Jane Austen: A Life -- Claire Tomalin (1997)

This was my and Melinda's book club book for July. (Look for her comment to this review.) We had recently read a chldren's book by Mary Shelley, and Tomalin wrote the introduction to the book. This introduction, a short biography of Shelley and the circumstances under which she wrote the children's book, was actually more interesting than the children's book itself. Two months later, Melinda chose Tomalin's biography of Jane Austen.

Perhaps the most striking thing about this book is that there is so much more information about Austen's family than about Austen herself. This is most likely because Austen's sister, Cassandra, burned almost all Austen's letters after Austen's death. Similarly, there are no pictures of Austen, while there are for everyone else in her family.

This book would be difficult to read and less interesting if you weren't already familiar with Austen's novels. I enjoyed the chapters about "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility" more enjoyable than the chapters about novels I hadn't read. Tomalin frequently compares people and events in Austen's life to things in the novels. You wouldn't understand these references if you hadn't read the correcsponding novel.

My biggest criticism of the book is that Tomalin frequently presumed Austen's actions or emotions without any basis. Granted, she clearly stated that "perhaps" Austen felt or did something, so you never got the impression that what she said was fact. Nevertheless, I often thought Tomalin was presuming things based on her 20th century experience and with knowledge of things Austen perhaps wouldn't have known.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this book. I found interesting how difficult it was for the Austen sisters to be unmarried women who therefore had to depend on their parents and brothers for support. (Austen was in her 30s by the time her novels were published, and didn't make a whole lot of money from them.) It makes me appreciate our modern world where women can have careers and support themselves.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.