Most women who have watched the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice have fallen in love a little (or a lot) with Colin Firth - er, I mean Mr. Darcy. Only yesterday week I selected this DVD set to watch while working on a sewing project; patiently watching disc one but all the while anticipating the moment I could insert disc two and watch THE SCENE of the miniseries. You know, the one where Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth look at each other across the music room at Pemberley; Mr. Darcy's pleasant but subtle smile and gorgeous eyes gazing longingly at me (I mean Elizabeth Bennett), the violins swelling in the background at just the right moment, making your heart beat a little faster? And I have to say I have always felt a little akin to Miss Elizabeth Bennett through the means of sharing her first name (although I am named for Beth March from Little Women - yes, the one that dies) so I feel I have more right to insert myself in her place than most women.
Well, the prologue to Shannon Hale's novel Austenland was a teasing reminder to the universal circle of womanhood and our collective obsession with Colin Firth - er, Mr. Darcy - er, Pride and Prejudice and all things Jane Austen.
Jane Hayes, the female heroine of Ms. Hale's novel, has a disturbing obsession with Mr. Darcy, a long trail of past boyfriends who have broken her heart, a biological clock ticking, and a rich great aunt, who, at her death, bequeaths Jane with a three week vacation to Pembrook Park, a role-playing regency era-filled destination for women seeking to fulfil their Austonian fantasies in.
Due to her infatuation with Mr. Darcy, an actor playing the part of a Mr. Nobley (a Mr. Darcyesque character), steps in making Jane feel utterly contemptuous - but only at first. She also encounters a servant who works as a gardener at Pembrook Park. Will she get trapped in the fantasy land of role-playing an early nineteenth century single woman and fulfil a romance with Mr. Nobley, go "slumming" by falling for the gardener, or will she return to her senses and rejoin the real world?
I have to admit, I found this book refreshing because it is NOT the kind of novel I generally pick up to read. It peaked my interest because I have read other books by Shannon Hale that she has written for young adults, I am myself an adoring Pride and Prejudice fan, and I am willing to laugh at my own silly adoration of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. What I did not appreciate about his book was the harlequin nature of it - one of the many reasons I have not been tempted to read the Twilight series. I live in a rated G world and I love it. So in rating this book I feel I have to end up giving it three *** stars instead of four or five. I am also left with no desire to read Shannon Hale's other novel for adults, The Actor and the Housewife. This is mere personal opinion. I can appreciate thematic material in a book, but make-out scenes and fluff leave me feeling a little empty.
3 comments:
We must be on the same wavelength! I picked up this same exact book a few months ago. I had never read anything from Shannon Hale in my life before and like you it was not my usual read. I would rate it just as you did. I almost felt a little guilty reading it, not that it was overly detailed in the romance scenes, but lots of fluff for sure. I found the ending at the airport funny and silly despite it being oh so unlikely to ever happen to a real human being. I guess we still have much in common besides our names and birthdays :)
I didn't really like this one that much. I enjoyed Actor and the Housewife much more... but that' snot to say that you should read it. The first 3rd of it was magnificent, but the latter parts were harder to read.
I agree with you on this book. I think the concept could have been developed quite a bit more and it would have been a great read! The fluff and stuff really took away the fun.
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