Summary from Goodreads:

Former Yale professor William Deresiewicz has been reading, teaching, and writing about Jane Austen for decades; now, at the conclusion of his academic career, he describes his almost lifelong personal encounter with an author whose insights transcend those revealed by mere scholarship. A Jane Austen Education illuminates the novelist’s craft by showing how her mastery of everyday relationships still speaks to our times. Deresiewicz’s unconventional memoir helps explain Austen’s extraordinary appeal among readers otherwise immune to classic literature.

My Review:

A man? Writing about Jane Austen?  Really?

Those were the first thoughts through my head when I took this book out of the shipping envelope it came in.  Then I remembered why I requested it – because I loved the cover and for that cover alone I was willing to give it a shot.

And as I began reading I began to really understand just why it’s a bit significant that a man wrote this book.

If you are anything like me, you’ve attempted to get at least one boyfriend to read Jane Austen.  And then you have heard them scoff at the suggestion. William Deresiewicz did the same – he thought of Jane Austen as inane, dull, she just didn’t match up to the other great writers.  He had pretentious thoughts based on his reading of Russian literature, of James Joyce and more.  And then he was faced with the prospect of reading Emma.

And so his love of Jane Austen began – but not at first. Oh no, first he needed to be taught a lesson, he needed to learn that life is to be enjoyed for the little things that happen every day and for the relationships we form about us.  This is just the first lesson.

This book wasn’t so much a memoir of Deresiewicz’s life as much as a lecture on Austen, I felt.  And I enjoyed it for being just that.  I found it smartly written, thought-provoking and filled with new insights (at least for me) on Austen’s works.  I really enjoyed my time reading this book and plan to recommend it!

About the Author

William Deresiewicz was an associate professor of English at Yale University until 2008 and is a widely published book critic. His reviews and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, The Nation, Bookforum, and The American Scholar. He was nominated for National Magazine awards in 2008 and 2009 and the National Book Critics Circle’s Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing in 2010.”

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from TLC Book Tours. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”