Customer Reviews

Consequence: Or Whatever Became of Charlotte Lucas

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was hoping to read about Charlotte Lucas! Alas, this book seemed to devote only one real chapter to poor Charlotte Lucas. I had thought that this book would have been more focused on Charlotte's early years and her feelings and thoughts, to get to know the reasoning why Charlotte put up with that Mr. Collins. The book very quickly jumped from meeting Mr. Collins to 5 children later. I thought it was very interesting how the author managed to get all of the probable offspring of every Jane Austen Character mentioned before chapter 7 ( I'm surprised she didn't get the offspring of Lady Susan in there). It was the probable offspring that turned me off from this book. It annoyed me, because I don't think Miss Austen intended her characters to intermingle. I'm not saying that the book was horrid or anything, I just did not care for it. I'm sorry to say that I wish that my local city library had carried it so I could have read it before I bought it! I sold my copy on ebay.

In short, save your money. I recently borrowed this book from a friend and was very disappointed. Though I hate to be so severe, I think that Newark is a weak writer. Her own comments, which appear in a following review, illustrate this point. First, she didn't even click on the "I Am the Author" link (yeah). In addition, she raves about some professor's comment regarding this novel: "Jane would be proud of you." Then, Newark declares: "I intend of have those words engraved on my tombstone." Well, I "intend of" ask you not to buy this book. Newark also says: "The next reviewer claims to be a member of the Jane Austen Society, but she chooses to be anonymous. No true Jane Austen reader would hide her identity." How does Newark know that a woman wrote the previous review? There are men who love Austen's work, too. Furthermore, I have a hard time believing that Newark belongs to the Jane Austen Society. No true Jane Austen reader would ever have written this book.

The trouble I've found in reading this novel is that I cannot put aside the feeling that no one other than Jane Austen should have the right to continue her own work; putting aside that thought, however, I still find it hard to praise a book which is born of a pen so obviously inferior to that of Austen. While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, this weak imitation is not a worthy successor to the original piece. One should not pass off recycled words and ideals as continuing in the Austen tradition. The author's comments on this review board trouble me a great deal,although her personality is irrelevent when we're judging her pen; few objective judge of literature would declare this a good sequal to P&P, and the need to cite someone else's opinion in a short posting so full of stylistic and grammatical errors shows a real insecurity regarding one's own work and total contempt for opposing views and criticisms which I find shameful in a writer. Instead of reading this thin scrap of a book, the reader would benefit much more were he to re-read Austen's rich original.

If you picked up this book wanting to learn all about Charlotte Lucas, you'll be disappointed.

I would have thought it brilliant to find out just how on earth the poor girl endured Mr. Collins, day in, day out, but she wasn't the only focus of the book, and, judging by the title, she should have been.

And I found the author's comment below really petty. We ARE deciding for ourselves, you know? No true San Franciscan would be so uptight about someone else's opinion.

I am also, like the author, a JASNA member. I looked forward to the book, particularly as the presumable topic was Charlotte. The author's verbage is more an exercise in her wish to string together names of "offspring" of all the characters in all the Jane Austen novels ever written, without regard to time, location, and most certainly, without regard to probability. This book did not concern Charlotte; stole too much language from Jane's novels, and did not resemble Austen's works in style, story or sense. A waste of my money.

The subtitle of this novel is "A gentle, Jane Austen-style joke," and it provides an appropriate lens through which to view this charming short novel. The characters -- chiefly the mature Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth Bennet, and Mr. Darcy, as well as Charlotte's daughter Eliza and Elizabeth and Darcy's son Henry -- are nicely imagined and true to Austen. The author touches on how the Austen's characters and their children would respond to the intellectual climate of the early Victorian era, which adds interest to the story. Newark's playful references to characters from other Austen novels may not suit everyone's taste, but will likely amuse others who share her fondness for all of Austen's characters.

Charlotte Lucas was always one of my least favorite characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I hated that she married the annoying and obnoxious Mr. Collins, but I was curious about what happened to her. Did she and Mr. Collins have children? What about Lady Catherine? This short novel answered those questions and more.

From the get go, this is NOT a Jane Austen, but a different take on her stories. If you are a die-hard Austen fan, I do not reccomend. However, if you are looking for some answers, and do not care about the writing style, then read on!

Mrs. Collins and Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy have maintained a friendship through the years, and both have become mothers. Thankfully, the details of HOW Mrs. Collins became pregnant are spared; and one of the Darcy children and one of the Collin's children fall in love. But, what will Mr. Darcy have to say about this? How will Mr. Collins take it? What will Lady Catherine think?

Though the novel is short, it was entertaining, and did manage to answer my questions about how Charlotte Lucas ended up.

I waited a long time to get my hands on this book, as the inter libery did not hold a copy. ... I was very disappointed in the story it started out well but I found that it lacked something. The story is mainly about Charlotte Collins and her daughter whom the youngest of the Darcy's son's falls in love with. To me it needed more bite to the story, as it was too short and I felt that more could have been added which would have made the story much more interesting

I , too, waited along time for this book. After finding it on Amazon UK site, I devowered it as soon as I got it. I enjoyed it because the reference on the cover as it being an Austen-style joke. If a few Jane Austen fans were sitting around brainstorming about what direction the P&P characters took, this would be the outcome. Just a fun twist of not just P&P, but other JA's characters as well. I do doubt the auther was out to make some money on this book or even considers herself a professional writer, but I do believe she should pat herself on the back for following through on such a project when most of us would only have joined in the conversation about 'whatever became of so-n-so...' and left it at that or wished someone would write something like that. Well, she did. Considering it was not a heavily published book, I am grateful to have found it at all. Keep your sense of humor and give this book a chance. Enjoy it for what it is, a gentle joke that Jane would have got.

I was excited to read this book and was very disappointed in the length of it. I did enjoy the story and felt it was a probable continuation of Pride and Predjudice. I would have liked for the relationships between the characters, particularly the younger characters, to be spelt out more. Also the use of all the names from other Jane Austen novels was a bit confusing. I would recommend it to anyone who reads Jane Austen novels and enjoys her work.