger picture of her personality, family, and career. I learned a lot, and it was fun to see what real life places and things influenced her work.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism