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Biography & Autobiography. Travel. Nonfiction. HTML: "An illuminating insight...fascinating." �Amanda Grange, bestselling author of Mr. Darcy's Diary "A journey through both a physical landscape and the geography of the human heart and mind...delightfully entertaining and often deeply moving, this book reminds us that Austen's world�and her characters�are very much alive." �Michael Thomas Ford, author of Jane Bites Back WHERE DO BOOKS TAKE YOU? With a suitcase full of Jane Austen novels en espa�ol, Amy Elizabeth Smith set off on a year-long Latin American adventure: a traveling book club with Jane. In six unique, unforgettable countries, she gathered book-loving new friends�taxi drivers and teachers, poets and politicians�to read Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice. Whether sharing rooster beer with Guatemalans, joining the crowd at a Mexican boxing match, feeding a horde of tame iguanas with Ecuadorean children, or tangling with argumentative booksellers in Argentina, Amy came to learn what Austen knew all along: that we're not always speaking the same language�even when we are speaking the same language. But with true Austen instinct, she could recognize when, unexpectedly, she'd found her own Se�or Darcy. All Roads Lead to Austen celebrates the best of what we love about books and revels in the pleasure of sharing a good book�with good friends..… (more)
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People from many walks of life get involved with her project and her journey, including two romantic interests for her, an always-optimistic Mexican taxi driver who may be a Mr. Bingley type, and a curmudgeonly bookseller who may be a Mr. Darcy. The various cultural differences among the Latin Americans are fascinating, and I now want to visit Argentina, the book-reading capital of South America, more than ever. When she's in Buenos Aires, at one point Smith's in an eight block stretch that has more than twenty bookstores.
The author can "whinge" a bit much, but she has legitimate reasons when she gets dengue and ringworm and experiences other setbacks. If you love Jane Austen's books, you're likely to enjoy this light account of Latin American reactions to them, and if you fancy armchair travel, there's much of that to enjoy, too.
Smith is an English professor at Pacific University where she has the opporutnity to teach Austen's novels. Faced with the question of what to do during her first development leave year away from the university, Smith decided to travel to six different countries in Latin and South America and read Austen's novels in Spanish with people in each of these unique countries to see if the popularity and perceived universality of these works translated as readily as the words on the page. First Smith had to learn Spanish though, at least enough to discuss the books with native speakers.
After a five week stint in Antigua learning Spanish, Smith set out on her year-long exploration of Austen's appeal for non-English speakers who not only don't share a language with Austen but who also live in far different cultures than that with which Austen was familiar. The six countries she chose were Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina. In some of the countries, Smith would have friends, acquaintances, or contacts of some sort who would help her organize her Austen reading groups. In others, she would leave things to chance. She chose to read three different novels, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice, twice each.
Divided into chapters set in each country, Smith does a good job introducing readers to the six different countries and their inhabitants. Part travelogue, part Latin and South American history, part personal memoir/romance, and part literary examination, Smith's story is accessible and entertaining. She took the precaution of taping the book club discussions so that she could accurately transcribe them, especially when her Spanish is stretched a bit. She shares the wonders and problems with traveling so far from home, the culture shock, the fortuitous surprises, and the genuine welcome she receives everywhere she goes. She cheerfully exposes her own gaffes and quirks to the reader as she moves from country to country. Her enthusiasm for each of these different countries and the people she meets in them and the bookstores and the local literature is contagious and engaging. And what she discovers about the universality of Austen's novels will probably not surprise any Janeite. Appealing and fun, Smith's year-long adventure is a wonderful, humorous, and personal read.
While I enjoyed the descriptions of the places she visited and of their histories, I was most interested in Smith's recounting of her Austen book groups. She discussed Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice on her travels (and heads up: there are spoilers for each in All Roads), and hearing the reactions and interpretations of multiple different reading groups to the same novels (and novels with which I am familiar myself) was like getting to listen in on a series of the best kinds of conversations about books I've ever had with my own friends. This isn't a study Smith's done, though--on a few occasions I found my scholar side "yeah, but"ing about some of the conclusions she comes to. If you have any methodology quibbles you'll have to put them in your pocket in your pocket to enjoy the book, but if you can, you'll find a delightful read. Recommended.
Aside from the obvious love for the Austen discussions, I loved the story of Amy's travels. She told her story of how it felt to be living in each of these countries, and about the people who became dear to her. The story not only became one about people discussing books, but one of their history, cultures and the personalities that transcend them. The cherry-on-top was that she found her own Mr. Darcy along the way. 4.5 of 5 stars.
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Very entertaining in scope though the discussions became a little tedious to me having not read the novels they were discussing.
But of course, like any good Jane Austen book, the best part is the romance. Smith has to choose, ultimately, between her own Darcy and Wickham. Which one did she choose? You'll have to read to find out...
This book, All Roads Lead to Austen, called to me as
The idea of spending a year traveling in foreign counties is very intriguing and adventurous. I know this not only by reading as much as I did of this book, but because I have done just that. Decades back I traveled around Europe for an entire year and half. No plans in particular, just roaming and enjoying other cultures. That is an adventure in itself, although my father didn't quite agree with that sentiment at the time. LOL
I could relate to that part of the story about picking up books from the countries she visited. Being a bookworm I am guilty of packing a suitcase with books from foreign places, dragging heavy luggage along to enjoy my treasures when I got home. The author did manage to come up with a good reading list from the countries she traveled.
Talking about the Austen novels with her book "clubs" was also enjoyable. But I started losing interest in her nattering on about her family, her mother and the sometimes pretentious observations about her love life. Do I believe she honestly met a Mexican man and moved in with him without knowing much about him? No, I don't. Maybe it happened but it seemed exaggerated. So did her affair with the Argentinian.
Basically, there wasn't enough Jane Austen in a story with a title All Roads Lead to Austen. That's my humble opinion.
Now I need to brush up on several of Austen's books that were covered in this book: Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abbey, & Sense and Sensibility. Then I'd like to read Amy's book again. First I need to finish a long list of books that I've already lined up to read. It seems like each book I read leads me to several other books: there are endless pleasures in reading!
Smith visited Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina. I've been to Mexico several times (although not to Puerto Vallarta), and I've kept in touch with a high school friend whose family lives in Ecuador. I wasn't nearly as familiar with the other countries Smith visited. I'm sure I would experience these countries very differently if I were to visit. I wouldn't spend as much time in bars since I'm a teetotaler. Smith also seems to have a higher tolerance for risk than I do. (I might add that this didn't always work out well for her.)
The book groups in Chile and Argentina were the most interesting to me. Most of the Chile group were poets and their discussion focused mainly on their opinions of Austen's technique. Argentina was interesting because it was the only country in which the reading group hadn't been prearranged. As soon as she arrived in Buenos Aires, Smith began visiting bookstores and libraries to recruit readers.
I made a list of the national authors mentioned for each country. Few of them seem to be available in English translation, so it didn't greatly inflate my wishlist.
The book is more literary travel than Austen criticism. Familiarity with the films of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma is probably the only necessary prerequisite for reading.