Customer Reviews

Mr. Darcy's Diary: A Novel

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The aspect of this novel by Amanda Grange which pleases me most is that she has been successful in turning Fitzwilliam Darcy into a flesh and blood man. Since Pride and Prejudice is essentially written from Elizabeth Bennet's point of view, at times I want an explanation of what Darcy is thinking. This book managed to do that for me. Even knowing that these words, thoughts and ideas do not come from Jane Austen, I am still completely satisfied with thinking "my" Mr. Darcy would have been like this. He was arrogant, he did believe in his own self-importance, he did interfere in Bingley's life. But, he also learned from Elizabeth and Bingley and the situations he found himself in that he could change. He didn't need to stay so stiff and formal. He could actually learn to tease and be teased and the world as he knew it would still remain on its axis.

I found this book to be slow going at first. I really didn't think I was going to be able to accept this Darcy as the same one who lives in my imagination. But a strange thing happened as I continued to read. I began to really like this man. Amanda Grange had made him a true, real, loveable person for me. As most of the other reviewers have said, I also am a huge fan of the Jane Austen books. Ms Grange does not try to be Jane Austen. She tries to be herself, giving us her version of how she thinks Fitzwilliam Darcy might have responded to his situations. I applaud her effort and recommend this book as a worthwhile read.

This is just a little extra information in case you get confused (as I did). This book came out in Britain in 2005 in hardcover and was titled DARCY'S DIARY. It has a full head portrait of Darcy on the cover, quite interesting but maybe just a little too feminine for "my" Darcy. The paperback was published in 2007 and is titled MR. DARCY'S DIARY. I, of course, was not careful and managed to buy them both. The paperback has only a partial portrait, probably because the publisher discovered that each of us has our own mental picture of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Both books are identical in every way except as I have stated. Now, my advice is to just read and enjoy one copy or the other.

From the time UPS delivered this book yesterday, until I finished it at 2 a.m., I was captivated --and went to bed with a happy heart! Darcy's Diary is witty and delightful. Each entry is dated which keeps the timeline ever in focus. Amanda Grange successfully makes our hero all too human as she clearly exposes his pride that may not be as obvious in other's writings. Although Darcy may be a bit shy in company of those he does not know, it is in this novel that his arrogance is clearly his weakness -- and that is what he truly must overcome! Interactions that Darcy relates (as well as his innermost thoughts) are laugh out loud funny. And as I am an avid (yet critical) fan of anything Darcy and Elizabeth, this is one novel I am eager and confident to recommend!

I always wanted to read a book that reflected Mr. Darcy' feelings and emotions when he met Elizabeth. This book does exactly that- it "explains" in Darcy's voice how he feels about Elizabeth Bennett from the very first moment he sees her, and how he falls in love with her over time.

Loved it- Read it after Pride and Prejudice.

Ellen

I read this book out of more curiosity then anything else. I enjoyed the story, as I always do, but I found the writing almost painfully bad. The speech was too modern and it lacked the eloquence and polish that make Austen's work so entertaining. It was also dismally apparent that a woman was trying to write through the eyes of a man with little success. His thought processes seemed to be no more complex then that of a eight year-old. It did stay relatively true to the story, but it strayed near the end to a point that made me put the book down. Honestly, the book would have been much more enjoyable if the writing had been better. It reminded me of grading early high school english papers instead of the quality that one expects from a published author.

I am a big Pride & Prejudice fan and try to get my hands on anything related to the original book. Nothing will ever come close, with the exception of the 1995 A&E version starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I do like Pamela Aiden's trilogy "A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman".

This book does not fully measure up to Pamela Aiden's level. I found this book a little boring and skipped many parts, focusing instead on my favorit moments between Elisabeth and Mr. Darcy.

It is not terrible, and it is pretty well written. I have read worse attempts to give us Mr. Darcy's version of falling in love with Ms. Bennett. I think Ms. Grange made a great attempt falling just a little short.

I enjoyed the book. I felt it was true to the original "Pride and Prejudice." Mr. Darcy's personality and character remained very much the same as in the original book.

If Jane Austen thought that her novel Pride and Prejudice was too light, bright, and sparkling and wanted shade, then author Maya Slater has made up for any deficit by crossing over to the `dark side' in writing her re-telling of the story entitled Mr. Darcy's Diary. Not only are we privy to Fitzwilliam Darcy's most intimate and revealing secrets, we see the story of Pride and Prejudice told wholly from the male perspective, and gentle readers, be prepared. It's a man's world in Regency England, and dare I say, Fitzy is no saint!

The story opens with Mr. Darcy as a house guest of the Bingley's at Netherfield Park the night of the Meryton Assembly. Caroline Bingley is up to her ususal kow-towing activities and insists upon embroidering slippers for Darcy, even though he inwardly fumes that he has no use for them. He is ruminating over sister Georgiana's letter, and sees no solution to her predicament, the particulars of which are not yet known to us. The party arrives at the Assembly rooms and there is little of interest for him. Seeing the dance unfold from his perspective is an interesting vantage; the rooms, the music and the "superfluity of raw young ladies eager for dancing partners were all disenchanting to him". His breeches are too tight so he does not sit down. Beyond the perfunctory dances with his two hostesses, Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, he saw nothing in the room to tempt him. No mention is made of his slighting our heroine Elizabeth Bennet, but this is Mr. Darcy's diary after all, and an event of no consequence to him would surely not be recorded in his diary.

The diary continues in this first person narrative as Mr. Darcy relays his thoughts, concerns and observations over the timeline of events in Pride and Prejudice. It is not hard to image that Darcy might have written a diary, since he is so eloquent in communication in the original novel as seen in his famous "Be not alarmed madam" letter to Elizabeth Bennet addressing the charges laid before him after her rejection of his first marriage proposal. It might well be one of the most compelling and convincing letters in literary history, so like most young ladies whose imagination is very rapid, I will jump from one well written letter to surmising his ability to write a diary in a moment. He is after all, Mr. Darcy. He "has no defect. He owns it himself without disguise."

A diary by literatures most alluring hero is an intriguing concept, but when I originally read the title, I had to blink. Not only is it exactly the same as the US paperback edition of Amanda Grange's previously released Darcy's Diary, there are several books sharing the same premise; Darcy's Story: Pride and Prejudice Told from a Whole New Perspective, by Janet Aylmer; the Fitzwilliam Darcy trilogy by Pamela Aiden, An Assembly Such as This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain; Darcy's Passions, by Regina Jeffers; The Confessions of Fitzwilliam Darcy, by Mary Street; and the one that started this Darcy avalanche, The Diary of Henry Fitzwilliam Darcy, by Marjorie Fasman. Wait! There appears to be another in the queue, Mr. Darcy's Dream, by Elizabeth Aston due out in February 2009. Enough! Do publishers think that Janeites have the memory of a hairbrush and can be so easily duped? Do we really need yet another retelling of Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's perspective? Oh rot and bother I say!

And so it was with a cynical and heavy heart that I cracked open yet another Darcy discourse ready to rip it to shreds like Lydia Bennet's famous bonnet. Grumble. The first few entries of the diary were pleasant enough. The language and style was respectful to Austen's, the story line consistent with Darcy's view, and the characters well thought out. A good beginning. My interest builds as I realize that I am reliving Pride and Prejudice from a new perspective, and told by an author who understands the novel, is well researched in Regency history and can turn a phrase quite neatly. Better and better. Whoa! Darcy has just admired a housemaid's `pleasing embonpoint', removed her starched white apron and tumbled her on his bed! (Ok, I just heard the pounding exodus of Austen purist as they run out the back door.) The hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. This is not the Darcy that we know from Elizabeth Bennet's perspective, and the author has just made her point.

Uncertain if I could get past this bit, I trudge on. We follow Darcy to London with his faithful valet Peebles in tow. Their Jeeves and Wooster relationship is amusing. I smile. Darcy unknowingly crumples up his leather gloves in a coat pocket, scuffs his boots, and wants to wear the wrong clothes for the wrong occasion. It is of little consequence to this wealthy and overly confident man, but Peebles is beside himself. I laugh. In addition to Charles Bingley, we are introduced to Darcy's friend, George Byron. Yes, the poet and notorious, "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" Byron. He lives up to his reputation and influences Darcy into dubious deeds that most Regency men of his position in society amuse themselves with like cards, drunken debacles, and escapades with women. At this point we are experiencing Darcy from a totally male point-of-view, but the transition into events that Austen would never have included in her heroine Elizabeth Bennet's female world, are more acceptable because this author's skill at making Darcy's diary so believable and amusing is effortless. By the midway point in the diary, it has become a page turner, and I am totally captivated.

So how did author Maya Slater woo a Janeite who openly admits contempt for renovators who sex up or steal Austen's good name? She actually did not have to. Once I abandoned my expectations of reading another prequel, sequel or re-telling bent on ripping off Jane Austen's stories or characters, I realized that this was not Elizabeth Bennet's Pride and Prejudice, but Mr. Darcy's, and Maya Slater was not renovating Jane or sexing up Lizzy but telling a man's story. What other authors have attempted in their Darcy re-tellings by mirroring Jane Austen's text word-for-word, has been replaced by sheer creativity and respect. Slater expands our understanding of the plot and characters that Jane Austen introduced, and makes Mr. Darcy's Diary unique and yet blend-able to the original story. It made me laugh-out-loud repeatedly as she expounded on the smarmy antics of Caroline Bingley whose continued attempts to worm her way into Darcy's affections fall flat, fume over the officious arrogance of his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh, hiss at the deceit and destruction caused by that lout George Wickham, and revel in a love story that I read as freshly and intensely as the first time this writer experienced the original many years ago. That, gentle Austen readers, is quite an achievement. Even Mr. Darcy might consider Maya Slater worthy of inclusion in "the half a dozen women in the whole range of (his) acquaintance that are truly accomplished."

Laurel Ann, Austenprose

This is a wonderful book for those of us who really enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, but wished to hear more from Mr. Darcy. The diary entrys parallel Pride and Prejudice. The gatherings, situations and conversations are at times verbatim Austen. Mr. Darcy in this book is true to Austen's Darcy in every way. Reader now has the opportunity to really get to know Mr. Darcy, understand his motivations and watch him fall in love with Elizabeth. Very enjoyable indeed.

I was disappointed with this book. The concept is so good--the idea of reading what Mr. Darcy was writing in his diary about Elizabeth is so appealing. But I found there were things written that no one would really write in a diary (i.e., repeating entire conversations). As I read, I decided to overlook the unrealistic things written in diary format and then was able to enjoy the book. But it left me disappointed. It's not a bad book but I think I expected more.

Amanda Grange has written Darcy's point of view in this sequel to Pride and Prejudice. P&P tells us what Darcy was thinking in capsuled paragraphs throughout the book, but the original Austen story is really Elizabeth's story. However, Darcy is such an powerful character in literature, it is nice to see what others perceive to be his nature when he is fighting his obsession over Elizabeth Bennet. Austen purists will enjoy this book. Other versions of the same story line of merit include Pamela Aidan's triology and Darcy's Passions. I am anxious for Grange's Captain Wentworth's Diary to hit the market in summer of 2007, as well as Mr. Knightley Diary.