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61 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A romance book? Yes. Elizabeth and Darcy? Not even close., September 28, 2007
As a Jane Austen fan it's fun to think about the characters she created and put them in different scenarios. But even doing this, one still keeps to the characters' personalities and attributes. If not, then they aren't Austen characters but rather newly made up beings. Reynolds has claimed she was reimagining P&P's leads within a slightly different scenario. Unfortunately, what she really did was change the characters to fit her new scenario. Let's consider her basic premise: Elizabeth accepts Darcy's original offer of marriage. It's not unthinkable if one changes just a tiny detail or two from the original tale. For instance, if Wickham had exposed himself to be untrustworthy earlier, or if Elizabeth had not definitively discovered Darcy's part in keeping her sister and Bingley apart. But Reynolds does not take a simple route, she takes the preposterous premise that Darcy is so taken away in passion when proposing that he kisses Elizabeth against her wishes before she'd had a chance to reply anything to the offer. She uses his ego as the excuse. While Austen portrayed Darcy as sure of himself, there is no way he'd touch, let alone kiss, Elizabeth until his proposal was accepted. Propriety meant everything for this man. But this absurd breach of character is the least of it. The most insulting part of Reynold's premise is that being caught by Fitzwilliams engaging in said kiss Elizabeth suddenly feels like she must accept Darcy's marriage proposal. Ridiculous! Even in Austen's day a mere kiss did not force a woman into marriage. Women could break off an engagement. It makes no sense and therefore infects everything that follows with a further off-character meander. As the tale progresses, Elizabeth is afraid of Darcy. She is spineless. She never speaks her mind. Darcy is a lovesick puppy or a cold hearted, insensible idiot. I'm not sure who these people are who share Austen's character's names. I do know they aren't the characters of Pride and Prejudice. If the book were simply a historical romance, it would be a bit melodramatic but acceptable. But when the author uses some of literature's most beloved characters, then the author should at least try to keep traits, personality, values, temperament on par. Nobody is expecting writing like Jane Austen's. The story can be forgiven its lack of writing style, sharpness, humor or manners commentary. But is it really too much to ask to keep Darcy smart, proud and fair and Elizabeth smart, spirited and funny? The dolts she wrote about make Mrs. Bennet seem a wit.
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31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Read this book if you can say, "I wonder what would happen if....", November 4, 2007
I decided this past summer to give myself a treat and re-read all the Jane Austen books which I like best. In doing so I also discovered many, many selections for what I call take-offs. This book is one of the ones which caught my attention so much that I wanted to read it. I had never before read anything written by Abigail Reynolds. I chose this particular title because the dialogue in Pride and Prejudice from which it is taken has always been a huge favorite of mine. Lizzie and Darcy really let their hair down during this scene and I have always wanted it to go on longer. Now I had my chance. I really appreciate the way Ms Reynolds handled this interaction between my two favorite literary characters. I willingly accepted her Darcy. Elizabeth was a little harder for me to fall in step with. I wondered if the reason Elizabeth found herself engaged to Mr. Darcy was quite strong enough. Would MY Elizabeth not have straightened out the problem immediately with one of her tart, straightforward statements? Perhaps. But, as I continued to read I was more and more willing to accept THIS Elizabeth and her actions. I have to say that I don't think I have ever read a book where the main characters (Elizabeth, Darcy and Georgiana) misunderstood each other so often as they do here. Austen's Elizabeth would have asked a lot more questions to clear up details. Alas, this Elizabeth (nor Darcy, nor Georgiana) asked enough questions. I finally had to let go of my pre-conceived notions and just accept these characters as written. From there on out I felt better. I enjoyed Ms Reynolds depictions of Pemberley. I liked the book as a whole and fully intend to get the other books in the series. I think that says a lot for my enjoyment level. I am probably not what most people would consider an Austen purist so this book was a good, entertaining read for me. If you insist on any author staying completely faithful to every word written by Jane Austen, you are never going to be happy with this or any other variation on the canon. My advice, if you can allow yourself to imagine "what if..." then this book will give you pleasure.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What if Lizzy Didn't Reject Darcy's First Proposal?, January 4, 2010
This review is from: Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World (Pride & Prejudice Continues) (Paperback)
"Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy," originally published as " The Last Man in the World: A Pride & Prejudice Variation" in 2007, is an engaging and clever variation of "Pride and Prejudice." If you have not yet had the pleasure of encountering this series, "The Pemberley Variations," by Abigail Reynolds, it is collection of "Pride and Prejudice" re-tellings that asks the question "what if?" In these variations we see how one small change in the plot can alter the course of "Pride and Prejudice." This is one of my favorite variations by Abigail Reynolds, I love how heartbreaking and emotional the story is. The slight change that sends "Pride and Prejudice" on its ear in this variation is Mr. Darcy kissing Elizabeth before she can refuse his offer of marriage and that kiss being observed by Colonel Fitzwilliam and Rosing Park gamekeepers. Now Elizabeth finds herself in a difficult situation as Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam are under the impression that she has accepted Darcy's addresses and if she were to correct their assumption it would jeopardize not only her reputation, but also the reputations of her sisters. Even though Elizabeth never gets to proclaim to Darcy that he is "the last man in the world whom she could ever be prevailed on to marry," she strongly despises him for what he's done and her outlook for her a happy future is very bleak. In "Pride and Prejudice" the flaws of "pride" and "prejudice" are played upon. In "Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy" these flaws are still represented but added to them are "selfishness" and "deception." Mr. Darcy selfishly believes that Elizabeth's answer to his proposal could only be yes, and Elizabeth decides it best to deceive her husband into believing her happily married instead of being truthful about her feelings for him. One of the reasons I love Elizabeth and Darcy is because they are flawed and they make mistakes. No one is perfect and in the literary world sometimes we tend to idolize our heroes and heroines. It is a nice change to see them feel insecure, embarrassed, or misunderstood. I believe even Elizabeth Bennet has times when she lacks confidence or jumps to the wrong conclusion. Abigail Reynolds is a very talented and gifted author that clearly loves Jane Austen and "Pride and Prejudice" with a passion! I am delighted to own both this book and her self-published version of it "The Last Man in the World." After reading "Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy" and scanning through my copy of "The Last Man in the World," I did not find many changes in the plot, and I would venture to say that the only changes were grammatical. So if you already own "The Last Man in the World" you might not want to buy this book, however, if you are like me, you wouldn't mind having this lovely book grace your shelves twice! In addition, I would like to warn readers who don't enjoy intimate and romantic scenes between these characters that there are a few included in this book. However, the romantic scenes are very infrequent and are not overly explicit. I highly recommend this novel for people who are interested in seeing "Pride and Prejudice" travel a different course! Austenesque Reviews
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