This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title:
Jane Austen: Jack and Alice
Series:
----------
Author: Jane Austen
Rating:
3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Satire
Pages:
33
Words: 6K
Publish: 1787
Oh, another delightful read. Jack and Alice are brother and sister and Jack is only mentioned because he dies of being so drunk. Alice is wanting the local godbod boy but doesn’t get him.
This was just so over the top. Drunkards, drama, steel traps, insta-healing. Austen really laid it on thick and it just hit my funny bone. This was caricature in the humorous vein, laid on very thick.
My only issue was with being so short, there were a great many people and I did lose track of who was who for several parts. In fact, I had to read this twice to figure out who the “Jack” in the title is because he is such a non-character in the story :-D
What I enjoyed most about this, humor aside, what that I could see the barest flashes of just who Austen was turning into as an author. The eggs were unbroken, sitting on the counter, and I could tell that one day they would turn into lovely and delicious scrambled eggs. There was a pig out in the yard that would one day turn into bacon to go along with those scrambled eggs. Finally, I could see the wheat out in the fields, just about ready for harvest, which would then be turned into bread and then into toast upon which I would heap my eggs and bacon. The pre-ingredients were here and it was fun to spot them.
Finally,
that cover. It is a 100% disgrace. It looks like some young adult
romance trash instead of the comedic send up that this story is.
While I would never read a book based on this cover, if I were the
kind of reader who did and I read this, I would cry foul and I would
cry it loudly. I might even get up and start some sort of petition!
Oh, you all were barely saved from an “online petition”.
*insert
eye roll
★★★☆☆
From Coursehero.com
Jane Austen dedicates "Jack and Alice" to Francis William Austen (1774–1865). Francis William Austen was Jane Austen's brother who at the time served as a midshipman on board the H.M.S. Perseverance which was a British Royal Navy warship. The story is divided into nine chapters. The first chapter begins with Mr. Johnson deciding to throw a masquerade party for his 55th birthday. He invites his short list of friends and acquaintances which includes Lady Williams, Mr. Jones and Mrs. Jones, Charles Adams, and Sukey Simpson and her two sisters. Mr. Johnson and his guests all live in a neighborhood called Pammydiddle. The most admired guest at the party is Charles Adams who is "so dazzling a Beauty that none but Eagles could look him in the Face." Everyone at the party is particularly amazed by a male guest who appears to wear a mask that represents the sun. The sunbeams that come from the eyes are so bright that no one can look directly at the mysterious masked man. The man half closes his eyes and is revealed to be Charles Adams who is not wearing a mask at all. He is simply too overwhelmingly attractive that no one is able to look directly at his face. The guests enjoy a night of "elegant & well managed Entertainment" after which they all head home "Dead Drunk."
The people of Pammydiddle continue to talk about the masquerade party for three months afterward. The presence of Charles Adams at the party is the most popular topic of conversation. Almost all the ladies and Alice Johnson in particular desire him. Alice has had a bit too much wine and decides to distract herself from her thoughts of Charles by visiting her friend Lady Williams. Lady Williams has experienced too much misery at the hands of her first love and thus avoids engaging in any more romance. She proceeds to tell Alice a story which abruptly ends after the two women repeatedly disagree over whether a woman can have "too much colour." However, their disagreement is short-lived because Lady Williams views Alice's conduct as a result of the young lady's inebriation and Alice simply has too much respect for Lady Williams to stay angry for long. The two women go for a walk a few days later that leads to Charles Adams's horse pond and notice a young woman "lying apparently in great pain" under a citron tree. The young woman named Lucy shares with Lady Williams and Alice the unfortunate story of how she ended up in her current predicament. Lucy is an extremely accomplished young woman from North Wales. She has lived for the past eight years with her mother's sister who provided her with renowned instructors. Under their instruction Lucy learned "Dancing, Music, Drawing & various Languages." Lucy says that she led a happy life until the last few months. Charles Adams visited his estate in her neighborhood in Wales and Lucy was so enchanted by the handsome young man that she wrote him a letter offering him her hand in marriage. Charles responded with "an angry & peremptory refusal." Lucy says that she assumed that Charles's refusal might be due to his modesty and thus continued to write to him but she received no response. Charles soon left the country so Lucy followed him which is how she ended up in her present situation. Her leg got stuck in a steel trap when she entered Charles's grounds. His servants heard her screams and released her from the trap but not before her leg was completely broken. Alice and Lady Williams are moved to tears and sympathy upon hearing Lucy's story and Lady Williams immediately proceeds to set Lucy's leg "with great skill" despite the fact that she had never performed such an operation. Alice is quite taken with the beautiful and elegant Lucy. Lady Williams informs Lucy to be wary of Alice because Alice drinks too much but insists that Alice is a charming and sweet woman whom she deeply adores.
The narrator of "Jack and Alice" says that at this point she must mention Alice's brother Jack who is "the Hero of this Novel." She says she has had little opportunity to speak of Jack due to his constant state of inebriation which eventually led to his death. The narrator returns then to Alice who is still desperate for a union with Charles and asks her father to go to Charles with a proposal. Charles gives a lengthy response in which he rejects the offer because he is "a perfect beauty." He claims, "I expect nothing more in my wife than my wife will find in me—Perfection." Alice is disappointed at Charles's refusal but soon drinks away her troubles. Meanwhile Lucy is "conquering every heart at Bath" and has forgotten Charles "with tolerable Ease." She writes to Lady Williams about a marriage proposal she has received from an elderly gentleman "of noble fortune." Lady Williams returns her correspondence with a confusing note in which she simultaneously urges Lucy to marry the gentleman and to reject his proposal and come live with her even though she cannot afford it. Lucy never receives her friend's advice because she dies before the letter arrives. Sukey Simpson whom Lucy lives with feels "Envy & Malice" toward Lucy and has poisoned her. Meanwhile in Pammydiddle everyone is surprised to find that Charles Adams intends to marry. They are shocked when Charles marries Lady Williams.
No comments:
Post a Comment