Pemberley or Pride and Prejudice Continued

Well, to get me back into the swing of things I went back to my old crutch- Jane Austen spin offs. I love strong willed women and period literature. Always have, always will. I love the formality, the characters, and the social context that the story takes place in. I also like to reflect on the social context that the writer was in when they were writing the piece. I find it fascinating that I can get so lost in a romantic love story while building my vocabulary of little used English words. Ahh, the joys of reading right there.

Anyway, because of my love of these types of books the spin offs are a lot of fun. Fan fiction comes in several forms- the amateurish stuff that you will find a la Harry Potter. The nod to the original but I've done it my own way type such as Bridget Jones' Diary, The Jane Austen Book Club, and movies 10 Things I Hate About You, and Clueless, etc and it can also be a sequel to the originals, a continuation. The later, for me, is the hardest to believe and read because it is so hard to create authentic replicas of characters and context. You have to be precise to the language, the context, the characters and the author. It is the later that Pemberley or Pride and Prejudice Continued falls into. The edition of this book, by Emma Tennant, I picked up from the library feels like a little pocket book I may have picked up from some long ago period as well. Small and fitting nicely in one hand held open I began feeling transported to the time period the second I picked it up. The cover art helps too with tranquil little drawing that I might find done by Miss Georgiana Darcy.

This is one of the best Austen spin offs I have come across, and from my readings online, it is generally felt that way by many. The characterization is so true to Austen's works that I really enjoyed it-mostly. The language is a little less authentic but I was OK with that as it allowed me to read faster and made it easier to sink into the plot. I loved how true to Mrs. Bennet and to Elizabeth that Ms. Tennant was. The author wrote like Elizabeth was thinking- fast and frantic. At times this was very effective. You felt the urgency, the chaos and irrationality that can sometime be Elizabeth's character. However, at times, it almost made it difficult to follow the storyline. There was one large fault that Tennant had in writing Elizabeth and it almost ruined the book for me. It dealt with the communication between Darcy and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is rescued from actually having to communicate with her husband and yet all is well in the end. This doesn't match up with the strong willed character. She has stood up for herself and has spoke her mind many times before to Darcy in the book and the original P & P, so to not confront him, if eventually, was disheartening. She sort of does, but she is not 100|% forthcoming, which I don't believe is her character. So Jane saves her. This ruined the whole book for me as in P & P its her ability to speak out and stand up for herself even within her social contexts that makes me love Austen's works, and the Elizabeth Bennett (Darcy) character.

I also don't like how her mother's engagement was played out. I expected it to play a larger role and the falling out to have played out, not just be summarized. Or the big "to do" made over Wickham staying under the Pemberley roof so they make other arrangements only for them all to stay under one roof.

There are many moments I enjoyed, having less to do with Elizabeth and more to do with Jane, Mary and the other sisters but I can't give away the whole books. On the whole though it did feel quite authentic and was a fun read!