Mrs. Bennet Has Her Say

by Jane Juska

If Jane Austen had been allowed to write about sex, I'd like to think this is how she would have done it. Rebecca Makkai, author of "The Hundred-Year House." An audaciously entertaining look at love, marriage, and the beloved Bennet family from"Pride and Prejudice," as you've never seen them before . . . "It is a truth universally acknowledged that every man in possession of a wife must be in want of a son." 1785 was to be the most marvelous year of Marianne s life, until an unfortunate turn of events left her in a compromised state and desperate for a husband to care or rather cover for her. Now, she is stuck in an undesirable marriage to Mr. Edward Bennet, a man desperate in his own way for a male heir. But as she is still carrying a smoldering desire for the handsome Colonel Miller, Mrs. Bennet must constantly find new, clever ways to avoid her husband s lascivious advances until she is once again reunited with her dashing Colonel. Except that the best-laid plans of a woman in good standing can so often go awry, especially when her contrary husband has plans and desires of his own . . ."

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature, Historical, Adult Fiction, Adult

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2015

Reviews

[Sabrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I acquired this book as an ARC via a friend in the publishing world, and from the description on the back I expected it to be silly and funny. It wasn't. If I could give this a negative rating, I would.

The one thing I can say for the author is that she remained mostly true to the characters of Mr and Mrs & Bennet. They're idiots in Pride & Prejudice and they're idiots in this book. However, in P&P there are redeeming qualities to them. There are none in Juska's version of them. Not only are they moronic to the highest degree, they're truly terrible people.

***HERE BE SPOILERS***

It's impossible to respect or like the characters for very long. Just when you're feeling sorry for one or the other, they go and do something that makes you want to throw the book away. Okay, Marianne starts out as a silly, foolish girl who gets herself pregnant when she's seduced by a charming soldier (there's a lot of P&P undertones here. It's almost a rip off). She marries Mr. Bennet out of desperation but she doesn't really like or respect him. Fine, I'm still on board. I was expecting to watch her grow up a little, to watch them fall in love, or at least 'like', with each other. I wanted to see them grow as people and into their marriage, to go through some trials and become closer as a result. What I got was crap.

First, the writing is inconsistent. In Mr. Bennet's side of the story, told through journal entries (whereas Mrs. Bennet writes letters to her sister) he seems to flip flop between thinking that his wife enjoys his sexual advances, and then acknowledging that she's never enjoyed sex with him. It's not that he comes to realization that she's never liked sex with him, no, no. In one entry he talks about how pleased she was by his attentions, how she 'squealed' when he 'entered her' and a couple of entries later he's talking about how she's always cried during and after sex and she's never shown him any affection. I expected Mr. Bennet to be clueless about his wife, but the writing of him isn't consistent in that regard. One minute he's clueless, the next he's not. Then there's the duel. At one point Mr. Bennet is shot during said duel, but the writing is so unclear you're not really sure what's happening. He's shot, but he's not because his book in his pocket saved him, and then he's up again and challenging the man once more, but wait, now he's shooting at the sky and the man he's challenged is somehow ruined because Mr. Bennet is more of a gentleman than the other man for shooting at the sky and not his opponent DURING A GODDAMN DUEL and the other man starts to cry? Last I checked, killing each other was the whole point to a duel. Are you confused? So am I, and I read the damn book.

Additionally, the author clearly either has no understanding of the human gestation process, or she can't do basic math. Or she wants the reader to think that Marianne is mentally challenged. I can't decide which. The reasoning for this speculation is that at one point in the book Marianne writes a letter to her husband, dated Oct 1787, and tells him that his child will be due in December. Previous to that she had apparently been unaware that she was pregnant, it had to be pointed out to her (even though this would be her 3rd pregnancy--Mary Bennet). So, either Marianne is 7 or 8 months pregnant and so fucking stupid that she just thinks she's put on a little weight, or the author would have you believe that the baby is to be born in December 1788, which is well over a year of gestation. Most people don't realize that the average woman's pregnancy is actually 10 months, but 12+ is pushing it. We're not elephants.

Finally, the plot is just terrible. The things that the characters do make them completely unlikeable. Mr. Bennet screws a whore and gets crabs, Mrs. Bennet runs off to Bath to pursue Colonel Miller (the man who knocked her up prior to her marriage) even though previous meetings between the two of them proved that he has no recollection of her and therefore can have no affection for her. She's so stupid that she doesn't realize she's being used and ends up sleeping with him, while back at home Mr. Bennet almost rapes a serving girl because he thinks she belongs to him just because she's in his employ. That last bit doesn't really jive with the Mr. Bennet that Jane Austen wrote. Sure, he's a self-centred, thoughtless sort of man but he's not a beast. In Juska's novel, he's a beastly man. And then there's the part at the end where Mrs. Littleworth turns out to be some dastardly gambling junkie with a plan to take on London's wealthiest and make herself a fortune while pimping out Marianne to Colonel Miller? Yeah, that came out of left field. I found myself muttering 'what the actual fuck?' more than once during the reading of this novel. It's as if the author decided to throw together as many shock value plot devices as she could and call it literature.

Lord, I wish I could get back the hours of my life spent reading this shite.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that if there is a book set in the world of Jane Austen, I will read it even though it is sure to disappoint.

Reader, I was disappointed.

This is the story of the early years of Mr and Mrs Bennet's marriage told in alternating chapters of Mr Bennet's diary entries and Mrs Bennet's letters to her sister. A big problem is that the characterization is inconsistent, but mostly this book just makes me sad. Neither person seems to really grow or change much (oh, Mrs Bennet SAYS she is going to change multiple times, but always seems to revert back to her old ways almost immediately).

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Such a slew of bad reviews of this novel! Mine will not be. In fact, I thought this novel was wonderfully fresh and put a really interesting twist on a classic. I can’t say that I loved it, but I definitely don’t understand anyone who gave this a 1-star review.

Actually, I do I understand why people are “upset” with this novel. They say it’s “crude”, it’s “offensive”, etc etc. My response? Give me a fucking break, ladies. This novel is “offensive” to you because it isn’t a flowery, sappy, happy-go-lucky romance – the author decided to depict what it would have been like for a couple in Georgian England. I’m going to be pedantic about this, because I studied Victorian Domestic Fiction, the history of the family, and Feminism in university, so I know what I’m talking about.

Pride & Prejudice was NOT the norm when it came to love – most of the time it worked like in this novel. A 30/35-year-old guy decides he needs a wife/wants heirs. He picks a woman (usually a girl 15-18) who seems to compliment his lifestyle, they have a few conversations, then he asks her father if they can get married. The father looks at the man’s assets, they discuss a dowry, and then a wedding happens. Seriously, it was not a big pomp and circumstance we have today – it was a BUSINESS DEAL. Women were property. Especially the landed gentry. The very poor and the really wealthy had time to fritter about for love.

Anyway, history lesson aside, I thought both characters were extremely realistic. Mr. Bennett was a classically educated lower gentry raised with the typical ideology of the time that a woman, including her body, was “his”. He would never hurt her physically, just like he’d never beat a dog, but had no interest in pleasing her sexuality (because, at that time women were believed to have no sexual thoughts at all). In fact, I thought this aspect was extremely well done – Mrs. Bennett goes on and on about her virtue and sexuality because women were drilled about that their entire lives, like how nowadays society is constantly telling girls to be skinny. Mrs. Bennett getting knocked up at 15 by the colonel is also not far-fetched at all; despite being told all the time to be “virtuous”, girls were not given any sexual education. Take any 15 year old girl who knows nothing about sex and of course she’s going to be seduced by an older, handsome guy.

And Mr. B – I thought his “side” was very well done. In fact, that part with Matilda was a bang-on depiction of the ideology of men back in the day; expectant but not cruel. A man in this day and age who acted like Mr. B (cough cough Trump cough cough) would be a real douchebag, a sexual predator with no respect for women, but back in the 1800s, women didn’t even have RIGHTS. You know where the expression "Rule of thumb" comes from? Well, it was the width of the rod a husband was legally allowed to beat his wife with. And there was no such thing as rape in marriage. If you were married, you were expected to put out all the time. So of course men, who had been raised that women aren’t into sex but have to do it as part of marriage, would try to have sex all the time – they probably believed that woman had no emotion towards it whatsoever.

And Mr. B definitely would go a whore-house. He didn’t marry Mrs. B for love – there’s no loyalty there (also a sexist double-standard that came with the time). I did laugh aloud when he jizzed on his book by accident and then got crabs.

And of course Mrs. B is an idiot. She’s 19 when the novel ENDS. Can you imagine being 17 with 2 toddlers and married to a man you don’t love? Of course you’d act like a moron when the guy you think you love suddenly shows up again and starts giving you attention. Puts it in perspective too – in the movies Mrs. B is always this 50 year old women. In reality she would have been 33 and Jane would be 16.

Anyway, I thought this book was a really interesting take on P&P.

One caveat.
Didn’t like what she said about Kiera Knightley in the afterward though. First of all, saying someone is “too skinny” is body-shaming, and, second of all, Kiera is a marvelous actor and gorgeous so shut your mouth.

[Meredith (Austenesque Reviews) · Rating 2 out of 5]

What prompted Mrs. Bennet to marry Mr. Bennet? Was their marriage always one of disinterest and little affection?

These are just some of the things I sometimes wonder about Bennets. Jane Austen paints their marriage as one of unhappiness, inequality, and discontent. Was there ever a time of happiness and hope? I was so glad when I discovered that someone published a story about Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. I was even more pleased when I discovered that the story was fully comprised of letters and diary entries. And not only does Mrs. Bennet have her say in this book, but Mr. Bennet does too, as the diary entries are from him! With Mrs. Bennet’s letters to her sister and Mr. Bennet’s diary entries readers can observe their honest thoughts, candid feelings, and private experiences. But readers should be warned that the content of these letters are at times very shocking, bawdy, and a bit unseemly. It would appear that the act of physical congress is often the topic of choice in both Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s communications… (Recommended for Mature Audiences)

The story begins with their wedding night and it is soon revealed that Mrs. Bennet, at the tender age of fifteen, had a pressing ulterior motive for accepting Mr. Bennet’s sudden proposal. Just like her daughters, Mrs. Bennet liked a red coat very well – a Colonel Millar to be specific – and like her daughters, she was devastated when his regiment left town. But it would appear that a couple of years later their paths cross again. Will their passionate romance be rekindled? Will all be told? Or will Mrs. Bennet find contentment with her family and life with Mr. Bennet?

While I absolutely adore the idea of a Pride and Prejudice prequel about Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, I’m afraid this story isn’t one that left me satisfied or happy. The author’s portrayal of Mr. Bennet is most unflattering and unlikable. It seems from the minute he says “I do” he is adamant about procuring a son, and is at his wife incessantly until she is with child. Furthermore, besides being careless and indolent, this Mr. Bennet is obtuse, unfeeling, vulgar, and keeps very poor personal hygiene. (In short, he was a little gross.)

Mrs. Bennet is portrayed in a slightly more favorable light – readers see her attempting to improve herself several times (which is admirable), but in the end it seems she is no better off for those attempts. Nothing positive is gained, no redemption or personal growth. Instead, at the end, the author heavily hints that Mrs. Bennet might be losing her mental faculties and is becoming more and more mentally unstable.

Two other aspects of the story I wasn’t too fond with were Elizabeth and Mr. Collins. Elizabeth was portrayed as a troublesome and angry infant who apparently loathed her mother since fetus. (I think this was just a trifle overdone). Also, the Mr. Collins who comes to visit was the same age as Mrs. Bennet. Not sure how this is possible as in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Collins (the son) is a “man of five and twenty.” If it is Mr. Collins (the father), then he would need to have had an illegitimate child three years before the events of this book take place, at the age of fifteen… And why would Mr. Collins and the Bennets assume he is certain to inherit Longbourn’s at this point, they are only three years into their marriage, Mrs. Bennet has still many more years of child-bearing…

While I appreciated the author’s style, tone, and use of language, I’m sorry to say I found the overall content disappointing and disheartening. It wasn’t my cup of tea to see Jane Austen’s characters (who yes, are sometimes seriously flawed and ridiculous) portrayed in such negative and unsympathetic light. Readers who are not ardent admirers of the Austenesque genre may not be as bothered by this, but I’m afraid I was. I think there is a wonderful and compelling story to tell about Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their marriage, and I hope one day someone will write it!

[Talia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the format of this book. One chapter it is Mrs Bennet writing to her sister and the next it is Mr Bennet writing in his journal. Mr Bennet is more like a womanizing, sexual assaulting Mr Collins so I could see people having a problem with that. There were a lot of humorous places in this book that made it worth the read for me. If you want to sit back and open a P & P variation that will have you in the embrace of your beloved familiar characters, this will not be for you. If you want a somewhat naughty P & P inspired short read with a few laughs, you are good to go.

[Jo Maeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook and absolutely loved it. It was so good I used it as my motivation to workout. I couldn't devour it unless I was exercising. A book has to be pretty good to do that.

It's fun, witty, perceptive and made me happy to be living in a time when women have more choices and control over their lives. I did not know it was a musing on the mother in "Pride and Prejudice" until I finished it and went to review it. (I had downloaded the book because I saw Jane Juska had written a novel and I love her non-fiction.) Knowing that added to the enjoyment of the ending but was not necessary to frame the book's context or revel in Ms. Juska's literary prowess.

I hope she writes more fiction.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

After reading Jane Jushka’s Round Heeled Woman for a second time, I decided to seek out additional works by Jushka, and I found Mrs. Bennet Has Her Say on Hoopla. I am almost ashamed to admit that I have no frame of reference, as I have not read Pride and Prejudice because I cannot abide reading five paragraphs of word salad to learn that the garden is in full bloom.

Back to Mrs. Bennet Has Her Say! I liked the style of alternating between Mrs. Bennet’s letters (to her sister) and Mr. Bennet’s journal entries, however, I found myself losing focus and zoning out from time to time.

In spite of my occasional mid-book day-dreaming. I like Jushka’s writing style, and the narrator does a great job of bringing the characters to life. The story is moderately compelling.

[I.m.dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This good-reader (i.m.dennis is pen name) seldom, if ever, calls any book amazing - and this is a good-reader who averages three reads a week. Jane Juska's debut novel (her two previous were memoirs) earns that adjective - in spades. You can be anywhere along the love-don't love spectrum of Jane Austen's work; it will likely earn an "amazing" from you too. Why? Juska gives us a rich, round, standalone character in her Marianne Bennet. Don't fancy epistolary? Her letters to sister Jane might be mind-changing. The book alternates between these letters and Mr. Bennet's diary entries. They're not everyone's cuppa, either, but Juska delivers them in such smartly satirical style readers will keep turning pages of this frisky, funny debut. My reaction isn't a complete surprise. Mrs. Bennet doesn't mature past eighteen in Juska's debut novel. Her memoirs, however, the bestselling "A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance" and its sort-of sequel, "Unaccompanied Women" deliver the same witty approach, to a very different subject: that still-taboo senior sexuality.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book! Aimed at fans of Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice, this is a fictional prequel imagining the backstory of the marriage between a very young Mrs. Marianne Bennet and and older, stodgy Edward Bennet. I thoroughly enjoyed this short tale told entirely through Mrs. Bennet's letters to her sister Jane and Mr. Bennet's diary. You see the marriage and various events through two eyes, which only serves to point out the Mars/Venus dichotomy between men and women. Juska is an excellent writer, blending humor and historical detail in such an imaginative way. I'll never look at Mrs. Bennet the same way again! I don't get the 1-star reviews at all, except to say that you have to understand the era and get into the spirit of the times to enjoy this. (Note: The reviews on Amazon are much more positive than here on Goodreads!)

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amusing in a way, horrid in a way I didn't find either of the protagonists particularly appealing, and, unfortunately, Mrs. Bennet didn't seem to grow much. Anyway, here's a theory as to why Mrs. Bennett is so silly, but not a particularly satisfying one. This may be an indictment of the utter inequality of the times, but by the end I was thinking a lot about marriage in general and how the easiest way to fail at it (or to fail at any relationship for that matter) is to think only of oneself.
Well-written book technically. I just wasn't totally fond of the content. I guess I have really mixed feelings about this...

[Bianca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gravitate to all things inspired by Jane Austen, and I admit to being a bit hesitant to pick up a book that focused on the irritating Mrs. Bennet. Flipping the book around I saw great reviews, so I thought I'd give it the benefit of the doubt.

Lesson learned: Do not trust the reviews on the book cover.

This was a great one-day-read because it's easy and kind of interesting. I like that the author delves into Mrs. Bennet's past, trying to set up a more sympathetic character than we meet in "Pride and Prejudice." That being said, I wouldn't recommend this book for any Janeite.

[Maureen Meekins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope.

[Tamara · Rating 2 out of 5]

unimpressed. I found my esteem for Mr. Bennett diminishing

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh - not sure how I felt about this. Wasn't awful but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.

[Jaimirsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

While everyone wants to know how/why the Bennets ever got together, this book doesn’t offer a satisfying answer.

[Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book earns two stars because the grammar was correct and it didn't bore me to tears. Other than that, I cannot recommend this book to anyone. If it weren't that the characters featured in this book are timeless literary characters, it would have no appeal whatsoever. This tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - their first few years as newlyweds. It is written in an epistolary style, being comprised of Mrs. Bennett's letters to her sister "Phillips," who lives in Meryton, and Mr. Bennett's journals.

There is no mention whatsoever of Mrs. Bennett's brother Gardiner. I found this irritating, but it is one of just one of many symptoms of sub-par planning/writing that this book displays.

I will say right out that I did not at all like the ways these characters were portrayed. However, I was willing to forgive this to a certain extent, since the purpose of the book was to take characters that, in their original appearances on the literary scene, were rather two-dimensional, and flesh them out. There is a certain amount of creative license that one is allowed in order to do this. However, the writer didn't even manage to do that well. The characters themselves were inconsistent, saying one thing and doing another, and (one of my largest pet peeves in literature) seemed to need to learn the same damned lesson over and over again, each time needing to declare the "Big Change That Has Happened" only to go back to their own ways and never actually growing. It is maddening.

This is coupled with situations masquerading as plot points that are, at best, preposterous. They are so jarringly ill-fitted to the time, place, and characters that the author has set out to paint a better picture of that they completely break the reader's temporary suspension of reality. Nearly all of these situations revolve around sex. In fact, nearly every part of this book revolves around sex. Sex is great, don't get me wrong, but does every single character have to have every single action that they take almost exclusively motivated by sex? I can count on one hand the events in this book that are not sex-related. If you're going to write a book like that, at least have the grace to write the scenes well. This book did no such thing. It attempts to bring the subject of sex up at every turn while desperately trying to maintain Austen-eqsue proprietary sensibilities. It's awful.

The one thing this book did well - in fact, I think this foundation is actually quite good, and had the rest of the book been carried out better, I would have quite enjoyed it - is take Mrs. Bennett's story and parallel it with Lydia's story from Pride and Prejudice. That was really this book's saving grace. There's pretty much nothing else about it that enjoyed.

I would not recommend this book to anyone because it is a disappointment. Reading-level wise, high school and up. There is plenty of graphic sex and violence in this book. Very little strong language. Two stars.

[Laronda Blessing · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but I can't say I loved it. Like many others, I love Austen and enjoy take-offs on her works--both true-to-type and turn-it-on-its-head. There are some truly lovely lines, some entertaining scenes, some great insights into married life and women's positions in the late 1700s, but I never could get fully into it. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are both quite flawed, which real people are, but every time they seemed to make any progress towards understanding or even considering one another, they go right back to making poor decisions and focusing only on their own wants. The work does give an interesting view of what could have been the early marriage that created Austen's beloved heroines, but I found myself a bit unimpressed at times. That said, I do appreciate the author's attempt to portray what life and choices could be for a girl who at only 18, is already a mother of 2--soon to be 3--and watching her dreams of romantic love dry up while navigating her way through a loveless marriage. It almost seems like a feminist essay mashed up with a supposedly light-hearted take-off on classical literature wherein the fault lines between the two genres are too often jarringly visible. Easy and often entertaining read, though not entirely satisfying.

[Nese · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this historical fiction without realizing the plot is about the marriage of two characters from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice which I haven’t read. It is a pleasure reading a book with impeccable grammar, nicely structured sentences, realistically described good, bad, and the ugly aspects of human nature, and a beautifully designed cover. It really takes a lot talent to keep the reader interested reading this book that consists of the wife’s letters to her sister and the husband’s diary entries, meaning a lot of inner talk about the feelings of the characters. I would give this book five stars if it were not for the superficial characters who seem to be so self-absorbed and self-serving without much of conscience. As much as I liked reading this well-written book, at the end, it felt like it was a waste of time reading about the characters without any redeemable qualities.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up this book in Chester, California on my way to the Schultz family cabin at Juniper Lake in Lassen National Park. The author lives in Chester which is the closest town to the cabin. The book is a telling of the story of Mrs. Bennett, the rather irrelevant mother of the Bennett sisters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It's a rather bawdy recounting of the Bennet parents' sexual awakening and early marriage. The book is true to much of what I think I know about this period in England. Truthfully, much of what I know comes from reading all of Austen's novels. Jane Juska is no Jane Austen. Where Austen is nuanced and witty, Juska paints Mr. and Mrs. Bennett with broad strokes. They are comic, pathetic characters, whose visions of, and longing for, passion drive the novel's plot. Still, it's fun to imagine the inner and sexual life of a character Austen gives short shrift. I'm in the midst of reading some non-fiction and reading Mrs. Bennett Has Her Say was a welcome lark.

[Emily Richardson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but it completely missed the mark for me. Instead of adding depth to Mrs. Bennet and her relationship with Mr. Bennet, this novel presents both characters as almost completely one-demential and incapable of empathizing with each other, let alone other characters. Mr. Bennet seems to be styled on King Henry VIII, and is constantly bemoaning his wife’s failure to produce an heir, and only seems to realize women are people too after sexually assaulting a maid, who also happens to be the daughter of his only confidant. For a book that “can be blamed on feminism” the depictions of women are terrible, they are either compulsive liars, manipulative pimps, or incredibly rude and self absorbed. The author even body shames Kira Knightly for being “too skinny” in her afterword, where she also highlights she is not an avid fan of Jane Austen. In short, just read Pride and Prejudice.

[Elijah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like others, I believed the cover blurbs that promised this would be sparkling, witty, and fun. It’s not. It’s depressing and grim and I’m angry that I wasted two hours of my life on it. If there was anything I didn’t want when I picked up a “witty” book, it’s marital rape, attempted rape, and a chapter-by-chapter accounting of weight gained and lost.

This book is also a terrible argument for “why Mrs. Bennett is dotty,” which is allegedly the point. The ending is weird and tacked on and particularly unconvincing given what we’d seen of the main character up until that point. I picked this up at the library on impulse, but I should have read the reviews first and I’m extremely glad I didn’t pay for it.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just can’t fathom this as Mr and Mrs Bennet. The story itself is interesting to a point, but I can’t believe the people it’s supposed to be about. The cover said if Jane Austen could have written about sex this would be it seemed insulting honestly. This has real issues that couple may have but I just don’t see it for the Bennet parents.
There is no real redemption for anyone and things were way overdone. People were given a flaw/ characteristic and it was exaggerated. And some parts were hard to understand exactly what was happening.
Definitely not a favorite of a take on the characters of Pride and Prejudice.

[Annabel Townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am still not sure what I think about this one. From the blurb on the back, I expected it to be silly and funny, and parts of it genuinely were. I did root for Mr and Mrs Bennet to actually learn to like each other - and they get close enough to that at times to keep me engaged and to finish reading it - but that's about all that's positive about it. What's pitched as a lighthearted look at marriage is basically about sexual abuse and depression - which may well have been quite representative of the time it's set in, but at the same time it is impossible to feel sorry for characters quite that annoying. Disappointing!

[Ahsatal Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

My tea is hot and this pumpkin muffin is sweet much like this witty indulgence of a read.

The late Jane Juska’s “Mrs. Bennet Has Her Say” was a refreshing twist to my historical romance fiction reads. I engulfed myself in one sitting in Jane’s re-imagined characters of Jane Austen’s memorial Bennett’s family.

The letters back and forth had me literally laughing out loud and also moments of relation as I too a mother of girls first.

(Her personal real life story fascinates me that even in her later years she still yearn for intimacy.)

Cheers to libraries being opened once again as I may have never stumbled upon such pleasures. I look forward to reading some of her other works.

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there are countless riffs on Pride and Prejudice (and other novels). "How delightful! How silly!" So says Mrs Bennet in this dual account of the early years of the Bennets' marriage, letters from her to her sister Jane and letters to a future son-turned diary from him. Just when one despairs of Mrs Bennet, one remembers: she's only 15 when this saga begins (and a mature 18 when it ends). Her flibbertygibbet persona in Pride and Prejudice (when she's older)? A conscious choice at the end of this delightful (and yes, silly) book.

[Elysa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, and I think it could have been really great. There were a few things that bothered me though, so I stuck with a 3 rating. The story ends before Kitty and Lydia are born, and there's one thing in the story that makes that choice really, really confusing. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are not likeable people in this book, so if you're preparing to like them more, this book is not the right one. They're fascinating but deeply flawed. It's an interesting and fast-paced read, and I recommend it for lovers of Jane Austen retellings and continuations because it is unique.

[Margaret Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you enjoy Jane Austen, you may not like this book that much. It would have been a better book, if not based on Jane's characters (Elizabeth Bennett's parents), but along the same timeline or with minor characters.

I did have a hard time completing this book, simply because it did not follow what may have been expected of Mr and Mrs Bennet - whether from the book, or from the BBC (Colin Firth/Jennifer Elhe)version.

[Jan Angus · Rating 3 out of 5]

For Pride and Prejudice fans, this is a unique twist on the spin-off novels that have proliferated over the years. We hear Mrs Bennet's back story and glimpse the origins of her peculiarities. While not as complex and satisfying as Jo Baker's Longbourn, it is an interesting take on the silly Mrs Bennet of Jane Austen's original novel.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alternating chapters between Mrs. Bennet’s letters to her sister and Mr. Bennet’s journal finds this a quick read. Add in the fact that it is all about relationships and sex makes for an enjoyable quick read. Then throw in the humour. I’m not sure why this novel is rated so low but I loved it for what it was. Will read this author again.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Pride and Prejudice first, then this book. I loved Juska's writing style here, and it sounded very authentically Jane Austen. (Also read Juska's "A Round-Heeled Woman.") This book is not great literature, but it gets a solid 3 stars for being a fun read that kept me interested to the end.