The diary of Henry Fitzwilliam Darcy

by Marjorie Fasman

Book by Fasman, Marjorie

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Lynette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugggh. The diary started when Darcy was 12 and felt like he was still 12 all the way through. No way would Darcy act like this and I'm usually flexible with my interpretations. Also, the timeline was all wrong, didn't this author even read Pride and Prejudice?

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very different book with Darcy's character being very different from the true Darcy. I suppose some people could view Darcy as a thespian and writer (of this diary). It is almost like the diary is his best companion from an early age. His parents were also portrayed as a little aloof and that his mother was not very caring at all. Darcy even enjoys all of the social aspects of London (even the "ladies of the evening "). Elizabeth's character is somewhat more true to the original, but loves to ride her horse in trousers (which I don't think the true character would have done). I guess it just depends on how far you let your imagination run.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I always love anything about Fitzwilliam Darcy. I tried not to be prejudiced by the negative reviews here at Amazon. So with that I dove in. Unfortunately I found Darcy's childhood writings to be extremely contrived -- and I found myself rolling my eyes. But tried to muddle through, regardless. I mean why would anyone always side with the steward's son over the heir! And why did the heir to the great estate Pemberley not learn to ride a horse til after age 12? Or take it upon himself to learn how to swim, alone?? Or being given to the governship of a physically & mentally abusive teacher/servant? Eventually I skipped ahead to see how far it would be until Darcy married Elizabeth, and the romantic in me softened to this Darcy. After reading to the books happy ending, I decided I liked this Darcy enough to go back to where I had originally left off. And whatever, it's worth, I liked it somewhat better. Never have I read a book this way but I think I was so turned off by the inaccuracies and leaps of faith, and having to accept that Darcy's childhood and relationships with his family was mentally abusive, seemed quite a reach for me. Granted this is one author's interpretation and I gave myself up to that reasoning. If you can overcome the author's inaccuracies of timeline for Pride and Prejudice , her playing with scene placement like when Darcy first returns to Longbourne with Bingley "after" his encounter with Lady Catherine (I don't see why she changed that,) or that at one point Lady Catherine "stopped by" Pemberley on her way back from London (anyone with a map knows you wouldn't travel to Derbyshire from London to get back to Kent!)or that the Darcy family tree has the Colonel Fitzwilliam on the Darcy side (why then would he feel any familial duty to attend to Lady Catherine in the spring?) or that it would take "only" a day and a night's travel by carriage from Longbourne to Pemberely??? There are a number of odd details like this that discourage me from liking this book. (The author actually uses the P&P1995 movie scene with Colin Firth coming out of the lake at Pemberley and meeting Elizabeth.) I wish I knew better why the Darcy's returned from Longbourne after Lizzy had attended to her sick mother, with a wedge in their relationship -- and how was it resolved? For all the tedious details the author writes to Dear Diary, there are certain events that are seemed to be glossed over. I cannot in good conscience recommend this at the well over $20 price. I found mine on ebay for less than $10 and so it was not such a tragedy to me. It's part of my library collection now and maybe I will re-read it sometime to see if anything can be clarified by a second read.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Darcy's diary is the imagined writings from his 10th birthday when he received the diary as a gift until the day Elizabeth tells him they are expecting their first child, and he closes the diary for good. It follows the story line of Pride and Prejudice from his perspective. This is not serious literature but is a fun read for Jane Austen fans.

[Lyndsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very difficult to find a copy of this book since (at least when I looked for it) it was out of publication so I had to order second hand on AmazonUK. I really liked the book. It was written well and gave Darcy a nice sense of humor you wouldn't expect him to have. Fun book.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as other Darcy perspectives I've read. Too long and too choppy.