Austen Lovers TBR Challenge 2021 discussion
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Someone Else Pick It For Me - May
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message 51:
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Jeannepw
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May 08, 2021 05:50PM
Thank you, everyone, for your kind words. I really appreciate them.
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Kirk, thanks for the pick. I enjoyed it a lot. Short and sweet.
Abigail wrote: "What a great collection of prospective reads, Sophia! And thanks for the kind words. I’m pretty scared about the workshop, my first, but need to test myself."Good luck Abigail. I hope we hear good things about it from you, later on.
Jeannepw wrote: "Sophia,I’m so sorry I’m late picking your book. My mom passed away on April 25, and I’m just now getting back to the internet.
I haven't been visiting often this year, (real life.) But checking in today I just read this about your Mom. I'm so very sorry for your loss.
abmom wrote: "Kirk, thanks for the pick. I enjoyed it a lot. Short and sweet."Yeah 😊!!!
Sam wrote: "Kirk wrote: "1) Confessions of the Scandalous Mrs Darcy
2) Rosings Park
[bookcover:Rosings Park: A St..."
Thanks again! Giving a 3. As always with Jack, great highs and great lows. Trigger warnings and sweet moments. And special to this one.... far far too much Lady Catherine the BUG!!!
Hmmm, sorry you didn't enjoy it... Lady C can be so horrid in some of these renditions, if not downright evil!
Sophia wrote: "Hi Amanda!What an eclectic list! Hmm... I'm curious about Wickham, Hero of Pemberley so I'm picking that one for you. :)"
Sophia wrote: "Hi Amanda!
What an eclectic list! Hmm... I'm curious about Wickham, Hero of Pemberley so I'm picking that one for you. :)"
I finished the book and posted my review!
Sadly, this was not my favorite.
This book is something of a read-along, the premise of which is that a contemporary male - about whose life experience little is revealed - reads Pride and Prejudice and shares his thoughts along the way. To provide an example of the generic male voice, which seems to occasionally vacillate between American and British, we have gems like, "Lizzie decides to trot her fine ass around to some other corner of the dance hall where she can find some different people to judge," at about 4% in.
Don't get me wrong; there are some real gems about the way class operates in Pride and Prejudice. My own internal monologue, at times, also sounds something like:
"Having never had a maid or a housekeeper myself, I should probably recuse myself from weighing in on this particular aspect of the story, but... it just seems to be lacking in perspective, wouldn’t you agree, for our chick writer not to appreciate that the goodness she attributes to Darcy has a direct correlation to his ability to dole out the largesse? Am I mistaken on that? And as long as we’re getting persnickety, would it be rude to point out that Lizzie has irretrievably wedded her admiration for Pemberley to her admiration, and now respect, for Darcy, as if he were the architect, planner, bricklayer, carpenter, painter, gardener, and inventor of trees, rather than just a guy who happened to have had the unbelievable good luck to be born into ownership of such incredible wealth, and such a magnificent property? And, and had the foresight to be rid of both parents while still young enough to play the field? Yes, it would. Well too bad."
That occurs about 58% of the way in.
While I appreciate the class and gender-focused criticism that is offered, I am not sure why it was accomplished via fictitious narrator, let alone a fictitious narrator whose voice sounds almost cartoonish in its masculinity and is clearly intended as a send-up, of sorts, of contemporary masculinity. The same points might have been better communicated in a straightforward essay rather than lost amidst a sea of exaggerated asides about Lizzie Bennet's boobs.
Further, I found the title misleading. I thought there might be rather more of Wickham in this book, or, at least, that he might do something heroic. He did nothing of the sort except, possibly, what he does in Pride and Prejudice but with an even *more* obvious light shone on the relative precarity of his economic circumstances as compared to other characters' socioeconomic statuses and situations.
All in all, this was a pass for me.
Jeannepw wrote: "Sophia,I’m so sorry I’m late picking your book. My mom passed away on April 25, and I’m just now getting back to the internet.
I picked [book:Jane Austen's Cousin: The Outlandish Countess de Feu..."
It’s never easy to lose a parent, no matter how old we get. I am sorry for your loss.
Mod
What an eclectic list! Hmm... I'm curious about Wickham, Hero of Pemberley so I'm picking that one for you. :)"
Sophia wrote: "Hi Amanda!
What an eclectic list! Hmm... ..."
Oh man, that does sound very different from what I thought it was going to be. That snarky voice would get annoying and banal after a bit for me, too. Glad you got it off the stack at least, Amanda.
Amanda, Dang! That sounds like a bummer of a book...
Sam wrote: "Amanda, Dang! That sounds like a bummer of a book..."You win some, you lose some!
I finally finished my JAFF homework, thanks for the pick Christina. It was merely alright, but they can’t all be winners, as Amanda and I both know 😉 I expand on that sentiment here. A shout out & thank you to Sophia for organizing the activity.
Mod
Happy to!
Shifra wrote: "I finally finished my JAFF homework, thanks for the pick Christina. It was merely alright, but they can’t all be winners, as Amanda and I both know 😉 I expand on that sentiment here. A shout out & ..."Shifra, congrats on finishing the book (especially if it wasn't one that excited you)! Here's hoping the next book you read brings you more joy!
Shifra wrote: "I finally finished my JAFF homework, thanks for the pick Christina. It was merely alright, but they can’t all be winners, as Amanda and I both know 😉 I expand on that sentiment here. A shout out & ..."I wholeheartedly agree with the shoutout to Sophia for organizing it! It was a fun event!
Absolutely! cheers to Sophia!!!Next up June challenge. ;) been waiting a month to read that one...
Austen Lovers TBR Challenge 2021
Books mentioned in this topic
Confessions of the Scandalous Mrs. Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation (other topics)Jane Austen's Cousin: The Outlandish Countess de Feuillide (other topics)
Dare to Refuse Such a Man (other topics)
Confessions of the Scandalous Mrs. Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation (other topics)
Dare to Refuse Such a Man (other topics)
More...
