Kyle

The book does not feel out of date. Yes, there are many things about it that place it firmly in the early 1900s, but the characters' behaviors are simultaneously recognizable and surprising for their time. What really jumps out at you is the willingness to engage in casual sex for characters who exist in the late 1800s as written by an author who grew up in that place and time.

You will recognize yourself in one of the characters in this collection of short stories—or is it a novel?

If you like florid language (as I do), this book is not what you're looking for. It is written in a sparse style, almost historical. The story is also relatively simplistic (of course, since it is a short work).

That being said, if you are at all interested in a look at colonial history from the viewpoint of the colonized, this book will interest you. It also raises some interesting questions in its latter third about conflicts between religions and what it means to lose one's history and cultural heritage.

The book is exceedingly funny. It is difficult to imagine a teenage girl writing such a delightful satire with such intentionally odd dialog that many hundreds of years ago. And how easily the story slips from the cute and self-aware satire of gothic and romance stories into a good romance story!

This is my first Jane Austen foray, but it shan't be my last.