Review 2678: The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography

Although I’ve read more than one biography of Jane Austen, this graphic biography contained insights I hadn’t read before. That’s probably not surprising, since Janine Barchas is an internationally renowned Austen scholar.

Using information from letters and quotations from Austen’s novels, this graphic biography follows Austen from 1796 until her death. In brighter colors, it contains a few scenes from her novels as in Austen’s imagination and some “Easter eggs’ of scenes from movies. I caught a couple of obvious ones, but I’m sure there were more.

The illustrations are in a naïve, slightly ugly style, but the characters are clearly identifiable, which isn’t always the case in graphic books.

I found this work entertaining and informative. It contains a “glossary” that provides more information for the interested.

Related Posts

Jane Austen at Home

Jane Austen: A Life

Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie

Review 2465: Ethel & Ernest

Ethel & Ernest is a completely charming graphic biography about the lives of Briggs’s parents from their meeting in 1928 until their deaths in 1971. The drawings are delightful, and the characters of the two emerge from the story.

Ethel is a lady’s maid and Ernest is a milkman when they meet. They marry two years later. The book shows their upward mobility starting with their purchase of a house that actually has a bathroom, to their astonishment, and continuing with their modifications and additions of appliances. Ernest is staunchly working class and pro-labor, while Ethel has pretentions to more, but through all, they are loving.

Through childbirth, World War II, and the Blitz, the privations of post-World War II Britain, and so on, the couple stick together and remain loving. The book has quite a bit of humor to it and is also touching. I was charmed by it.

Related Posts

Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands

Britten and Brülightly