Thursday, September 2, 2010

Jane Auten in Scarsdale by Paula Marantz Cohen

Title: Jane Austen in Scarsdale (Or Love, Death, and the SATs)
Author: Paula Marantz Cohen
Year of Publication: 2006
Genre: Fiction, romance
Pages: 275
First Line: "'So you want your kid to go to Harvard? Or maybe it's Duke or Stanford? Well, I"m gonna tell you how to do it!'"
Summary: Anne Ehrlich is a dedicated guidance counselor steering her high-school charges through the perils of college admission. Thirteen years ago, when she was graduating from Columbia University, her wealthy family -- especially her dear grandmother Winnie -- persuaded her to give up the love of her life, Ben Cutler, a penniless boy from Queens College. Anne has never married and hasn't seen Ben since -- until his nephew turns up in her high school and starts applying to college.

Now Ben is a successful writer, a world traveler, and a soon-to-be married man, and Winnie's health is beginning to fail. These changes have Anne beginning to wonder. . .Can old love be rekindled, or are past mistakes too painful to forget?

Source: Back of book

Review: If you are looking for something actually related to Jane Austen's pieces, this is not it. While the structure, plot, etc. is very like an Austen novel, there are very few mentions of her/her works. After reading the book, I feel like part of the plot was missing -- perhaps something having to do with more insight to Ben and Anne's past. All-in-all it was not a bad read, just something that wasn't great, or necessarily well-planned out in terms of plot. Characters were pretty well-done and I was very satisfied with how Kirsten was dealt with (you will understand if you read). Again, though, if you are looking for something that has a lot to do with Jane Austen, this is not the book for you.

Worst part: That thing the book was lacking -- I have no idea what it was, but it was definitely lacking something.

Best part: Anne was very real to me. Ben, of course, wasn't. But it was nice to have a very real character rather than a Mary-Sue. She did have her Mary-Sue moments, but generally I feel she was a three-dimensional and realistic character.

Grade: C+

Other Books by This Author: What Alice Knew, Jane Austen in Boca, and Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan.


63 / 50 books. 126% done!

1 comment:

  1. Abby, awesome that you're still doing these book reviews! Thanks for all you've done. I hope you're having fun in college!

    Joan

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