Customer Reviews

Darcy's Passions: Pride and Prejudice Retold Through His Eyes

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Okay, before I unabashedly bash this book, I want to say that I did think that Ms. Jeffers did a thorough job of getting into Darcy's inner thoughts, and I do like the idea of telling P & P from his perspective. However, I don't think she created a good enough story to justify all the changes she made to the original. First of all, Regina Jeffers has the presumption to rewrite Jane Austen's lines (are the halls of Austen Literature to be thus polluted?), not only paraphrasing, but actually changing the implications of the original dialogue. She transforms Austen's wordplay and depth of meaning into simple flirting, which occasionally turns into what I can only call good-girl erotica. (Any novel that uses the words "breathy" and "huskily" more than three times on a page is rarely an example of good literature, let alone being true to Jane Austen.) Also the awkward, modern-day phrasing -- Darcy says things like, "Touche!" and "She sent me packing". No, no, NO! You're ruining it, Regina!

Mr. Darcy. That iconic romantic hero who launched a thousand sequels! A quick and very unscientific audit of Amazon.com listings revealed over thirty-five books published in the last fifteen years inspired by him! That's a lot of Mr. Darcy out there being a haughty heartthrob. Now in his latest outing, Darcy's Passions: Pride and Prejudice Retold Through His Eyes, we are offered yet another chance to relive the famous love story, but from his perspective.

Fitzwilliam Darcy arrives in Hertfordshire with his best friend Mr. Bingley to assist him with his new estate Netherfield Park convinced that the locals will be bumpkins, and SO below his notice. He attends the local Assembly dance where his predictions prove true; even the reputed local beauty Elizabeth Bennet is only tolerable, and not handsome enough to tempt him. And so on it goes; the same story that we all know and love. Their courtship lasts a little over a year and in that time we experience all the misapprehensions and conflicts that define their relationship. All told they are only together three out the twelve months, so what did Darcy do in the in-between time, especially after his rejected first marriage proposal and their renewed acquaintance at Pemberley? What transpired in his mind that so changed him that he was a different man when they meet again? Now we do not have to guess at the answers any longer as they have been neatly explained for us like a Sparks Notes re-telling of Pride and Prejudice as author Regina Jeffers literally walks us through each important scene including complete passages of dialogue from Austen's novel framed by her reinterpretations of some of the most beautiful lines in classic literature. Ouch! If this didn't set your hair on fire, then her interjections of character motivation might just do the trick. For some readers who are experiencing this story for the first time this style of translation might be a perk, but to those Austen addicts who have read the novel or seen the movie adaptations and know the dialogue, it will be as startling as Mary Bennet's singing. Paraphrasing Austen is a sticky wicket. Why mess with a masterpiece? Either you commit to lifting lines straight from the novel and give Jane Austen half the writing credit or you don't use them at all and create your own scenes and dialogue. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Putting aside my puzzlement of Jeffers choice to borrow and re-phrase Austen's text, she does an excellent job of viewing the story from Mr. Darcy's perspective and focusing on the personal growth he undergoes to become a better man and win Elizabeth's love. All in all I enjoyed her Mr. Darcy very much and it was great fun to walk a mile in his big black shiny Hessian boots. But surprisingly the story does not end with Darcy's second proposal and Austen's final wrap-up. And to think that we had all assumed that Darcy and Elizabeth's transformation had been complete; her prejudices removed and his pride properly humbled. Obviously Jeffers did not agree and decided to devote the last third of the book to the honeymoon and their new life together at Pemberley. I found this choice to re-write Austen's ending and additional storyline perplexing. With this final affront to Austen genius, I needed to remember that I had not yet made "allowance enough for difference of situation and temper." Neophytes who have not experienced Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice or seen any of the many movie adaptations will enjoy this book exactly how it is written. In that light it does have its merits, though sadly because of the irritating paraphrasing I must disqualify it as my Holy Grail of Mr. Darcy paraliterature. *Sigh* Tomorrow is another day!

Laurel Ann, Austenprose

I reviewed this book when Jeffers wrote it originally for Xlibris. I am thankful Ulysses Press picked up her piece and has released it with a professionally done new cover. I admire Jeffers for letting her students do artwork for her original release, but this one has more class.

The author stays with the Jane Austen story line, actually more closely than many of the other rewrites on the market. Darcy and Elizabeth have a love life after they marry, but it is not pure smut, as some books offer. One knows they are intimate, but the door closes (just like in the old movies), and the reader can use his/her imagination. Darcy is "passionate" about Pemberley, about his responsibility to Georgiana (his sister), and about the woman with whom he falls in love. Those are his "passions."

I appreciate how Jeffers delineates between Darcy's everyday interactions with his wife (when he calls her "Elizabeth") and when he succumbs to his passions and calls her "Lizzie." The astute reader should notice the difference. "Lizzie" is used only a few times in the book. Jeffers keeps Darcy integrity while giving him a "human" side.

I liked the story and thought that the author did a good job using Jane Austen-type language. The storyline is well thought out with the exception of one aspect that was not true (or believable) to several characters' personalities. The other thing that bothered me was the way Darcy would call his sister Georgianna "my dearest one" etc. multiple-times every time she was in the same room. Yeah, I get it, he loves her. But how many times do we need to hear it? I would definitely buy it again.

I read most of the reviews here before purchasing the Kindle edition of this book, so I was prepared for some disappointment. (After reading Pamela Aidan's wonderful trilogy, most others fall short anyway.) But I hoped the continuation of the story beyond that of the original would compensate for weaknesses elsewhere. Sadly, that was not the case.

I don't mind Ms. Jeffers' paraphrasings - frankly, one of the problems, IMO, with these P&P retellings is that the same quotes seem to be used in all of them, over and over again. My main complaint is the poor quality of the writing. The author's style is stilted, awkward, and laborious. Of course, this is a common problem for the modern writer attempting to recreate the Austen style, but in this case I also found myself continually baffled by some of Ms. Jeffers' word choices. A case in point: her frequent usage of "as such." My dictionary defines the phrase as meaning "in the exact sense of the word, as in ' . . . there is no guest house as such' ", and to find it being used in sentences like "'Fitzwilliam, please do not talk as such!'" is beyond perplexing - it simply makes no sense!

Also, "revelry" is often used when I believe "reverie" is intended, and then there was the description of Mr. Collins as a "superfluous ass." "Supercilious," maybe? Another example: "Her voice was laced with the dim recesses of her mind."

Say what???

I'm also irritated by the author's seeming ignorance of past participle and perfect tenses; everything is in the simple past tense, if that is the proper term. At some point when referring to past events or thoughts, the word "had" needs to be used in conjunction with the verb. And I completely agree with those who mentioned the overuse of "I love you"s and endless tender moments. I have no objection to the soft erotica in the book, and I like a romanatic scene as much as the next person, but enough is enough! By the end of the book I was thoroughly bored with Elizabeth and Darcy caressing each other's cheek and/or jaw line and gazing tenderly into each other's eyes seemingly every few minutes, for chapter after chapter. Stop already.

The story is interesting enough, and Ms. Jeffers has some insightful thoughts for Darcy, but overall it is a mediocre read.

On the plus side, this book did not make me groan (much) like other Austen fan fiction. The language was pretty good, nothing was grossly out of character, and it was overall nice to be back with the crew again.

On the negative side:

*This book had several typos.

*As stated by other reviewers, it is discomforting to have Jane's words altered or conversations expanded into something different than they were. Completely uncalled for. Did not enjoy her pulling text from Persuasion (which she completely admits to doing in her intro, but which is also hard to miss if you are a fan); Wentworth and Darcy are two different men.

*The first 250 or so pages are the retelling of P&P from Darcy's point of view. It doesn't really delve into new details of what he did when he was on the sidelines of the original book, it's just glossed over, matter-of-fact statements. I found this disappointing.

*The final third of the book is the next couple months after the engagement, which is pretty much where the original ends; but really, there is no direction or wrapping up of plot (there's nothing new to wrap up). It's just day to day "this happened, now this happened" (not a la Jane Austen) but it's not actually going anywhere, and when it ends, it feels like the author said "OK, I don't feel like writing about this any more."

*The last 125 pages are really every possible way you can think of to say "I love you, you're the love of my life." I mean, over and over and over (this did make me groan). At some point, it really is enough already, and this book goes way beyond that point. This made it feel like a teenage romance (not helped by the author's intro about how she came up with the name of some new characters).

A quick, easy read, there are many worse Austen fan fiction books out there, so if you need a fix, this is not a terrible choice.

The book arrived on the first day expected and in great condition. Thank you very much, it was a great read.

I absolutely love pride and prejudiced and one day i just happened to pick up this specific sequel without realizing just how many there really are! I loved the sappy ending it was really adorable. Though I think its safe to say when buying a sequel you should only pick one to read reading more just makes the story too adaptable. The writing style was quite similiar to Austens and the book flowed easily. Fun easy read with all the predictable characteristics of a romance, but if thats what your looking for read this one it was great.

I have read several books that purport to tell Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's point of view now. Some of them merely regurgitate the original novel verbatim, adding nothing of interest while others are so far fetched as to be unrealistic and out of character. This book started slowly and I was afraid it would be another re-telling that relied heavily on the text of the original novel, however it began to distinguish itself about halfway through. The author has obviously given careful thought to the story and as such has produced a book that is very sympathetic to the original. I have sometimes found it difficult to reconcile the drastic change that occurs to Darcy over the course of the few months when he and Elizabeth part at Hunsford and meet again at Pemberly, but this book delves into his character and mindset so well as to explain the change. I also enjoyed the fact that the book goes into more description of their life after the wedding, which is something Austen only touches on briefly at the end of Pride and Prejudice. Again, I thought the author's description of this period was in keeping with the characters created by Jane Austen in the original novel.

The main drawbacks with this book (apart from the grammatical errors) were the fact that the author sometimes added to Austen's dialogue (which to my mind is tantamount to sacrilege. There are some things that need no improvement, and the repartee between Darcy and Elizabeth is one of them) and often the language she used was overblown and flowery in an attempt, I assume, to mimic the language used in the original book. If however you are able to overlook these shortcomings, I would recommend the book as a carefully construed and sympathetic portrayal of Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's point of view.

A wonderful look at Pride and Prejudice through Mr. Darcy's eyes. The book stays true to Jane Austin's characters while providing important incites to what Mr. Darcy is going through. It is easier to read than Jane Austin but manages to keep you properly in Jane's world. I would recommend it for anyone who likes a well written love story.