aka I will post this if it kills me
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and Darcy & Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley by Linda Berdoll
Behold! I finally stopped being sidetracked by other P&P sequels (and, you know, stuff like work) and finished the second sequel I was telling you about. I really liked the first book when I read it back in March. I sped through it lickety-split. The second? Well, that was the book I kept getting distracted from. A bunch of things that I liked in the first book annoyed me in the second. I don't know if it's because I took a break and read other (better) things in between, but given the amount of junk I manage to read, I doubt it. Something tells me I wouldn't have started reading all those other books if I had been well and truly engaged in Days and Nights.
I think the most important thing if you are going to write a sequel to a well-loved book is that you need to get the characterizations right. Uninspiring titles aside, the first hit the nail mostly on the head. Lizzy and Darcy feel like the original characters. Lizzy, even when she is going through moments of self-doubt, is playful and witty; Darcy is still reserved, at least in front of other people. Together? It's pretty much how I imagined they would be.
I also feel that Berdoll captures the light feel of Austen's style without seeming forced -- although it's not great writing by any means and "archaic" words are overused. The story itself is quite engaging, usually staying in Austen's usual sphere of daily life. There are misunderstandings due to the fact that there are things people simply didn't discuss back then, and it seems realistic. But it's not just a mundane existence. There is Drama. Chemistry. Heat. Tension. There are a few incidents where it's like: er, wow -- that escalated quickly, but again it's fairly realistic.
The second book? Not so much of any of this. I think I just got impatient with it.
A couple of points:
So, you should know that Berdoll addresses the fact that Jane Austen only wrote about what she, a maiden spinster, would know about. [But we do, nudge nudge.] It turns out that Darcy's reserve hides quite a lot of passion for Lizzy. Which he does not hide from Lizzy, at least in the beginning. And she reciprocates. Quite a bit. So, these books are quite... saucy, dare I say. Bold. Bawdy, even. If you don't like that kind of thing, you won't like these books, because they really, really enjoy each other's company, so to speak. It's not graphic, but neither does it shy away from saying what is going on, using contemporary euphemisms. It's not raunchy and quite fun.
The other is that Berdoll uses flashback a lot, and often she will start a new chapter in the past but we don't know that or have no idea how far into the past she's gone. It can be a little confusing at times. How did Tom Reed see Elizabeth in Meryton if he's only just joined the Darcy household after their marriage? Oh. That was a flashback. Got it. It takes a little getting used to, but I think it adds dimension to the first story.
The not-so-good: much as I enjoyed it, the first book is too long and repetitive. It was originally self-published as The Bar Sinister, and again we see the need for a good editor. There is so much foreshadowing that at one point in the first book I wondered if anything was actually going to happen. From a details view: some of the things that happen should have very different consequences in Regency society than they do in this story. Also, there are issues with names and inheritance law that I'll discuss in the specific reviews. And remember how I said Lizzy and Darcy enjoy each other's company a lot? Yeah, perhaps we didn't need to follow them into the bedroom (or bath) quite so often. I mean, sometimes it was important for the plot, but for heaven's sake, give the people some privacy! I'm not being a prude; I felt it took away from their interaction outside the bedroom.
In Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife (and what is it with these terrible titles? Ugh!), we meet up with Elizabeth and Darcy in the carriage on the way to Pemberley after their wedding night. She reflects back on their courtship and the previous night, and is concerned that Darcy is now silent and reserved because she has been too forward and passionate. Turns out, that's not what he's concerned with at all.
The quote I wanted to use as evidence of their banter together is not entirely appropriate for a yet-to-be-rated blog, so you'll just have to trust me.
And so Elizabeth and Darcy learn each other's ways, and with one thing and another, four years pass. Stuff happens. Some of it mundane, some much less so. There is an attempted abduction, dramatic and not-so-dramatic deaths, births, possible adultery, a miscarriage and stillbirth, confrontations with Lady Catherine, unrequited love. The Battle of Waterloo is fought, and the Colonel, Darcy, and Wickham are there. Sins from the past come back to haunt various people.
Minor quibbles: What are Mr. & Mrs. Collins and Sir William Lucas doing at St. James? And how can they afford to keep gallivanting about the country so much? And why does she keep calling Anne de Bourgh Lady Anne? Her father was only a baronet, so she doesn't get a courtesy title. (Lady Catherine does, because she is the daughter of an earl.)
There is also a hell of a lot of setup. The book takes a very long time to get anywhere; at first I thought it was going to be just about their daily life with no plot at all - which would have been fine with me, but Berdoll was planting plot seeds that took a very long time to germinate.
Major quibble: if Pemberley is entailed on male heirs, there is no way Lady Catherine could threaten to kick Elizabeth out as she does. First of all, she is his maternal aunt and therefore is nowhere in line for the property. Even if it could somehow jump over to that connected-by-marriage-only family, it would go to her nephew the earl. Who likes Elizabeth. Oh well; it makes for a funny scene in the end. Another major issue is that some subplots feel like they end rather abruptly with no seeming repercussions; I think several opportunities were missed. It's a testament to how much fun the rest of the book is that I just shrugged it off and kept reading. (I thought they would be resolved in the second book, but not so much.)
Also, we don't get to really know Georgiana very well, and the plot involving her is extremely far-fetched. As in, there is no way it could have happened the way it did without her reputation being completely ruined. I should say, the second plot, because there is sort of a first plot but it doesn't inform the second one. At all. Except perhaps in that she becomes empowered enough to do the thing that drives the second plot.
Overall? Fun. Not the best book or adaptation I've ever read, but good enough to kill several hours as long as you don't overthink it.
It's difficult to review the second book, Darcy and Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley without spoiling the first, since it's a continuation. Suffice to say that at the beginning, Darcy has returned from France the day that Elizabeth gives birth to their first two children, and there is some concern that they will not be able to get back to where they were before he left. And then stuff happens.
Georgiana is a bit of a sweet schemer, and while I suspected as much, I'm not sure I believe the gentleman's response to it, especially due to a certain revelation in the first book. Which is Never Spoken Of Again. Lady Catherine has another revenge plan in motion... and Wickham? Well, he turns out to be evil.
I have to confess: when I took time out to read the four (er, actually, five) other books in April, I really had a hard time getting back into this one. It's just not as good as the first. The writing is worse and the characterizations seem off... I disliked intensely what she did to Mrs. Gardiner. The jumping around in time thing that added some dimension to the first book was merely confusing in the second. Wait... are they in Brighton? At Pemberley? What the what? Oh, and since Anne de Bourgh makes more appearances here, the Lady Anne thing drove me up a wall.
Overall? Skip it. I think there's too much going on, really. It would have been better to focus on one thing... the Wickham drama perhaps.
Behold! I finally stopped being sidetracked by other P&P sequels (and, you know, stuff like work) and finished the second sequel I was telling you about. I really liked the first book when I read it back in March. I sped through it lickety-split. The second? Well, that was the book I kept getting distracted from. A bunch of things that I liked in the first book annoyed me in the second. I don't know if it's because I took a break and read other (better) things in between, but given the amount of junk I manage to read, I doubt it. Something tells me I wouldn't have started reading all those other books if I had been well and truly engaged in Days and Nights.
I think the most important thing if you are going to write a sequel to a well-loved book is that you need to get the characterizations right. Uninspiring titles aside, the first hit the nail mostly on the head. Lizzy and Darcy feel like the original characters. Lizzy, even when she is going through moments of self-doubt, is playful and witty; Darcy is still reserved, at least in front of other people. Together? It's pretty much how I imagined they would be.
I also feel that Berdoll captures the light feel of Austen's style without seeming forced -- although it's not great writing by any means and "archaic" words are overused. The story itself is quite engaging, usually staying in Austen's usual sphere of daily life. There are misunderstandings due to the fact that there are things people simply didn't discuss back then, and it seems realistic. But it's not just a mundane existence. There is Drama. Chemistry. Heat. Tension. There are a few incidents where it's like: er, wow -- that escalated quickly, but again it's fairly realistic.
The second book? Not so much of any of this. I think I just got impatient with it.
A couple of points:
So, you should know that Berdoll addresses the fact that Jane Austen only wrote about what she, a maiden spinster, would know about. [But we do, nudge nudge.] It turns out that Darcy's reserve hides quite a lot of passion for Lizzy. Which he does not hide from Lizzy, at least in the beginning. And she reciprocates. Quite a bit. So, these books are quite... saucy, dare I say. Bold. Bawdy, even. If you don't like that kind of thing, you won't like these books, because they really, really enjoy each other's company, so to speak. It's not graphic, but neither does it shy away from saying what is going on, using contemporary euphemisms. It's not raunchy and quite fun.
The other is that Berdoll uses flashback a lot, and often she will start a new chapter in the past but we don't know that or have no idea how far into the past she's gone. It can be a little confusing at times. How did Tom Reed see Elizabeth in Meryton if he's only just joined the Darcy household after their marriage? Oh. That was a flashback. Got it. It takes a little getting used to, but I think it adds dimension to the first story.
The not-so-good: much as I enjoyed it, the first book is too long and repetitive. It was originally self-published as The Bar Sinister, and again we see the need for a good editor. There is so much foreshadowing that at one point in the first book I wondered if anything was actually going to happen. From a details view: some of the things that happen should have very different consequences in Regency society than they do in this story. Also, there are issues with names and inheritance law that I'll discuss in the specific reviews. And remember how I said Lizzy and Darcy enjoy each other's company a lot? Yeah, perhaps we didn't need to follow them into the bedroom (or bath) quite so often. I mean, sometimes it was important for the plot, but for heaven's sake, give the people some privacy! I'm not being a prude; I felt it took away from their interaction outside the bedroom.
 |
| Image source: goodreads.com |
The quote I wanted to use as evidence of their banter together is not entirely appropriate for a yet-to-be-rated blog, so you'll just have to trust me.
And so Elizabeth and Darcy learn each other's ways, and with one thing and another, four years pass. Stuff happens. Some of it mundane, some much less so. There is an attempted abduction, dramatic and not-so-dramatic deaths, births, possible adultery, a miscarriage and stillbirth, confrontations with Lady Catherine, unrequited love. The Battle of Waterloo is fought, and the Colonel, Darcy, and Wickham are there. Sins from the past come back to haunt various people.
Minor quibbles: What are Mr. & Mrs. Collins and Sir William Lucas doing at St. James? And how can they afford to keep gallivanting about the country so much? And why does she keep calling Anne de Bourgh Lady Anne? Her father was only a baronet, so she doesn't get a courtesy title. (Lady Catherine does, because she is the daughter of an earl.)
There is also a hell of a lot of setup. The book takes a very long time to get anywhere; at first I thought it was going to be just about their daily life with no plot at all - which would have been fine with me, but Berdoll was planting plot seeds that took a very long time to germinate.
Major quibble: if Pemberley is entailed on male heirs, there is no way Lady Catherine could threaten to kick Elizabeth out as she does. First of all, she is his maternal aunt and therefore is nowhere in line for the property. Even if it could somehow jump over to that connected-by-marriage-only family, it would go to her nephew the earl. Who likes Elizabeth. Oh well; it makes for a funny scene in the end. Another major issue is that some subplots feel like they end rather abruptly with no seeming repercussions; I think several opportunities were missed. It's a testament to how much fun the rest of the book is that I just shrugged it off and kept reading. (I thought they would be resolved in the second book, but not so much.)
Also, we don't get to really know Georgiana very well, and the plot involving her is extremely far-fetched. As in, there is no way it could have happened the way it did without her reputation being completely ruined. I should say, the second plot, because there is sort of a first plot but it doesn't inform the second one. At all. Except perhaps in that she becomes empowered enough to do the thing that drives the second plot.
Overall? Fun. Not the best book or adaptation I've ever read, but good enough to kill several hours as long as you don't overthink it.
 |
| Image source: pemberley.com |
Georgiana is a bit of a sweet schemer, and while I suspected as much, I'm not sure I believe the gentleman's response to it, especially due to a certain revelation in the first book. Which is Never Spoken Of Again. Lady Catherine has another revenge plan in motion... and Wickham? Well, he turns out to be evil.
I have to confess: when I took time out to read the four (er, actually, five) other books in April, I really had a hard time getting back into this one. It's just not as good as the first. The writing is worse and the characterizations seem off... I disliked intensely what she did to Mrs. Gardiner. The jumping around in time thing that added some dimension to the first book was merely confusing in the second. Wait... are they in Brighton? At Pemberley? What the what? Oh, and since Anne de Bourgh makes more appearances here, the Lady Anne thing drove me up a wall.
Overall? Skip it. I think there's too much going on, really. It would have been better to focus on one thing... the Wickham drama perhaps.
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