2008 Woodie Awards
"The Jane Austen Book Club" does justice to novel
Andrea Modica '11
Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Entertainment
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Karen Joy Fowler's New York Times Bestseller, "The Jane Austen Book Club," has recently hit the big screen. Lives are forever altered after five women and one man come together to discuss the classic works of Jane Austen. Bernadette, Jocelyn, Sylvia, Allegra, Prudie, and Grigg make up this dynamic group of mis-matched adults whose lives become woven into Austen's intricately complicated novels.
Jocelyn, a 50-something dog breeder who has never been married and has no children, starts the book club. She creates the book club for her best friend school, Sylvia, whose husband of 32 years left her for another woman. Jocelyn hopes that reading Jane Austen will take Sylvia's mind off the impending divorce and the havoc it will wreak.
Allegra is Sylvia's daughter, a pretty 30 year-old lesbian. She lives for extremes - she loves to sky dive, and meets her girlfriend when she breaks her arm after a tough landing. She moves back home after her father moves out.
At 67, Bernadette is the oldest member of the book club. She is an eccentric soul, someone who cares not for the opinions of others. She does yoga religiously and has been married six times.
Prudie is a 28-year-old high school French teacher whose bizarre upbringing has turned her into a dramatic and attention-seeking woman. Her husband, Dean, is described as a wonderful man - in college, he singled out Prudie in a crowd as his future wife. However, Prudie is constantly brooding and visibly unhappy in her seemingly perfect life. She becomes obsessed with the romantic lives of her students, often fantasizing and wishing she were somehow involved.
The last member of the group is Grigg, a 40-something unmarried man. He encounters Jocelyn at a conference, and she invites him to be a part of the book club. He loves science-fiction and is very handy with computers. The other ladies in the book club are confused by his inclusion; while he is good looking, he is too young for some and too old for the others. Jocelyn invites him for Sylvia, but ends up falling for him herself.
Jocelyn, a 50-something dog breeder who has never been married and has no children, starts the book club. She creates the book club for her best friend school, Sylvia, whose husband of 32 years left her for another woman. Jocelyn hopes that reading Jane Austen will take Sylvia's mind off the impending divorce and the havoc it will wreak.
Allegra is Sylvia's daughter, a pretty 30 year-old lesbian. She lives for extremes - she loves to sky dive, and meets her girlfriend when she breaks her arm after a tough landing. She moves back home after her father moves out.
At 67, Bernadette is the oldest member of the book club. She is an eccentric soul, someone who cares not for the opinions of others. She does yoga religiously and has been married six times.
Prudie is a 28-year-old high school French teacher whose bizarre upbringing has turned her into a dramatic and attention-seeking woman. Her husband, Dean, is described as a wonderful man - in college, he singled out Prudie in a crowd as his future wife. However, Prudie is constantly brooding and visibly unhappy in her seemingly perfect life. She becomes obsessed with the romantic lives of her students, often fantasizing and wishing she were somehow involved.
The last member of the group is Grigg, a 40-something unmarried man. He encounters Jocelyn at a conference, and she invites him to be a part of the book club. He loves science-fiction and is very handy with computers. The other ladies in the book club are confused by his inclusion; while he is good looking, he is too young for some and too old for the others. Jocelyn invites him for Sylvia, but ends up falling for him herself.
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