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Book Chat - My Own Mr. Darcy
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And before I start, I'm going to make a confession too. I cannot STAND the Kiera Knightly version of P&P. It bugged the crap out of me! They left out a lot of my favorite parts and some of the actors didn't fit with the characters IMO... Darcy being one of them. But I am one that likes Colin Firth as Darcy. ;o)
Anyway... on to the chat. I enjoyed My Own Mr. Darcy and agree... it was a fun read. :o) I also have to agree about Lizzie's obsession with Darcy... it was WAY over the top! So much so that I found myself rolling my eyes and wanting to knock her upside the head at times. To me it seemed like she was looking more for looks than qualities but when she did find the right look she had to justify it with all Darcy's negative qualities. If she was really looking for the good qualities she definitely would have looked right over Matt.
Matt... UGH!! How I LOATHED him from the start!! During their whole relationship I was thinking, she really better not end up with this guy or I'm going to be SO vivid! Even if he HAD turned into a good guy I don't think I would have been able overlook all the jerkiness to actually like him. LOL. I really don't think that guy had a decent bone in his body. He was so condescending, controlling and a bit abusive in my opinion. Trying to change someone to "fit" into your lifestyle so you're not embarrassed by them is not love. And having discussions with the ex about you is just SO wrong!! I could not STAND Meg either. I was disappointed that she and Matt didn't get what they deserved in the end. Both of them needed to be put in their places and brought down a notch or two or ten! I also feel like I blinked and the whole break up was done. I remember thinking, that's it?! What the heck!! I had a few choice words for each of them!! LOL.
And Chad... oh my heck!! LOVED him!! He was amazing from the beginning. If Lizzie would have been looking for the qualities that Darcy had, she would have seen who was right for her from the beginning. I enjoyed their relationship and everything that he did for her. There was definite sighing when he was being amazing. But he did forgive her way to quickly. Just like my thoughts with the whole break-up and Meg scenes, I would have liked to see her work a bit harder for his forgiveness. And the story did end rather quickly. I would have loved to see an epilogue of some kind to make it complete for me. Yes... I'm selfish. ;o)
And I think you're on the right page Kath... I think that if it would have been it's own story instead of a retelling I would have liked it more. Don't get me wrong, I really did enjoy the book but I found myself comparing it to P&P a little too much. Having Darcy set in my head as this amazing guy and then seeing his complete opposite as a main love interest bugged me more than I thought it would.
And while typing those last couple of sentences, a random thought popped into my head. I think Matt is totally Wickham!! He's manipulative, controlling, a snake in the grass, all about money and he just BUGS!! LOL. And it's ok if y'all think that that's a stretch and can't see it. My brain comes up with extremely random things when I'm exhausted!! So if you don't agree, I totally claim exhaustion!! ;o) Hehe.
Can't wait to see what everyone else thought about the book. :o)
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Kath: I think you already know where I stand on the whole Colin Firth/Mr. Darcy thing. Don't get it. I did however just watch P&P again yesterday(the Kiera Knightly version) and I loved it all over again. So good. Unlike you Kath, I could not get over her insane hold on her obsession. It was crazy to me. Chad was so sweet, and Matt was a JERK. This is one of the things wrong with women now a days. We need to have more respect for ourselves and go for the "sweet guy" and not the "bad boy."(sorry that rant can be saved for another day)
I also thought that Mr. Darcy is actually a very sweet guy. He is just more of an introvert. I don't think of him as snobby either and I didn't like the fact that that's what "he" is like in this book. Also, Matt's parents were just plain awful. YIKES. I thank Heavenly Father everyday for the wonderful inlaws I was blessed with.
To be honest, I was looking for a lot of confrontations about a lot of things(and I don't think of myself as a confrontation person), but in this book there was so much that needed to be addressed, IMO. Why on earth would Chad, sweet Chad take her back so easily. It was too fast and frankly she needed to earn his trust back.
Kathy Jo:
LOL! I think we will just have to agree to disagree about the P&P movies. ;)
I can't agree with you more about Matt and Meg for that matter. I still can't believe that he wouldn't tell his parents that she worked in a bank because he was that big of a snob. Ugh. To be honest I truly starting skimming the parts of the book that they were in it together because I just couldn't him that much. Also, I couldn't stand who she became with him. Like the tights. How could she not of been insulted about the fact that he had Meg buy her black tights. Talk about passive aggressive.
Amen about Chad. He was so sweet and I found myself sighing as well. Like I said to Kath, I just found that it too ended way to quickly and there were no consequences to her choices at all. She got to crush him over and over and he just opened his arms for her and that's it. Part of me though thinks that this is just the amazingness of Chad. He wouldn't do anything less.
I like your thought about Wickham! He totally is more like him then Darcy. You thinker you!
Question: If for some odd reason, she wrote a sequel would you read it?
First, I like Mr. Darcy in both movies. And like, Deb, I think he was really introverted, not a jerk. I thought it was sad, yet hilarious that she was looking for a jerk in her ideal man.I thought part of the story was realistic, how we'll set up this image in our minds about our " ideal man" and then cling to it, rather than looking at the actual person. But I did think when faced with a perfect guy like Chad, she should have dropped her dream a whole lot sooner. Let's see: date a jerk who tells you what to wear or a sweet funny guy who seems to love you? It should have been a no-brainer.
I would have liked the story a whole lot more if there was more balance to it. We all knew she was meant to end up with Chad, yet we had to wait and suffer while she dated the wrong man and figured that out. Then, like everyone's said, everything wrapped up so fast. I needed at least a few more chapters to enjoy their relationship! I do think Chad was just that amazing, but maybe she should have done more than show up in the parking lot. He did a lot for her after all.
Deb, I might read a sequel, I suppose it depends what it's about. I'd rather see a companion novel about someone else, where I could see Chad and Lizzie happy on the sidelines.
I'm a P&P lover and have room in my heart for all of the actors who have played Mr. Darcy (although ... Colin Firth FTW!). LOL. However, Jennifer Ehle as Lizzie in that version bugs me just a little (I don't see her as having "fine eyes"), while Kiera Knightly is a little too pretty and made-up. The 1980 (?) BBC version actually has my favorite Elizabeth and Mr. Collins, but the production is a little stagey. Ahem! sorry to get distracted there, but P&P analysis always sucks me in. Anyway, I agree very much with what you all have been saying so far about the weaknesses in My Own Mr. Darcy. Her obsession with finding someone who looked like the actor was over the top and kind of silly, and seemed to focus mostly on looks with a dollop of stand-offishness. It was way too weak of a hook to hold an entire novel together.
Along the same lines, the Matt character needed more charm to make her sticking around more believeable. I never understood what his type of guy would have seen in her, and what kind of girl would stick around for his treatment when there's a guy like Chad who wants you, even if he doesn't meet your pre-conceived notions of your soulmate. And for real, the wrap-up was too fast. Boom! she's finally with the right guy and then Boom! the story ends a few paragraphs later. :P I guess I can understand Chad being so in love that he doesn't make her wait or take time to think about it, but it does kind of lack drama. :) The author should at least have given us a decent epilogue if she was going to play it that way.
Anyway, overall it was a pleasant and fun read but has too many weaknesses. Not a book I'll probably spend my time re-reading.
I didn’t like Matt. Like I mentioned in my review, I don’t think we’re supposed to like him. He has nothing in common with Elizabeth, at all. I get her obsession (okay, maybe I don’t get her obsession) with Mr. Darcy, but I really didn’t see any similarities between Matt and Mr. Darcy. Except for maybe looks. I think Austen’s Darcy is a bit misunderstood. I think he actually has a very caring, protective personality. He is loyal and looks out for those around him. He may seem judgmental, but I never thought of him as snobby. I never got the impression that he thought he was better than anyone else. His wealth didn’t make him a bad person; it seemed he used his wealth for good when he could. Matt on the other hand was all Darcy’s negative qualities magnified and IMO exaggerated. He was all the negative things about being rich. I just didn’t think the two had ANYTHING in common.
I was looking for a confrontation when Elizabeth found out that Matt had actually dated Meg, and that they were almost engaged at one point. But, we got nothing. After everything he put her through with his jealousies of Chad, it was crazy that she didn’t confront him about Meg. I also wanted a bit more from their breakup. He lives up to his jerkiness, but I would have liked if she stood up for herself a bit more. It just happened so quickly, it was liked I blinked and it was over.
As much as I liked Chad and wanted them to be together, I thought he forgave her rather quickly. The book wraps up so fast; I would have liked to see them together as an actual couple a little more. I wonder if I would have liked the book more if it had just been its own story and not a retelling of P&P?
What did you think?