Jane Austen's Guide to Dating

Rating:
Summary: This one's a must!
Review: I loved Jane Austen's Guide to Dating.

It's a tribute to Jane Austen as well as being a dating guide and it uses Austen's characters as a basis to point out various desirable or less useful characteristics in someone you're dating - I think that's a good thing.

Jane Austen was one of the most acute observers of human nature there's ever been - this is why her novels sell so well and are so funny - and human nature hasn't changed noticeably in the last 200 years. If you're going to take examples, why not use the best?

I didn't get the impression that we're expected to behave in the same way as an Austen character - that would be absurd (it's not an absurd book, just highly entertaining!) What Lauren Henderson does is use the characteristics Austen noticed that are common to us all (i.e. most of the people you'll date!) to point out the pitfalls to avoid, and what it's sensible to do in any given dating situation. She updates the scenarios to fit the 21st century, so it's a very topical book.

Her advice is sheer common sense, which I find essential in relationships. Like most people, I don't always see the traps I'm about to fall into, and this flags them cleverly and amusingly. It's quite a subtle book, and I didn't find it contradictory - various dating problems have different solutions geared to the person encountering the problem.

I enjoyed it thoroughly, and would recommend it highly. I'm pretty sure it'll work. Must go off and test it!

Rating:
Summary: Not your typical dating guide...
Review: I'm not one who normally reads books on dating, but as a fan of Jane Austen, the premise of this book grabbed my attention. I was sure I was going to enjoy the analysis of the Austen characters, but I was unsure about the dating part. Fortunately for me, I liked both parts of the book. While the character analysis didn't really present anything new, I liked the way Ms. Henderson applied the characters' strengths and weaknesses to the dating life today and I came away with some real, practical ideas. The examples she used illustrated real situations and helped to show how silly we've made the modern dating scene. Unlike other "dating" books which tell us that the reason we're not dating is either that we're not likeable enough or that the others in our perspective dating pool are too dumb to see our potential, this book recognizes that we all make mistakes in how we approach dating and that it takes time an patience to weed out the Henry Crawfords and Wickhams of the world.
Instead of feeling depressed about myself or my potential dating pool, I finished this book with a sense that I really can find my Darcy or Knightly if I'm reasonable and myself. I recommend this book as a fun read that will help you feel good about your life when you've finished.


Rating:
Summary: Is a book like this necessary?
Review: Jane Austen's Guide to Dating is another one of those- another one of those dating self-help books, that is. Its author tries to take early 19th- century courtship habits and apply them to dating in the 21st century. Henderson takes examples from Jane Austen's novels in order to get back at the "root" of dating and to show her reader what we are and aren't doinbg wrong in relationships. Among the plethora of dating books that are on the market these days, this one can easily be left out of the mix without anyone noticing its absence.

While some of her advice is well-founded (and something that most people would be able to figure or on their own)- much of it is contradictory. For example, in chaper 1, Henderson tells us that women must make our interest in a man clear- but in chapter 2 she tells us that we must not put our interest on display. What bothered me the most was the fact that Henderson, a British expatriot living in the United States, tells us essentially that we should sit back and make the men do all the work in dating. Maybe it just me, but American women are a lot more forward than that.

What I found ridiculous was the fact that the author actually expects women (and their partners) to conform to "types" -ie, our dating/ courtship styles are supposed to match that of a Jane Austen character. I fell into that trap and found myself taking the test on page 247 ("Which Jane Austen Character Are You?")

However, I chose to give this book three stars if only for the fact that the author writes in a very entertaining style... and, of course, Jane Austen's novels are the over-arching subject of the book.

Rating:
Summary: If you love Jane, you'll get a kick out of this book.
Review: Sure, the works of Jane Austen aren't a manifesto by which to live your life. But that's not really the point of this book, is it? It's a cute, beautifully designed, fun tribute to Jane Austen, her characters, and the people like me who love her! I thought this was great, and it's a good gift for anyone in your life who is a Jane Austen fan.