"The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler

Book Description:

"Real people are really complicated," says Jocelyn, the founder of the "Central Valley/River City all-Jane-Austen-all-the-time book club." And the members of the newly founded book club certainly prove this to be true. Each has a story to tell, and much like an Austen novel, the intricate plots that are their own lives are slowly revealed. There's Sylvia, Jocelyn's friend of forty years, who is in the midst of a painful divorce. Her daughter, Allegra, beautiful, vivacious, a "creature of extremes" who finds her thrills through skydiving and rock climbing but can't seem to find love. There's Bernadette, the oldest member at sixty-seven, a woman who has married well, several times at that, and even had a brush with fame, but currently looks disheveled and distracted. Prudie is the only member who's currently married. She's a high school French teacher a great believer in organization, and finds comfort in her lists when life feels overwhelming. Grigg is in his early forties, yet his older sisters still feel protective of him, hoping to rescue him from the legacy of his father. And last, there's Jocelyn. Never married, she has a keen interest in the happiness of others and is constantly playing matchmaker. In fact, this could be her underlying motivation for inviting Grigg, the only member of the group who's never before read Austen. Or perhaps she thinks the book club will serve as a distraction for Sylvia. After all, who better to heal one's pain than Jane Austen?

Review:
Where to start, where to start. To be perfectly honest, I really did not like this book. I felt no connection between the characters and myself, the only time I could tell that the story had moved forward was when it was a month later at another book club meeting.
There are six chapters in the novel, each one supposedly about a certain Jane Austen novel and one member of the group. I found though, while the title stated they were at "so-and-so's" house discussing "this book", there was never really any mention of the actual book club meeting.
The novel seemed to be more of a character study, than an actual story. Though, what can you expect from something that is only 250 pages and only focuses on one person for each chapter. I also didn't like who I could never tell who was telling the story. Sometimes it seemed like an outside source, and then sometimes the narrative took on a collective form using "we" and "us".
I was quite disappointed as I had been looking forward to this book for some time. I would have assumed, while being about the characters, there would be more focus on Jane Austen. I almost wonder why the author even chose to associate Jane Austen with the novel since there was barely any reference to Ms. Austen.
I, personally, wouldn't recommend this novel to anyone, especially someone who is a fan of Jane Austen, you'll just be very disappointed. At this point, I can't see myself reading any of Ms. Fowler's novels. I just wasn't left with a good impression with this book.