Longbourn

My book club read Longbourn by Jo Baker for March. I finished the book today. Basically, I failed at book club last month. However, I finished it and that's what counts. Let's talk about it.

Longbourn is a novel about the servants for the Bennets, as in Elizabeth Bennet. While Jane and Lizzy are in the midst of their own stories, there are lives being lived downstairs. Sarah, a housemaid, is the central character we follow.

I had mixed feelings about this book. I was intrigued by the concept. At first I misunderstood the premise and thought it was essentially Pride & Prejudice from the servants' views. It's not. Rather, it just occurs during that time in the Bennets' lives. There were times I was interested and even enjoying the story, anticipating what was going to happen. However, it took me a really long time to get into the book. It dragged for a while. Even when I was in the midst of enjoying it, the book would seem to get stuck and go nowhere. I think it had a solid idea behind it (and probably would have worked better as a stand alone story not involving P&P), but the writing ended up holding it back for me. I'm a detail-oriented person. Hello, I'm an ICU nurse. I love details. In this book (and plenty of other books), the details can be so heavy or complicated or misplaced that it ends up weighing a book down. I think what happens is that authors have such clear views in their heads that they want/need you to see it with them. At least, that's how I felt when writing in high school and college. Because I do like details and my imagination is strong, so I wanted to paint the most vivid picture so the reader truly understood how they should picture it. When I go back and read stories from my Creative Writing class in college, I see that in my work. And I now see how much is lost by doing that. Yes, when we read we are entering worlds created by the author, but the beautiful thing about reading is that it stretches our imaginations. Maybe the author creates some framework, but we get to fine tune that in our minds. Sometimes those details are important to a scene or setting up the characters, but the authors that do it well seem to mix it in so seamlessly that the meat of the story isn't lost. Also, reading should make us think and not just tell us what to mindlessly follow. If I, as a writer, give you every detail and tell you what to think, I'm not leaving room for your imagination or critical thinking.

So with that I'll say, check this book out and see what YOU think. The first link will take you to Amazon and the second link will take you to Amazon's sample of the writing. My book club had mixed reviews. Some liked it, some did not. Maybe this will be a winner for you. What was the line from Reading Rainbow? "You don't have to take my word for it." (Also, I LOVED Reading Rainbow when I was little.)

Happy Reading!