Last year, I tried to write about one of my favorite authors on her birthday and completely missed it. This year, I have decided to spend the whole month of December on Miss Austen and the literary accomplishments that have long outlived her, also ensuring that I will not miss her birthday again!
In the 196 years since her death, Jane Austen has managed to become a cottage industry without even trying. It is quite popular to take her characters and add adventures to their lives, to further their stories and to give readers, and watchers, more of the Austen characters we've grown to love. The Republic of Pemberley, an all-things-Jane-Austen website, lists sequels to all of Jane's books but is not exhaustive since the book I'm reviewing for this post isn't on the list. This is the page for Pride and Prejudice. I freely confess to printing out this list and reading several of these books, some so droll as to be painful to finish and others so racy I am quite sure Miss Austen would not approve.
Searching the virtual shelves on Amazon under "Pride and Prejudice sequels" produced 386 hits and "Pride and Prejudice variations" had 336 results, with several books appearing on both searches. Googling "pride and prejudice sequels and variations" produced 375,000 hits; it seems Lizzy and Darcy might be the favorites of Jane-Austen-wannabes through the (almost) centuries.
Austenprose.com, another website devoted to Jane and her books and their sequels, is celebrating the bicentenary of P&P, each month reviewing a movie or sequel. Spend some time clicking around because she has a very comprehensive dictionary listing terms defining the various genres of fan fiction.
The book I'd like to discuss falls under the Contemporary category: "A novel based on Jane Austen, her characters, or plots that is set after 1945." P.D. James wrote Death comes to Pemberley. I have never read anything by James; the book jacket describes her as "the queen of mystery" and "the greatest living writer of British crime fiction." (I wonder about this walking-on-eggshells description: are they afraid of offending Agatha Christie fans?) It was extremely tedious to read the same description in three different chapters, making it seem like the plot stalled in the middle of the book. I kept wondering how that repetition was important but it never became clear.
This book also seemed to think the Darcys needed therapy to help resolve issues from their courtship and marriage six years earlier. Elizabeth still carried regret over her attentions to Wickham and Darcy still struggled with how to treat him as a brother-in-law, a situation of his own making due to his love for Elizabeth.
I didn't appreciate the sacrifice of a minor character and the deathbed confession of another character. I would have liked it better if Wickham had, in fact, hanged. Having to be married to Lydia is not punishment enough.
In the beginning of the novel, James does very well imitating Austen's writing style - sentences that are lines long and pages with no paragraph breaks. But once past the introduction, which was very well done, her writing reverts to, what I am guessing, is her own mystery/crime writing style.
I also must say that I did not guess the mystery until I read the deathbed confession, which seems a bit forced, but I did guess one part, which I am sure you will too, if you read this. It took me about a weekend.
In googling the title, I discovered that this book is to be/has been made into a BBC miniseries. Kudos to Mrs. James' agent! It will air on PBS sometime in 2014. I will be watching!
In the 196 years since her death, Jane Austen has managed to become a cottage industry without even trying. It is quite popular to take her characters and add adventures to their lives, to further their stories and to give readers, and watchers, more of the Austen characters we've grown to love. The Republic of Pemberley, an all-things-Jane-Austen website, lists sequels to all of Jane's books but is not exhaustive since the book I'm reviewing for this post isn't on the list. This is the page for Pride and Prejudice. I freely confess to printing out this list and reading several of these books, some so droll as to be painful to finish and others so racy I am quite sure Miss Austen would not approve.
Searching the virtual shelves on Amazon under "Pride and Prejudice sequels" produced 386 hits and "Pride and Prejudice variations" had 336 results, with several books appearing on both searches. Googling "pride and prejudice sequels and variations" produced 375,000 hits; it seems Lizzy and Darcy might be the favorites of Jane-Austen-wannabes through the (almost) centuries.
Austenprose.com, another website devoted to Jane and her books and their sequels, is celebrating the bicentenary of P&P, each month reviewing a movie or sequel. Spend some time clicking around because she has a very comprehensive dictionary listing terms defining the various genres of fan fiction.
The book I'd like to discuss falls under the Contemporary category: "A novel based on Jane Austen, her characters, or plots that is set after 1945." P.D. James wrote Death comes to Pemberley. I have never read anything by James; the book jacket describes her as "the queen of mystery" and "the greatest living writer of British crime fiction." (I wonder about this walking-on-eggshells description: are they afraid of offending Agatha Christie fans?) It was extremely tedious to read the same description in three different chapters, making it seem like the plot stalled in the middle of the book. I kept wondering how that repetition was important but it never became clear.
This book also seemed to think the Darcys needed therapy to help resolve issues from their courtship and marriage six years earlier. Elizabeth still carried regret over her attentions to Wickham and Darcy still struggled with how to treat him as a brother-in-law, a situation of his own making due to his love for Elizabeth.
I didn't appreciate the sacrifice of a minor character and the deathbed confession of another character. I would have liked it better if Wickham had, in fact, hanged. Having to be married to Lydia is not punishment enough.
In the beginning of the novel, James does very well imitating Austen's writing style - sentences that are lines long and pages with no paragraph breaks. But once past the introduction, which was very well done, her writing reverts to, what I am guessing, is her own mystery/crime writing style.
I also must say that I did not guess the mystery until I read the deathbed confession, which seems a bit forced, but I did guess one part, which I am sure you will too, if you read this. It took me about a weekend.
In googling the title, I discovered that this book is to be/has been made into a BBC miniseries. Kudos to Mrs. James' agent! It will air on PBS sometime in 2014. I will be watching!
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