Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues
by Linda Berdoll
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
Total masochists, people who love laughing at bad books
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Read in April, 2008
Oh, gosh. I really have no excuse. As such, in my shame, I am going to patch together a review from other people's reviews, as I'm sure what needs to be said has been said. Note: these are all from the first page (of 47) of reviews, as I really can't take reading any more.
I'm embarrassed to admit it--this was a totally enjoyable book (Susan). You cannot take it seriously or try to critique it academically (Ange pronounced Ahhh-nj). This is just smutty fanfiction that someone was able to get published (Cori). If you are looking for nothing more than a romance novel with fancy language and characters who just happen to share names with some illustrious literary figures, you might be pretty happy with your choice (Nicole). Instead of Austen's witty comedy of manners, this is a soap-operatic dramafest, with bastardy, rape, blackmail, stillbirths, adultery (Abbie). This is not Jane Austen. This will never be Jane Austen, as Jane Austen is dead. Purists shouldn't be reading Austen fan fic to begin with (Susan). No one will ever write like her again, so we better just buck up and admit that any book using the same characters and purporting to tell their story certainly will not be anything near a Jane Austen novel (Martha).
As a study tool for the GRE, this might be useful (Alana). The language at times is florid to the point of silly (Susan). Many of the sentences are downright be-cramped with broken sentence structure and overwrought language (Valerie).
People, Mr. Darcy takes a wife. A lot. All over the place. In various non-sexy and increasingly contrived scenarios (Edallia). Darcy and Elizabeth have a very passionate relationship (as we'd all hoped) but even I, who have been around the block a time or two, found myself muttering, "Geez, you two, take a break and have a spot o'tea" (Susan). They call their private bits things like "nonny-nonny" and "larrydoodle," nevermind the inevitable "torch of love" (Erica). A hilarious and satisfying read (Amanda).
If you're the sort of person who giggles and says "Aw snap, Charlotte!", then this is a fun ride (Susan). Trashy fun...totally satisfying (Lara)! ...more
I'm embarrassed to admit it--this was a totally enjoyable book (Susan). You cannot take it seriously or try to critique it academically (Ange pronounced Ahhh-nj). This is just smutty fanfiction that someone was able to get published (Cori). If you are looking for nothing more than a romance novel with fancy language and characters who just happen to share names with some illustrious literary figures, you might be pretty happy with your choice (Nicole). Instead of Austen's witty comedy of manners, this is a soap-operatic dramafest, with bastardy, rape, blackmail, stillbirths, adultery (Abbie). This is not Jane Austen. This will never be Jane Austen, as Jane Austen is dead. Purists shouldn't be reading Austen fan fic to begin with (Susan). No one will ever write like her again, so we better just buck up and admit that any book using the same characters and purporting to tell their story certainly will not be anything near a Jane Austen novel (Martha).
As a study tool for the GRE, this might be useful (Alana). The language at times is florid to the point of silly (Susan). Many of the sentences are downright be-cramped with broken sentence structure and overwrought language (Valerie).
People, Mr. Darcy takes a wife. A lot. All over the place. In various non-sexy and increasingly contrived scenarios (Edallia). Darcy and Elizabeth have a very passionate relationship (as we'd all hoped) but even I, who have been around the block a time or two, found myself muttering, "Geez, you two, take a break and have a spot o'tea" (Susan). They call their private bits things like "nonny-nonny" and "larrydoodle," nevermind the inevitable "torch of love" (Erica). A hilarious and satisfying read (Amanda).
If you're the sort of person who giggles and says "Aw snap, Charlotte!", then this is a fun ride (Susan). Trashy fun...totally satisfying (Lara)! ...more
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Read in August, 2008
When you want a taste of Tudor England, do you turn to Shakespeare, or do you watch The Tudors? You answer might determine whether or not you would enjoy Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, a book that tries to hide the fact that it is a romance novel by pretending that it might have been imagined by Jane Austen.
I can’t decide if this is a bad book or not. To me, there is a time and a place for the trashiness of The Tudors, or The Other Bolyn Girl, or the part of the BBC Pride and Prejudice when Col...more
I can’t decide if this is a bad book or not. To me, there is a time and a place for the trashiness of The Tudors, or The Other Bolyn Girl, or the part of the BBC Pride and Prejudice when Col...more
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Read in August, 2004
I woke up this morning in a very poor frame of mine, indeterminate of whether to rise and face the world or give up on life, work, school, and breakfast.
The reasons for my my listlessness can be traced back to the fact that I stayed up late the night before reading a very poor novel.
I am a great fan of Pride and Prejudice. In fact, on a blogquiz that Webel took for me, I was dubbed "most like Elizabeth Bennet" of all the Austen characters. The fact that Webel apparently does ...more
The reasons for my my listlessness can be traced back to the fact that I stayed up late the night before reading a very poor novel.
I am a great fan of Pride and Prejudice. In fact, on a blogquiz that Webel took for me, I was dubbed "most like Elizabeth Bennet" of all the Austen characters. The fact that Webel apparently does ...more
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Read in April, 2000
recommends it for:
no one
I was so happy to see that GoodReads allows you to rate something with zero stars! If ever a book merited such treatment, it is this one. This book is so BAD it is unintentionally funny. Very funny. My favorite sentences so far:
"Propitious fortune allowed her to descry whom the crepuscular light yielded."
"The single unseemliness bechanced in her dressing room."
"Whilst still partaking of their meal, Darcy apologised unnecessarily upon the austere winter dres...more
"Propitious fortune allowed her to descry whom the crepuscular light yielded."
"The single unseemliness bechanced in her dressing room."
"Whilst still partaking of their meal, Darcy apologised unnecessarily upon the austere winter dres...more
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Read in January, 2008
I'm embarrassed to admit it--this was a totally enjoyable book. Unlike the yawn-inducing Mr. Knightly's Diary this took great liberties with the plot, taking off where the original leaves off.
First, this is not Jane Austen. This will never be Jane Austen, as Jane Austen is dead. Purists shouldn't be reading Austen fan fic to begin with.
That said, the author throws down a gauntlet in the forward with a quote from sm...more
First, this is not Jane Austen. This will never be Jane Austen, as Jane Austen is dead. Purists shouldn't be reading Austen fan fic to begin with.
That said, the author throws down a gauntlet in the forward with a quote from sm...more
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Read in March, 2005
recommends it for:
people I dislike
Please, don't read this book, or, if you feel compelled to, please don't tell me you did unless it is with the intent to vent your anger and frustration that such a travesty was ever published. If you do not feel highly protective of Darcy, Lizzie, Jane Austen, and all her writing stands for, you might get some enjoyment out of this book. If you love Jane for her satire and excellent but unforced language, as well as respectable characters, you might be brought to tears or to burning this book...more
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recommends it for:
No one. Not even my worst enemy ... well, maybe my worst enemy.
SO BAD. This is just smutty fanfiction that someone was able to get published. Sex (which was done very stupidly) is on every other page and the characters have been given new, and less flattering backgrounds. Mr. Darcy is a "well endowed" sex god, who has been "spreading his love" around since he was 16. Elizabeth, while still a virgin, was ready to give it up to Darcy before marriage, and would have, if not for an interruption. I just felt like I was growing to dislike...more
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Trashy fun...totally satisfying! Yes, a trashy book can be satisfying indeed. Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife filled a massive void in my life: what the heck happens to Darcy and Elizabeth after Pride and Prejudice????
I have no idea how many times I've read Pride and Prejudice. It is at least an bi-annual tradition. I also tend to wallow in a self-imposed gloom if I don't get to watch the BBC's most excellent, divinely-inspired 1995 mini-series Pride and Prejudice at least once a year. Berdoll's book...more
I have no idea how many times I've read Pride and Prejudice. It is at least an bi-annual tradition. I also tend to wallow in a self-imposed gloom if I don't get to watch the BBC's most excellent, divinely-inspired 1995 mini-series Pride and Prejudice at least once a year. Berdoll's book...more
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Read in April, 2008
Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife is one of many sequels to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. After reading this story, I find myself with mixed feeings. The romance novel lover in me loved the scenes and intrigues. However, the Austen fan in me was highly dissapointed.
Breaking it down, I loved revisitng Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, and finding out what happened to them and in their lives since realizing their love for each other in Pride and Prejudice. As a lover of happily ever after and happy end...more
Breaking it down, I loved revisitng Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, and finding out what happened to them and in their lives since realizing their love for each other in Pride and Prejudice. As a lover of happily ever after and happy end...more
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I stole this review from someone else, because it perfectly states what I thought:
" SO BAD. This is just smutty fanfiction that someone was able to get published. Sex (which was done very stupidly) is on every other page and the characters have been given new, and less flattering backgrounds. Mr. Darcy is a "well endowed" sex god, who has been "spreading his love" around since he was 16. Elizabeth, while still a virgin, was ready to give it up to Darcy before marriag...more
" SO BAD. This is just smutty fanfiction that someone was able to get published. Sex (which was done very stupidly) is on every other page and the characters have been given new, and less flattering backgrounds. Mr. Darcy is a "well endowed" sex god, who has been "spreading his love" around since he was 16. Elizabeth, while still a virgin, was ready to give it up to Darcy before marriag...more
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Some of the many, many sex scenes in this book offer some insights into the characters that we love. Most of them do not. This novel is populated with caricatures--Charlotte Collins ghosting around with dead eyes, Mrs. Bennet screaming everything all the time, Darcy the world's greatest lover and Bingley the most clueless. All of it punctuated with fantasy after lurid fantasy in stilted pseudo-nineteenth-century prose. There must be a better way of understanding Austen's characters as sexual...more
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Okay, it didn't help that there were about 150 pages repeated in this book, plus about as many missing. I realize this was a printing error, but the book was SO BAD that I hated it even before I discovered the pagination problems. This was written by a woman who had never read Pride & Prejudice but saw the BBC version (which totally rocks) on TV. Feeling cheated because the book ends with Darcy & Elizabeth's marriage but no description of the consummation of their passion, she decided to...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
Jane Austen Fans
I'm not totally sure how to start this review. I guess I'll discuss the negative aspects first.
1. It was TOO telling, there was so much exposition that by the time the events happened I felt a strong sense of "been there done that."
2. Some of the language used wasn't appropriate. The author took quite a few liberties with French expressions, which having had 4 years of french in HS, I understood, but to those not having, might get the gist, but all the same, was it necessary, n...more
1. It was TOO telling, there was so much exposition that by the time the events happened I felt a strong sense of "been there done that."
2. Some of the language used wasn't appropriate. The author took quite a few liberties with French expressions, which having had 4 years of french in HS, I understood, but to those not having, might get the gist, but all the same, was it necessary, n...more
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Read in March, 2008
I got about 20 pages in before I threw the book in the trash. Although I appreciate an author's ability and desire to continue beloved stories where the original author left off, this particular example was disappointing and disgusting. The author's vain attempt at writing with the understanding and breadth of the early 19th century Jane Austen was irritating and disappointing. According to this author, all early 19th conversations started with the word "Pray", and her authorial narrat...more
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Read in September, 2005
recommends it for:
the Austen lover who wishes Darcy and Elizabeth did more than kiss at the end
Berdoll spins quite an entertaining tale. One of the Brontes once said that Austen wrote about a chaste kiss because she was smart enough to write only what she herself knew about...Berdoll really takes it from there. Darcy and Elizabeth have a very passionate relationship (as we'd all hoped) but even I, who have been around the block a time or two, found myself muttering, "Geez, you two, take a break and have a spot o'tea." Once you get past the fact that this is supposed to be an ...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
people who like really bad books
1 1/2 stars. VERY disappointing.
I suppose it was my own fault for not reading the reviews first.
Written in a Jane Austen-esque style, this book was completely UN Austen as they get.
Elizabeth Bennet turned into a complete Nymphomaniac!
Although she never ran out of euphamisms for sex. I was amazed at how many descriptions she came up with for the act.
It was VERY hard to read about Mr darcy's "Well endowed member" . This is MR DARCY! You can't write stuff liket hat about him!!...more
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Berdoll professes to write a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, a massive undertaking given the sheer number and acerbity of Austen-purists in the world.
She succeeds in granting us charming glances into Darcy and Wickham's childhood, crafting an interesting and mostly plausible characterization of both Colonel Fitzwilliam and Georgiana neither of whom was (due to the book's focus) fleshed out extensively in Austen's work.
However, some of the love scenes are at times a bit much to stomach (...more
She succeeds in granting us charming glances into Darcy and Wickham's childhood, crafting an interesting and mostly plausible characterization of both Colonel Fitzwilliam and Georgiana neither of whom was (due to the book's focus) fleshed out extensively in Austen's work.
However, some of the love scenes are at times a bit much to stomach (...more
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Read in July, 2007
Why, oh why, do I keep reading books that propose to be sequels to "Pride and Prejudice"? I love the original so much that reading all these imitations is the literary equivalent of watching a good friend being beaten up and not doing anything about it.
ANyway. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy get married. And they have sex. Oh, boy, do they have sex. If I were 12 years old and still curious about how that sort of thing worked I'd be delighted, but as it was, I kept wanting to scream &q...more
ANyway. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy get married. And they have sex. Oh, boy, do they have sex. If I were 12 years old and still curious about how that sort of thing worked I'd be delighted, but as it was, I kept wanting to scream &q...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
anybody not expecting Jane Austen
Oh come on. It wasn't that bad. I started off really rolling my eyes while reading this book planning to abandon it soon. But it actually turned into a story, with the characters all having new episodes in their lives, and their characters actually developed to the next level. So I can't totally diss it. There was a lot of silly language with the author trying to talk dirty and trashy in the style of the 1830s, but she put herself in an untenable position, since, if well-bred Englishwomen did ...more
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