Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Becoming Jane Austen
Book Review: An interesting interpretation
Summary: 4 Stars
Spence's biography of Jane Austen differs from the other biography I have read of Jane Austen by Claire Tomalin. Whereas Tomalin's interpretation speculates, it seems always grounded in fact, whereas Spence seems to want to take us to an interpretation of Jane based more on speculation and no more glaring example of this is his interpretation of Jane's affair (if you could call it that) with Tom LeFroy.
Nevertheless, Spence's book is very readable and provides food for thought for Austen fans interested in Jane's life and what personal experiences she may have had which inspired her novels. Like Perfidy and Perfection by Kate Allan which is inspired by Jane's life yet not wholly based on it, I think Spence's biography must be taken more as fiction that fact.
Book Review: A great Biography!
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this book full of interesting facts about Jane. When necessary Jon Spence's speculation makes sense and fills in the gaps/holes. It is obviously hard to know everything about Jane Austen since she was a very private person and therefore biographers must rely on character witnesses and the scribblings Jane left behind for interpretation. That being said, I think we all draw our own conclusions on who we think Jane is, when reading any or her novels or letters.
Jon Spence's book is a must have for all Jane Austen fans.
Book Review: Ok read. Some good bits.
Summary: 3 Stars
The book started off quite slow. It devotes a great deal of time talking about the people moving in Jane's circle and not entirely on Jane herself, which left me with a greater knowledge of other people and still non the wiser about Jane. It barely touched upon Jane's love life, other than to just briefly mentioned Tom Lefroy and another suitor which she rejected. I would not consider this a biography as such, but rather, consider it better off titled 'The Work/Inspiration Of Jane Austen', as it spends a great deal of time talking about where Jane got her character's name/behaviour/relationship etc. from. Still, it is an easy book to read and some good food for thoughts.