What did you think about Schine’s choice to make Miranda and Annie much older than Jane Austen's characters?

Jane Austen’s characters are much younger than Schine’s characters. What did you think about Schine’s choice to make Miranda and Annie middle-aged? How does this choice affect the plot, the characters’ development, and your expectations of how it ended?

As I mentioned in another thread ("Is it ever too late for romance?"), I am thrilled by Schine's choice to make Miranda and Annie much older than Austen's characters. Why must we save all the romantic outcomes for younger women? Aren't older women just as entitled to find love and experience romance? We live in a society that worships youth and that seems to believe that the only love stories that are compelling are those involving the young and beautiful. That's a shame, in my opinion. Kudos to Schine for promoting a broader view of love, romance, and beauty.

I was pleasantly surprised; divorces are much more common now, and there are a lot of romances happening later in life. It was also very realistic, thank heavens, in that all do not turn out "happily ever after" on the first try or ever. Life is what it is.

I think it made the book more interesting for an older reader, less so for a younger reader. I don't, however, agree with the comparisons to Austen.

@Lorie: very interesting point, and I agree. Can you go into more detail about your second statement? In what ways do you disagree with the comparisons to Austen?

I think that having all the characters older made the book relevant to an older audience, but her themes are universal-unrequited love, middle age crisis, confused sexuality, coming of age-for any reader. I found the book more interesting because I could relate to the characters-they were closer to my age, or older in some cases!

Making the characters older makes the novel more identifiable in today's culture. It was interesting how Miranda was so scattered even at her age and with a seemingly successful career. And Anna was obviously the one trying to hold it all together withour much cooperation from sister or mother. And the way their happiness seemed to depend on the men in their lives, except for Anna, was similar to Austen.