Customer Reviews

Eliza's Daughter (Windsor Selections)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a Jane Austen fan, I've always wished she'd been more prolific in her lifetime. I found this book while searching for other books about young women in 19th century England. Although the plot is tame by today's standards, Jane would never have considered writing such a scandalous book. The book is well-written though and has many Jane-esque attributes. The teaser at the end left me wondering if the Joan Aiken has a sequel to the sequel in mind. I'm happy to see that Joan seems to be much more prolific than Jane was and I look forward to reading the other Jane Austen sequels. I highly recommend this book to other Jane Austen fans!

Most of the characters from the original novel are butchered to make Eliza look good. Edward and Elinor no longer seem to care for or respect each other. Marianne never comes to love Colonel Brandon and is just plain spiteful. Mrs. Dashwood goes insane. Almost all of the characters end up miserable except Eliza. You are supposed to like and admire her for overcoming all of her struggles but I just do not see how that is possible.

Joan Aiken is a good writer; she makes no attempt to imitate Austen's style, but I did not expect her to. The book is enjoyable, and the main character, who is almost entirely Aiken's own, is likeable. (I'm saying "almost entirely Aiken's own" because Eliza was only a baby when Sense and Sensibility takes place.) In fact, I think that the book would have been even better if it had been an original novel, instead of a sequel to Jane Austen. And this would have been easy to do; just change the names of the Austen characters, and they would be completely different people! Their personalities are completely different from the characters we know.

I find the changes in Edward and Marianne most disturbing. Edward is portrayed as mean, bitter, and tight with his money. He does not seem to have any love for Elinor at all, and he resents Colonel Brandon and Marianne for being rich, while Edward and Elinor are poor. When Eliza comes to stay with Edward and Elinor, it seems that Edward can not wait to get Eliza out of the house. And when he finds out Elinor is writing novels, he is completely horrified. This is not the Edward that we know! We find out that Elinor and Edward had a son, who died when he fell off a horse; possibly the change in Edward's character comes from bitterness over the death of his son. But this is not gone into at all; in fact, it is mentioned only once. As for Marianne, I could not imagine her being so mean that she would not allow Colonel Brandon to see Eliza even once, or have anything to do with her. Why has Marianne turned into such a mean, spiteful woman? There is absolutely no explanation of that, as far as I can see.

I also found the portrayal of Margaret Dashwood completely unbelievable. Why would Margaret remain unmarried, and become a schoolteacher? Wasn't it considered shameful for a girl of her social class to become a teacher? Also, I found it strange that she went out of her way to avoid Eliza at the school. And Mrs. Dashwood: why would she go crazy? There's a mention of some sort of illness, but nothing further.

The only Austen character who remains pretty much true to character is Elinor, although I thought the part about her writing novels was contrived. Is Aiken trying to turn Elinor into Jane Austen? (Just like the recent film of Mansfield Park has tried to turn Fanny Price into Jane Austen.) And isn't it interesting that Elinor has written six novels, and her publisher is John Murray?

As I said, though, this novel is not all bad; in fact, it's quite good when it gets away from Austen's characters. I enjoyed the plot very much. It reminded me of a detective story, with Eliza searching for clues to her mysterious past. And I also found Eliza's adventures in Portugal quite exciting. As an opera fan, I especially liked the parts about music and singing, and I almost wished that Eliza had become an opera singer like her mother. Also, I enjoyed the part where Eliza, as a child, meets Wordsworth and Coleridge, and the allusions to their poetry throughout the book.

The teaser at the end makes me wonder if Aiken plans to write a sequel to the sequel. I have no idea who the father of Eliza's child might be. There was something about being able to guess who it was from what has been said, but I could not figure it out. If Aiken does write a sequel to this book, I think it would be interesting, especially if she leaves out Austen's characters.

So, all in all, this was an enjoyable book that would have been better if it had not been an Austen sequel.

Let me be pithy: This book was awful. I made it about three-quarters of the way through and finally couldn't force myself to go any further. I even skimmed through the ending, hoping to find at least some kind of positive ending...but no, the whole book is just annoyingly depressing.

I feel sorry for Ms. Aiken because I just don't think she quite gets Jane Austen. While Austen's books are certainly social critiques, their main purpose is to be "diverting" and humorous. Any political lessons we learn are given by lifting people up, giving us heroes to root and cheer for.

Aiken, on the other hand, critiques society by dragging people down. No characters are safe, whether of her own invention or pilfered from Jane Austen. All end up in the mud. Why call this a sequel of 'Sense & Sensibility' and then desecrate the memory of the book by making Edward and Elinor's marriage look so pathetic?

If you love Jane Austen, avoid this book at all costs. If however you enjoy depressing tales with one tragedy following another and absolutely no pleasantness or point...this may be the book for you.

was somewhat frustrated during the reading of this book as I read Sense and Sensibility many years ago, saw the movie several years ago, and, with a mind like a steel sieve, couldn't remember the plot or people. In spite of that, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and the imitation of Austin's style. I was somewhat annoyed by the secrecy that the main character maintained, hiding certain events from the reader, and found the "surprise" at the end vexing, as I don't think there is a sequel to the sequel. Although I could find no obvious anachronisms, there was no mistaking in my mind that this was written by a modern author - Austin herself would never have dared write of some of the more shocking events that occurred in Eliza's rough life, which by modern standards is still shocking but no big deal to see in a book (outside of formula romances.) Following my immersion in this book(And having a proclivity to take to odd fancies) I find myself seeing my own mundane modern life through 18'th century eyes even as I find myself speaking as I think they spoke, and feeling an urge to put on some kind of big brown plain 18'th century everyday frock (Which I don't own). A successful book lingers with you for a while after you turn the last page, and this one does much more so than the run of the mill romance I've read on occasion.

This is an awful butchering of the wonderful characters Jane Austen portrayed. This does not even deserve one star. It angered me how she killed off all of the characters.

i found reading eliza's daughter was very interesting.it gave me an insight of the life of a parentless girl in that era.the trials she had to go through and to overcome.it was very well written and had me glued to it from beginning to end,i would recomend this book to anyone who loved the jane austen classics. in fact it is a complete novel all on it's own and worth reading whether you liked jane austen or not.i like this book so much that i am trying to buy it and i'm very sad it is now out of print.in my opinion this book is right up there with the austen's bronte"s the dicken's to name a few.so i would give this book 10 out 0f 10 for the story,the settings,and how it was written.

Sense and Sensibility is my favorite Jane Austen novel, so when I saw that this was a sequel, I was eager to read it. What a mistake! Aiken's work reads like a fan-fic, and Eliza comes very close to being a Mary Sue. Her deformed hand, instead of being a true detriment, is continually bringing her good fortune. Her voice, which everyone keeps telling her is nothing special, nevertheless is wonderful enough to get her constantly noticed. Her early association with Wordsworth and Coleridge should have been a tip-off that this was some sort of wish-fulfillment novel. Rather than being a romance, like Austen's novels, it ends up being a feminist power novel. The coy invitation to figure out who the father of Eliza's own illegitimate child is just left me cold. I honestly do not care. And worst of all, almost every character from S&S is twisted into something totally unlike the originals. It's as if Aiken despises them all. How unfair to deceive those who truly love Austen's novel with such a sham of a "sequel."