Customer Reviews

Darcy's Story

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

Why didn't someone stop this woman? The book is just not written in the style of Austen at all. The language isn't right, in a painful way. There are long passages quoted from Austen, only to be quoted over and over (and over). And the book is pretty short for having quoted Austen so much - that might give you a hint that there isn't much going on. Part of what I love about Austen's work is the twists and turns and how everything is woven together so nicely. Don't expect anything like that here. The scenarios are contrived and presented in a ridiculous way. Darcy explaining in a conversation with Fitzwilliam the relationship between Darcy's father and Wickham - hello! Fitzwilliam is Darcy's cousin - close enough to be Georgianna's co-guardian! I think he knows the story! This is just one example. And the letters that are received - two sentences of fluff. And don't get me started about how repetitive this book is. OK, I've got it: Darcy isn't good with words, he doesn't have Bingley's easy way with people. Stop telling me that, I got it the first time. (Forget the part where later she writes, for once in his life, he was at a loss for words.) Why? Why? Why? Oh it's painful to recall. Don't read this book, it can come to no good!

Janet Aylmer doesn't elaborate on Jane Austen's storyline in Darcy's Story; she simply retells the original story from Darcy's view. Considering that Pride and Prejudice is told from Lizzy's perspective, and much is about her family, this book is simple, condensed, and can be read in one sitting. This is not a criticism, as I found the book charming. Yes, I noticed a few of the editing errors, but they didn't stop me from enjoying the book for what the author intended. I loved being taken back into Darcy and Elizabeth's world for a short time. Aylmer could have taken me deeper, yes, but I loved where she did take me. She illustrated Darcy's doubts about his character after being dressed down so horribly by Elizabeth. She captured his growing love for Eliza, and his goal of showing her his improvements. Nevertheless, there is not sufficient character development involved in this book for it to be read without first reading the original. This book is not meant to replace Pride and Prejudice, but rather to augment the perspective. If you are familiar with the whole story, and just want to quickly revisit the romantic passions of Austen's original, this book will satisfy.

I had been waiting for "The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy" by Mary Street for so long to get a novel with Darcy's point of view that I settled for this one.

There's too much lifting of Jane Austen's text (which a reader would know already) from Pride and Prejudice and not enough suppositions on the what, why and feelings of Mr. Darcy...

I purchased this on impulse the other day after re-reading P&P and wanting (as we Austen fans so often do) to spend a little more time with the story. On a very basic level it accomplished that for me--but it offers very little to a reader already familiar with the story.

An earlier review calls the writing "awful." I wouldn't say awful so much as empty. The early chapters are excessively concerned with exposition (presumably to help those unfamiliar with P&P to catch-up with the story), but honestly I can't imagine anyone wanting to read this book in lieu of P&P or before reading P&P.

Unfortunately, Aylmer misses most (nearly all, really) opportunities to truly give us "Darcy's point of view" in any substantial way. It's as though her editors coached her to merely offer us a different camera angle instead of generating new material that would have genuinely fleshed out Darcy's perspective.

By new material I mean, of course, introspection and dialogue. For example: Wouldn't it have been interesting to know what Darcy said to Wickham when he persuaded him to marry Lydia Bennett after their "elopement" to London? Yes of course it would. Oddly, though, Aylmer doesn't offer any of this. She tells us almost nothing we hadn't already read in the original P&P. So why bother assembling this book at all?

Perhaps Aylmer (a pen-name) is a novice writer who simply hasn't yet learned to craft dialogue (I say this not unkindly, just from an observation of the notably absent material from the text itself.) That's a real possibility. But it speaks poorly of the publisher that such a book would be released without proper editorial coaching. Honestly, the book is poorly crafted and regardless of sales reflects badly on Harper. (Not a shrewd move, given the demographics of their disappointed consumers.)

After a little Amazon-searching I quickly found "An Assembly Such as This: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman" and its two companion books which appear to actually fulfill the promise of giving us a full view into Darcy's experiences and perspective. I've got my fingers crossed!

Writing a story from the perspective of Fitzwilliam Darcy was a clever idea. Unfortunately, the story the author "created" is merely mildly interesting. The author attempted to mimic exactly what was written by Jane Austen but, in the process, no original insight is introduced to this 200 year old story. The events the entire plot revolves around are in the scenes that are clearly copied from the original Pride & Prejudice; these are the times in which Darcy interacts with P&P's heroine, Eliza Bennett. It is my opinion that the author followed Austen's original work a little too faithfully, almost to the extent that she was afraid to alter anything. Nothing can be gained from this story that won't be found in P&P. Therefore, if you choose to read DARCY'S STORY, it is my recommendation that Pride & Prejudice be read in advance (however, by then, DARCY'S STORY will have been rendered irrelevant to you).

I impulsively bought this book at an airport bookstore because I had forgotten my current book (Jane Austen's letters) at home. Having just finished this "retelling" of Pride and Prejudice, I now wish I'd just slept through my flights instead.

As other reviewers have mentioned, there is NOTHING new in this book. Not a single thing was revealed about Darcy's character that couldn't be observed with a careful reading of P&P. I've read fanfiction online that was infinitely superior to this book. The author's own (not borrowed) writing (which rarely appeared) was completely lacking in spirit, wit, and imagination.

Again, as other reviewers have pointed out, the editing errors in the book were particularly troublesome, as they made for many jarring problems for the reader. What annoyed me most, though, was the constant stating, restating, and restating AGAIN of Austen's own dialogue, as if the reader couldn't remember what was said just 2 pages before. And ditto to the reviewer who commented on the particularly awful scene with Lady Catherine confronting Darcy using the exact same language she had just used with Elizabeth. This showed a truly appalling lack of imagination on the part of the author.

If you have a choice between this book and just about anything else--choose just about anything else.

First of all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. After reading Pride and Prejudice, I kept wondering more and more about Darcy, what HE was thinking, what HE was doing? Elizabeth was carefully and wonderfully portrayed by Jane Austen. I would have loved for Jane Austen to have gone into Darcy's life more, but she didn't. When I purchased Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer, I never expected to read it like a Jane Austen novel. I just wanted a story behind Darcy, the way I would think really happened at that time in history. The fact that Janet Aylmer kept the storyline in sync with Pride and Prejudice was wonderful for me. I knew where we were with each chapter. I knew where Elizabeth was, and now I know where Darcy was.

Overall, I have to say I really enjoyed reading Darcy's side of Pride and Prejudice through Janet Aylmer's interpretation. I think Jane would have approved!

"Darcy's Story" is one in the ever growing genre of "sequels" to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", only they're not written by Jane Austen. This is actually the second of this genre that I've read. A couple of years ago, as part of my now defunct book club, I read "Mr. Darcy's Daughters" by Elizabeth Aston. I think I liked this one much more because I knew and liked the character of Darcy, but I had not "met" the daughters.

Here we see a new side to Darcy where we learn that he really is an arrogant snob, but for all the right reasons. See, the thing is, he's actually shy and socially inept. Really. I always wanted to know Darcy's side of the story regarding his meeting and tortured courtship of Elizabeth Bennett, and that is exactly the story this book tells.

Aylmer tries to write in the style of Jane Austen and does it well enough; she also often uses direct quotes from P & P. What I liked best is that she parallels the timeline in P & P so that we see what Darcy is doing when we don't see him in P & P.

Is this great literature? Absolutely not. Could it stand alone without P & P? No way. This book is only for tried and true fans of "Pride and Prejudice" - which I am. Otherwise, it's not worth the time it takes to read.

http://tickettoanywhere.blogspot.com

Almost 200 years ago Jane Austen wrote and publilshed Pride & Prejudice, a novel that would stand the test of time, winning the hearts of new fans with each passing generation. For even though the novel was written so long ago its themes and characters have withstood the test of time. I first fell in love with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy several years ago by chance. Stumbling across the book one day in the bookstore not realizing that it would soon become a most beloved friend. It didn't take long to read Austen's novel and it was a book that I have revisited often over the years. Throughout all my readings I have always wondered about Mr. Darcy. What was he thinking? As well as what happened after the story ended. (Which was much to soon in my humble opinion!).

Despite my wanting to know what happened afterwards I have steered away for all the various "sequels" to the story that people have written over the years. I read some of the reviews and they were always mixed from those that loved them and those that thought they were horrible additions to a beloved story. Therefore I stayed away from them all so that P&P wouldn't be tarnished for me in any way.

That is until this past weekend when a friend of mine recommended a new novel, Darcy's Story by Janet Alymer. This wasn't a sequel but a companion novel told from the point of view of the enigmatic Mr. Darcy. Others have tried to recommend books to me based on P&P but I never really paid them much attention since there was always a little criticism mixed in with the praise. This friend was different. She admitted that while, at the time, she hadn't read much that she thoroughly enjoyed all that she had. That made me curious and so I bought the book soon afterwards.

It was instant love. Alymer uses a lot of the dialogue that Austen herself wrote which adds so much realism to the story for which there has been much criticism. In my opinion, the transcribed dialogue only helps in creating a seamless transition between the original story and the new additions. I don't think that I would have enjoyed this book half as much if she hadn't used the original text. After all, if it ain't broke, why fix it?

Alymer captures the essence of Mr. Darcy and all the other characters in the story. One can tell that Alymer is a true fan and took time and care with how the events were laid out. I loved all the added scenes that were only alluded to in Austen's story. They played out as I had pictured them. There has also been criticism about the length of time that Alymer spent on the various scenes between Darcy & Mr. Wickham. However, Austen herself never spent much time on them so why should Alymer do any different. Mr Wickham was only a minor character, the story revolved around Elizabeth and Mr Darcy to dwell on events not involving the two of them only takes away from their story. Reading Darcy's Story brought me back to the time when I first read Pride & Prejudice I loved every moment of it and as with P&P hated when it was over. So many people have tried over the years to emulate Austen's style with mixed results based on all the reviews that I have read. However I find that Alymer has succeeded in channeling Austen and created a novel that will stand the test of time as a worthy companion novel to the original. I think that Jane Austen would be very proud of what Janet Alymer has done with her characters. In conclusion, I am very thankful to my friend Chris, because without her heartfelt recommendation I never would have picked up this book.

http://tickettoanywhere.blogspot.com

Is this a original story or did the author just take lines from Miss Austen and add a few extra words? Save your money! There are much better Darcy novels out there!