On Jane Austen and Seeing Ourselves in Stories

I’ve had Jane Austen on my mind lately. It feels like over-the-top, “anti-historical” shows and films are having a moment, and while I love The Great and am entertained by Bridgerton, I’m not quite sure what to think about the new film Persuasion, Austen’s classic turned into a surprisingly comedic romance.

The story of Persuasion has always stuck with me because of its melancholy, its despair, its regret. I spent much of my early adulthood building my own regrets and learning that a lack of independence usually means disappointment and unhappiness, so the story spoke to me. I could relate.

This new adaptation takes a lighthearted approach to the story, making Anne into a comedic commentator on her own mistakes as she frequently breaks the fourth wall to explain her feelings. I don’t hate it as much as some do, but it’s not the subtle character development and quiet desperation that I relished as an eighteen-year-old stay-at-home daughter…

Cait WestAugust 14, 2022jane austen, persuasion, stay at home, stay at home daughter, reading Comment

Stories like Ours

We all need books that move us, change us, challenge us, enlighten us, educate us, heal us. One book that has been healing for me in my journey away from fundamentalism and spiritual abuse has been Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu. This is just one of many that have made me feel less alone in my experience, that have opened my heart to the possibility that my story is important too, that this hasn’t all been for nothing. That our experiences mean something.

When I first heard about Jennifer Mathieu, I was attending the Festival of Faith and Writing three years after leaving the stay-at-home-daughter movement, and I saw her talk in the conference program, with a description of her book mentioning Christian Patriarchy. I hadn’t heard of any fiction books about the world of fundamentalist Christianity, and I was curious to see what she had to say and what her book Devoted was about. . . .