REVIEW: Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emma Campbell Webster
Review by Allison Thompson
OK, kids, listen up. When family and friends ask you what you want for the holidays this year, stand up straight and reply firmly and clearly: “Lost in Austen; Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emma Campbell Webster.” Then count the days until you can unwrap your treasure.
Lost in Austen is a hoot: witty, sly and intriguing. The premise of this interactive adventure is that “you” are Elizabeth Bennet and your goal is a happy marriage to a wealthy gentleman. You start your quest with 200 Intelligence points, 200 Confidence points, a very low Fortune score of 50 points and absolutely no Connections or Accomplishments. As you pass tests and answer questions, you gain and lose various points, rapidly amassing Failings and Inferior Connections and less rapidly gaining Fortune Points and Superior Connections.
Webster’s interspersed comments and the awarding of points throughout the main narrative (that of P&P) are both perceptive and witty, but the most amusing aspect of this interactive story are the adventures that you have meeting and accepting (or rejecting—remember, it’s up to you) romantic overtures from Messrs. Knightley, Wickham, Willoughby, Churchill, Crawford, Tilney, Elton, Martin (yes, Harriet’s Robert Martin), Captain Wentworth (your first love), Tom Lefroy, and a mysterious Mr. Bennet (an estranged distant cousin). What happens to you if you do accept Mr. Collins’ proposal? What if you elope with Willoughby? Why is Lady Catherine packing heat? At unexpected points you discover that you have FAILED as a heroine and your tale is over (sometimes rather dramatically, as when you encounter the vengeful Miss Bingley as you are staggering back to the inn near Pemberley after your carriage overturns). But not to worry, just go back and make another decision to move in a different direction.
This isn’t a quick read—the fun of the book comes from flipping back and forth among the various “diversions” and dead ends as you are sent from page to page. (My particularly favorite diversion comes when you encounter a rather scary Fanny in her little white attic….) And, should you successfully complete your mission, at the end there is an intriguing final decision for you to make—depending on the level of your Intelligence Points.
Lost in Austen is in fact so entertaining that the Eager Heroine might have to buy it for herself right away and ask for a sweater for the holidays instead.
(This book has been published in the UK with the title Being Elizabeth Bennet: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure. — Ed.)
August 27th, 2007 at 5:45 am
That sounds hilarious! LOL! I think I will check this one out.
Btw, I quite like the “about the author” section on amazon:
What a marvellous job description.
August 27th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I respectfully disagree with your rave review of ‘Lost in Austen.’ I started it but could not finish. Every one of the choices that I made contained writing that was extreme, unsubtle, and melodramatic. I won’t give examples, which would be spoilers, but I think that the author, with more effort, could have come up with some choices that reflected Austen’s irony and wit. The idea was good, but the finished product was, IMHO, a mess.
August 27th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Okay, don’t tell Jasper Fforde, but I really want this novel! What an amazing concept! Combining all of the aspects of Austen into a “Choose Your Own Adventure” type of retelling. It’s genius! (I used to love the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books as a child.) Of course, I can’t help but worry that the next step will be a Pride & Prejudice video game. I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Ooops–somebody who got caught in the spam filter accidentally got deleted. Feel free to repost–if you get caught again I promise to rescue you!
August 27th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I got this book last week & devoured it. I was very much surprised to find a quote from my favorite ‘living’ author, Jasper Fforde, in the front. The book had me laughing out loud. I have can’t decide my favorite scene ‘wrong turn’. I’m stuck between Elizabeth’s marriage to Mr. Collins and Fanny’s attic room.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I also love this book and Jasper Fforde. I’m a librarian and I reviewed the book for our September library newsletter. Even though my outcome wasn’t what I would have hoped I still enjoyed reading it. And I plan on reading it again….and again…and again.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
somebody who got caught in the spam filter accidentally got deleted.
That was me, I think! I just said that I’ll probably never read the whole book, because I’ll end up marrying Mr. Tilney every time
I’ve ordered the book and I can’t wait 
August 28th, 2007 at 5:15 am
This sounds most excellent
Even if I don’t buy it myself, I’ll certainly borrow it!
August 28th, 2007 at 5:17 am
Hi Kylie! Sorry about that! And I know what you mean about marrying Mr. Tilney. How can you improve on that?
August 28th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Yes I’d have to agree it is pure genius. That’s my sis, that is. Something you just definately can’t improve on. I’ll write a proper review once I get my gorgeous gold plated signed edition next week but my oppinion probably doesn’t really count so much. Thanks for reading tho. x
August 28th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I totally loved this book, and I can’t wait to go back and see what adventures I missed. I particularly loved the sojourn I took through Northanger Abbey, Fanny in the attic, and meeting the gypsies in the woods.
August 28th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
My dad brought me back this book last night. Can’t wait to explore it.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Ooooh, I know what I’m spending the Borders Gift Card I got for my birthday on!
Of course they won’t have it in stock just to spite me. . .
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:33 am
Hmmm. Extreme, unsubtle, and melodramatic? Sounds more than a bit like Austen’s Juvenilia. This book is a hoot.
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:16 am
Yes, Jane Austen’s Juvenilia were extreme, unsubtle, and melodramatic. But they were the work of a young girl who was using literary parody as a means of rejecting the faults of the popular novels of the time. She was both attracted to and critical of such novels. In the end, she carved her place in literary history by choosing to write about the events of everyday life and by focusing on her heroines’ inner lives rather than forcing melodrama upon them. Her juvenilia, while fun to read, were never meant to be published. If Austen had published just the juvenilia, she would not be Austen.