Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Jane Austen in Boca: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Jane Austen in Boca: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Jane Austen in Boca: A Novel
    Ebook294 pages4 hours

    Jane Austen in Boca: A Novel

    By Paula Marantz Cohen

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    It is a truth universally acknowledged that a nice Jewish widower must be in want of a wife.

    Jane Austen centered her classic novels of manners around "three or four families in a country village." So does Paula Marantz Cohen in her novel, a witty twist on Pride and Prejudice--except this time, the "village" is Boca Raton, Florida.

    Eligible men, especially ones in possession of a good fortune and country club privileges, are scarce. When goodhearted meddler Carol Newman learns that the wealthy Norman Grafstein has lost his wife, she resolves to marry
    him off to her lonely mother-in-law, May.

    The novel charts the progress of May's love life as well as that of her two closest friends: the strong-minded former librarian Flo Kliman and the flamboyant Lila Katz. If there weren't confusion enough, Flo's great-niece Amy, a film student at NYU, suddenly arrives with a camera crew determined to get it all on tape.

    Will May and Norman eventually find happiness? Will Flo succumb to the charms of the suavely cosmopolitan Mel Shirmer? Will Amy's movie about them win an Academy Award--or at least a prize at the NYU student film competition?

    Complications and misunderstandings abound in this romantic and perceptive comedy of manners.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2007
    ISBN9781429902991
    Unavailable
    Jane Austen in Boca: A Novel
    Author

    Paula Marantz Cohen

    Paula Marantz Cohen is Distinguished Professor of English at Drexel University in Philadelphia. She is the author of the novels, Jane Austen in Boca, Jane Austen in Scarsdale, and Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan, and four scholarly works of nonfiction, including Silent Film and the Triumph of the American Myth and The Daughter as Reader: Encounters Between Literature and Life. She lives in Moorestown, New Jersey, with her husband and two children.

    Related to Jane Austen in Boca

    Related ebooks

    Contemporary Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Cooking with Shirley Jackson

      Oct 31, 2019

      Cooking with Shirley Jackson
      10 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Ulitskaya, Phillips, Zentner, Savage, and More

      Jul 9, 2019

      Out this week: the journeys of a makeshift family in contemporary Appalachian Ohio, a new Russian epic, and the faux memoirs of a Bieber-ish pop star. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Ulitskaya, Phillips, Zentner, Savage, and More appeared

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Unauthorised Version

      Mar 28, 2021

      The Unauthorised Version
      13 min read

    • Article

      Not Everything Turns to Gold

      Oct 2, 2018

      Theodore Roosevelt once said, “When I am in California, I am not in the West, I am west of the West.” The Rough Rider’s koan has been widely viewed as a celebration of the limitless California adventure, but it’s also a reminder of the dizzying, vert

      4 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Shipstead, Ryan, Walker, and More

      May 17, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Maggie Shipstead, Eimer Ryan, Sarai Walker, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to help The Millio

      5 min read

    • Article

      March Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month)

      Mar 3, 2022

      This month, we've got our eye on new books from the likes of Elaine Hsieh Chou, Sarah Moss, Matt Bell, and Elena Ferrante. The post March Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month) appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Wink, Washburn, and More

      Mar 31, 2020

      This week, we're looking at new books from Callan Wink, Kawai Strong Washburn, Alexandra Chang, Fernanda Melchior, and César Aira, The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Wink, Washburn, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      'Ladysitting' Offers Candor And A Singular Take On A Tale Familiar To Many

      May 6, 2019

      As Lorene Cary tells the story of her Nana and the stress and sadness all too common for caregivers, it's her recounting of her upbringing and ancestry that is most engaging and captivating.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Worlds Of Ink And Paper

      Nov 22, 2022

      As a young girl, I still remember my dear mother, smile on her face, curled up with Family Circle magazine in her lap. She was engrossed in an article titled “Butternut Wisdom,” written by Gladys Taber. At my age, it didn’t mean a thing to me. But as

      6 min read

    • Article

      Speed of Mercy

      Jul 30, 2021

      Speed of Mercy
      10 min read

    • Article

      Lezley Saar’s ‘Diorama Drama’ and me

      Apr 1, 2023

      SEPTEMBER 2017. I didn’t know where I was going to live. I’d been surviving rent-free as a “granny nanny” in Orange County, California, for three years, living on $600 under-the-table per month. The agreed-upon term was over, and I was beginning to h

      3 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Nugent, Tenorio, Martin, and More

      Jul 7, 2020

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from the likes of Benjamin Nugent, Lysley Tenorio, and Andrew Martin—that are publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Nugent, Tenorio, Martin, and More appeared first on Th

      6 min read

    • Article

      Mammy Dearest

      Mar 20, 2022

      Noelle McCarthy, the broadcaster, podcaster and journalist, has two obsessions: her mother and Dracula. She has written a memoir, Grand: Becoming my mother’s daughter, in which both characters flounce across the pages, one with fangs wearing a cape,

      8 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Keefe, Beagin, Welsh, and More

      Feb 26, 2019

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from the likes of Patrick Radden Keefe, Jen Beagin, Irvine Welsh and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to

      6 min read

    • Article

      Wednesday New Release Day: Starring Ball, Orlean, and More

      Oct 13, 2021

      This week, we're looking at new titles from Bethany Ball, Susan Orlean, Margaret Verble, and Judith Freeman. The post Wednesday New Release Day: Starring Ball, Orlean, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      New Titles

      Dec 12, 2018

      By George Keithley George Braziller, Inc. “The Donner Party is one of the three or four finest book-length American poems ever written.”—Poetry. “Out of the western migration of the 1840s…Keithley has made a lean, taut narrative poem that moves with

      6 min read

    • Article

      I Met Fear on the Hill

      Dec 15, 2018

      It’s the summer of 1966, and Sheila and Peter are a young married couple living in Berkeley. They are very much in love, and also very high—tripping on acid for the first time in their lives, in Tilden Park—walking in a shallow stream full of primord

      32 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Mar 22, 2023

      Great Read
      8 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Tolentino, Valentine, Folarin, Marías, Price, and More

      Aug 6, 2019

      If you've been waiting for that debut essay collection from The New Yorker's star culture writer, this is your lucky week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Tolentino, Valentine, Folarin, Marías, Price, and More appeared first on The Million

      6 min read

    • Article

      Family Autopsy

      Sep 18, 2023

      When thinking about their ancestors,” ponders the narrator of Jim Davidson’s 2000 novel, Mine Work, “everybody hopes, if not assumes, that a hero lurks back in there someplace.” Grace Elizabeth Hale didn’t need to hope or assume; she knew. Her grandf

      3 min read

    • Article

      Not Yet Artifacts: On Kristine Langley Mahler’s ‘Curing Season’

      Feb 9, 2023

      As a child growing up in South Carolina, during my brother’s weekend soccer games, I would wander away from the sidelines and into the shade of towering pines, where I would dig in the red Carolina clay for bottle caps. I would brush the dirt from th

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Truth Behind A Fantasy Harlem

      Apr 2, 2021

      The Truth Behind A Fantasy Harlem
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Jane Austen in Boca

    3.5/5

    73 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This was recommended by someone after, I suppose, I said I liked Jane Austen. This spinoff of Pride and Prejudice contains modern-day, older versions of Lizzie and Jane Bennett, Charlotte Lucas, Mr. Collins, Bingley, Darcy, and Wickham. All of these characters have been married, but no longer are; in all but one case, their spouses have died. The parallels are easily determined soon after we meet these people, so when "Lizzie" meets "Wickham," we know she should not trust him. In fact, there are few surprises. I'm not sure who May, "Jane"'s daughter-in-law, is supposed to be; she seems to be a better Lady Catherine: I think she cares about the people she successfully manipulates. And there seems to be a new character: a niece who is a film student at NYU and wants to film a documentary about life in a retirement community. It was nice to read about places I know and the author has some good insights, but a lot of what is so wonderful about Jane Austen is her style of writing and this book doesn't replicate that.
    • 3/5

      A Fun Read !

    • 4/5
      A lovely, light, quick read based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, but not so closely as to be boring. I found the search for romance in retirement entertaining and heartwarming.
    • 3/5
      I was hoping for a light-hearted, cute little read about old people in FL, done Austen style. This book sort of delivered? First, let me say this is a pretty niche book - not because it loosely follows the plot of Pride and Prejudice (that's like a golden formula for hate-to-love romances and you don't have to be a fan of the book, just a fan of rom-coms/romance to appreciate it). Because not only is it about elderly Americans in FL, it's also about elderly, Jewish, Americans in FL. I didn't know the focus would be on the Jewish community. It's by no means a negative thing, but one I couldn't connect with. Not to mention, the references seemed very stereotypical and almost comical. It was more about what people think older Jewish people are like, and less what they might be like - and there was almost no religious aspect, so I'm not sure what the point of the emphasis of every character's Jewishness was.While it delivered on the light-hearted (there's not nearly as much drama in this as there is the source material) and the stakes were low (no five young ladies needing to be married well-off), nothing really grabbed me about the characters or the plot. This is maybe a weird comment to make, but the characters didn't feel like genuine seniors. Yes, they're all in their 70s, but they only felt that way because they live in a senior community and sometimes do or say things that a member of an older generation says. I don't know how to explain it and I don't have any ideas on how it could have felt more authentic...but it really felt like the characters could have been in their 30s, doing most of the same activities and saying most of the same things.It just wasn't as cute as I'd hoped and it wasn't particularly romantic or charming. It was an ok read, but not one I'll revisit. I suppose if you're looking for something about the Jewish community in FL, this might be fun for you.It did have a couple nice quotes though:" 'Life is a dream,' as the Spanish philosopher said.""Oh, I think it's real, but it's a reality we get on loan, and we need to remember that.""I get carried away when it comes to books. I buy too many.""I'm not going to criticize you there[...]. I've always felt you could never have too many books. It's like the feeling I have about those twenty-four-hour diners. I like to know they're there, in case I get hungry at three in the morning. With books, it's the same: I like to know that I'll have something to read at three in the morning."
    • 3/5
      3.5***

      This is a delightful retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in a Jewish retirement community in Boca Raton Florida. The story focuses on three widows: May Newman, Flo Kliman and Lila Katz. When May’s daughter-in-law, Carol, learns that the widowed father of her husband’s school friend is now living in a retirement community just down the road from May, she is determined to get the two of them together. (Think Mrs Bennet anxious to put her girls in the path of Mr Bingley.) From her New Jersey suburb Carol arranges a brunch reception at her mother-in-law’s condo and invites Norman Grafstein, who brings along his friend Stan Jacobs. You can imagine the plot turns from there.

      I really enjoyed this light read. It’s clever and witty, albeit predictable. I couldn’t help but remind myself, “Just like Wickham!” or “She must be Charlotte” as I read. Of course some of the scenarios draw from other Austen novels, but that’s no problem, it’s all in good fun and still entertaining. I even love the cover, which just makes me smile to look at it.
    • 2/5
      Having read two of Cohen's other books (Austen in Scarsdale, Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan), I knew what to expect in terms of literary weight (or lack thereof)...and because of that, I almost didn't read this one.

      As expected, this book was a (comparatively) light, quick read. The parallels to certain characters and plot points within Pride & Prejudice are highly recognizable, but not particularly heavy-handed. What does come to feel a bit heavy-handed are the stereotypes. Not being Jewish, I had to stop from time to time and look up the Yiddish terms that the author throws around, and while not a obstacle, I cannot say that the terms really added anything to the novel; it is already more than clear that all the main characters are thoroughly Jewish in culture, if not in religion. I'm not sure that the author missed a single Jewish stereotype, unfortunately revisiting and hammering on some repeatedly. It is almost as if she were making the point that this could ONLY happen in a Jewish retirement community, the critical point being the Jewishness of all the characters. I think it could have been more entertaining without quite so many stereotypes. After all, Jewish senior citizens do not have exclusive rights to attitudes of pride and prejudice.

      After investing the time to read the whole book (256 pages), I felt irritated by the slow build of the storylines and then the sudden close. Realizing there were not many pages left, I wondered when things were going to be tied up, and then immediately, on the next page, they were (or weren't, as the case may be)...and not in an overly believable fashion. Even the barely-over-a-page Epilogue disappointed, as it devotes more ink to May's daughter-in-law (who opened the book, but whose actions in the Epilogue have almost nothing to do with the storylines in the book) and grandson (who never got any dialogue...all his thoughts and feelings are related third person).

      Overall, it is not a bad book; I just cannot summon the conviction to call it a *good* book. While I was pleased to be spared any descriptions of sex (save for a brief incident with Viagra) and do not recall many instances of objectionable language, it takes more than that to earn my recommendation. This would suffice for a beach read if you want to choose something that can be read amidst distractions and that doesn't require mental exertion. Otherwise, I do not absolutely regret reading it; there were spells where I enjoyed it. But taken as a whole, I am not going to pass it on to my friends, either.
    • 3/5
      Take Pride and Prejudice and place it in a Boca Raton, Florida Jewish retirement community. Widow May Newman (think Jane Bennett) has made a nice life for herself at Boca Festa. She enjoys spending time with her two best friends Flo Kliman and Lila Katz. May’s nosy daughter-in-law catches wind of a suitable suitor for May, Norman Grafstein (Charles Bingley) and does everything in her power to get them together (sound like Mrs. Bennett anyone?) May’s feisty retired librarian friend Flo clashes with Norman’s pal Stan Jacobs (Elizabeth and Darcy)… and the stage is set. Ok, so the plot sounds vaguely familiar.Although I doubt I’m the target audience for this book (I am not Jewish and nowhere close to retirement age), I found it very enjoyable. You don’t even have to be obsessed with Jane Austen to like it either. Paula Marantz Cohen paints a vivid picture of what life is for Boca Raton retirees from shopping trips to Loehmann’s to visits from grandchildren. There are no caricatures here. The characters are real and reader’s can easily relate to them. This book would be great to recommend to older patrons, Jane Austen fans, and anyone in the mood for an enjoyable light-hearted comedic read with a dash of romance.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book, though I was not in its intended demographic. The author seemed to have a lot of insight into the community she was observing, with spot-on observations that made me laugh. I thought this novel was fresher than many other Jane Austen adaptations because it was set in a senior retirement community in Florida...definitely a new spin on an old tale.
    • 5/5
      This was the most fun book I've read in a long time.
    • 5/5
      Cute twist of P&P! I like the idea of setting it in a retirement home. Very unique!