I have 8 followers now... AWESOME!!!! So tonight I'm going to update you on my Pride and Prejudice challenge. In case you missed it, I'm trying to read all the Pride and Prejudice sequels, prequels or whatever the authors decided to do with the plot line. I'm also going to touch on why I'm currently fighting with Jane Austen after finishing Mansfield Park.
Before I start on my very Grinchy rampage, I must apologize profusely to anybody who likes smut novels. I think sex scenes are so awkward and I don't understand the point. There is no pleasure in reading about someone else having sex. I find it incredibly embarrassing because I know if I was having sex I wouldn't want a bunch of people watching me. I usually just skip the whole thing because it usually has very little to do with the outcome of the book.
Anyways, I finally got through To Conquer Mr. Darcy and I could feel Austen just turning over in her grave. The book was a travesty. I wish to believe the author had good intentions when starting out but completely missed the mark with Austen's interpretation of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.
The books starts right after Elizabeth Bennett has refused Mr. Darcy's hand in marriage at Rosings. Mr. Darcy has rushed back to London and is now drinking himself to death. The world must now end because Ms. Bennett refused him! Now the idea of Mr. Darcy with a hangover amuses me to no end but it's the only amusing part of the ENTIRE book! The book gives us a first-hand look at Mr. Darcy's thoughts as he begins to pursue Elizabeth once more. The premise of the book is promising but promise stops right after Mr. Darcy leaves to return to Longbourne.
Instead of sticking to Austen's plot line, the author entirely re-writes the second half of the story. As an Austen purist, this is blasphemy! Elizabeth marries Mr. Darcy during her trip North with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner. In Pride and Prejudice, she doesn't even meet Mr. Darcy again until that trip.
I might be able to allow the author creative license with the plot line but I can't allow the author to change the personalities of the two main characters. Mr. Darcy wasn't smug enough and came across as too lively. Mr. Darcy is supposed to be a proud, pompous prick who is incredibly loyal but ridiculously shy.
Alas, he comes off at too soft. The author turns Mr. Darcy into a pushover who actually smiles and laughs at a joke by Mrs. Bennett! Elizabeth was more believable but I was shocked when she lost ALL of her fiery independence. She marries Mr. Darcy and it all vanishes. The author talks about her struggle to retain the independence after they wed but then they get married and Elizabeth lets Mr. Darcy take over. I felt like she missed the mark with the books main characters.
The author also turned a perfectly good romance novel into a smut book. Yea, that's right Austenites... the two main characters have sex before getting married. It's just so inconsistent with their personalities that after I skipped that page, I could no longer enjoy the book. I JUST cannot find anyway of justifying the course of events in this books. In Austen's book, Mr. Darcy has too good of principles to risk his own name and the virtue of Elizabeth Bennett. And it doesn't make any sense within the time period, it would have been a HUGE scandal. Mr. Darcy's good name would have been ruined and Elizabeth would not have been able to be seen in respectable company. But the author just wrote the entire thing off as if it were a normal occurrence.
There was just too many differences for the book to be even remotely enjoyed. Had the author but taken the time to truly understand the relationship between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, this travesty would have never been written or even sold to the public. So save yourselves the $5 and DO NOT EVER BUY THIS BOOK!
And now for Mansfield Park. I found Fanny Price to be the most boring Jane Austen heroine ever. Austen's female leads are usually so strong and independent that Fanny Price seemed like a cry for help. I can't believe I'm actually saying this but I liked the film better than the book. At last in the Miramax version, Fanny Price is restored some of that passion that Austen wrote into her other heroines.
The book version of Fanny is far too dull and she almost comes off as lifeless. I feel like the characters around Fanny require her to be vivacious or at least not as boring as a pine cone. So Mansfield Park is now on the books I wish never to read again and it hurts my Austen purist heart to think that it's now been banished to the same list as Gone With the Wind and Catcher in the Rye. Jane Austen has never failed me and now that she has, I find myself completely lost.
I will eventually get over my fight with Austen. To make myself feel better, I'm rereading Pride and Prejudice. And as for my challenge, it's on hold until I'm able to afford more novels or get myself to the library.
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