Um, how about shockingly bad? For a start? Sigh. Three hours of my life I won’t get back; that’s for damn sure.
This horrid sequel to Pride and Prejudice can only claim to be the sequel if Elizabeth Bennet was destined to turn into the ridiculous, fluttering creature that is her mother. I never thought of her as a jump-to- conclusions kind of girl in the real story–over-eager to believe the worst in someone, if it suits her, sure. But insipid, guarded, able to hold her tongue when she shouldn’t. No. I kept waiting for her to shout out “My poor nerves!”
The entire story is inconsistent. The plot line moves along in fits and starts, magically advancing many days and significant events in the space of a page, while dawdling horribly several pages to represent the space of a few hours. There are a few additional characters that Ms. Tennant adds here, but that are all abysmal.
Ridiculous. That’s the sum. Don’t read it. Don’t buy it. And don’t borrow it from your library. Resist the temptation, no matter how much of a Pride and Prejudice geek you are. This can only grossly disappoint. The review snippets giving it a rave on Amazon must be for some other book. Oh, and don’t be deceived, Ms. Tennant republished this story under the name: Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued. Eschew them both!
Living in the Fine Print 
January 12, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I got halfway through P&P and just stopped, I couldn’t make myself read anymore despite the book being a “classic” and the book jacket claiming it has “enchanted readers” for a bazillion years. A few of the characters were annoying, the plot was excrusiatingly slow, and I was definitely not enchanted. I hate giving up on a book, but I tried, I honestly did. I doesn’t surprise me that the sequel is stinky.
January 12, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Snort. I actually adore Pride & Prejudice, the real deal. I think you and I have had this exchange before: you’re more of a Dickens and contemporaries fan and I’m more of an Austen and contemporaries. I detest Dickens and just about all of the stuff I’ve read from that era. Austen=social commentary + fluff and optimism. Dickens=social commentary + negative fluff and total lack of hope. 🙂
January 12, 2009 at 10:13 pm
[…] fiction Phew. I’m glad I had received this one from my hold list at the same time as the last one. Much better. In fact, it’s almost insulting to Ms. Reynolds to merely say: “Much […]
January 15, 2009 at 8:15 am
Ah yes, that does sound familar, I hope my cmment didn’t offend you.
January 15, 2009 at 9:29 am
To bookwormbethie: No, of course not. I just always like to make clear that I heart Jane Austen 🙂