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reydeam's review against another edition
2.0
I don't consider myself a Pride & Prejudice purist but maybe I am because I could barely stomach this one. And yet, I read the entire book with speed and hopefulness. I love retellings, I do. They're not all good, but I am a sucker for them. I go into them with much hope. I was very much looking forward to this book.
There were several moments in Eligible that kept my eyes glued to the pages, I was very interested. But, there were many more moments were my hopes were dashed; my hopes for the story to develop further into a story of my liking. I was hoping the retelling would redeem itself. I was hoping the modern twists would rekindle into a nicely told story.
It seems I am in the minority, a vast amount of people are digging this retelling's modern twist. I am not one of them. I found this modern take on Pride and Prejudice to be boorish and crass with characters out of character; characters ballooned into caricatures. The Bennett sisters are spoilt (of course) but their crassness (especially with the younger two) was hard to take. Plus, I did not like Jane or Elizabeth all that much either (I liked Jane more than Liz). A retelling can be modern without crafting characters whose only purpose is to shock. I was able tolerate the reimagining of Lydia, she was shocking for her day in the original story and stayed true to that. But the reimagining of Elizabeth was far too much for my stomach to tolerate. The connection between Darcy and Elizabeth was not felt, it was all about Elizabeth and her lack of any relationship maturity. her idea of having "hate sex" with Darcy was all sorts of thumbs down.
Bottom line: This modern twist on Pride and Prejudice, the characters and their world, left me feeling blah. Yeah. Blah. Meh. I was disappointed but was entertained enough that I was able to finish the book.
As Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs Darcy puts it, "Sittenfeld is no Jane Austen, but she's okay with that: her snappy writing and spirit of playfulness make this such good fun for Jane Austen fans, if you're willing to go with it." I wasn't willing to go with it. (emphasis is mine)
And, "The purists will need their smelling salts."
For me, the smelling salts were not strong enough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My book thoughts were also posted on my blog, Polishing Mud Balls
https://polishingmudballs.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/book-thoughts-eligible-by-curtis-sittenfeld/
There were several moments in Eligible that kept my eyes glued to the pages, I was very interested. But, there were many more moments were my hopes were dashed; my hopes for the story to develop further into a story of my liking. I was hoping the retelling would redeem itself. I was hoping the modern twists would rekindle into a nicely told story.
It seems I am in the minority, a vast amount of people are digging this retelling's modern twist. I am not one of them. I found this modern take on Pride and Prejudice to be boorish and crass with characters out of character; characters ballooned into caricatures. The Bennett sisters are spoilt (of course) but their crassness (especially with the younger two) was hard to take. Plus, I did not like Jane or Elizabeth all that much either (I liked Jane more than Liz). A retelling can be modern without crafting characters whose only purpose is to shock. I was able tolerate the reimagining of Lydia, she was shocking for her day in the original story and stayed true to that. But the reimagining of Elizabeth was far too much for my stomach to tolerate. The connection between Darcy and Elizabeth was not felt, it was all about Elizabeth and her lack of any relationship maturity. her idea of having "hate sex" with Darcy was all sorts of thumbs down.
Bottom line: This modern twist on Pride and Prejudice, the characters and their world, left me feeling blah. Yeah. Blah. Meh. I was disappointed but was entertained enough that I was able to finish the book.
As Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs Darcy puts it, "Sittenfeld is no Jane Austen, but she's okay with that: her snappy writing and spirit of playfulness make this such good fun for Jane Austen fans, if you're willing to go with it." I wasn't willing to go with it. (emphasis is mine)
And, "The purists will need their smelling salts."
For me, the smelling salts were not strong enough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My book thoughts were also posted on my blog, Polishing Mud Balls
https://polishingmudballs.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/book-thoughts-eligible-by-curtis-sittenfeld/
eekain's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
cainscr's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
zoekitch's review against another edition
4.0
LOVED! as a Cincinnati native, I'll admit most of this book was just my pure joy to have so much of my childhood mentioned in a random book recommended by my English teacher. just was so into every second waiting for the next reference, and I enjoyed the modern if goofy modern interpretations of characters.
mandaailey's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
This book made me so angry. The casual racism and homophobia used throughout is despicable. I had to double check when this book was written multiple times because despite its use of cell phones, the views of the characters felt like they were straight from 90s or early 2000s.
Then, setting that mess aside, these characters were awful. Somehow Sittenfeld achieved a feat I never thought possible; disliking Lizzy Bennet in a P&P retelling.
Also, why the hell are there nearly 200 chapters in this book? Insanity.
I've given a half star for Charlotte and Cousin Willie actually seeming to make things work, half a star for Cathy de Bourgh not being a bitch, and a quarter star for the audiobook narrator making it through this hot mess.
Then, setting that mess aside, these characters were awful. Somehow Sittenfeld achieved a feat I never thought possible; disliking Lizzy Bennet in a P&P retelling.
Also, why the hell are there nearly 200 chapters in this book? Insanity.
I've given a half star for Charlotte and Cousin Willie actually seeming to make things work, half a star for Cathy de Bourgh not being a bitch, and a quarter star for the audiobook narrator making it through this hot mess.
susannah_knox's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
katelarsenkeys's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
A contemporary Cincinnati reimagining of Pride and Prejudice meets Greys Anatomy and The Bachelor.
literallyyyyy's review against another edition
funny
relaxing
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
An iconic story of enemies to lovers from the queen Austen herself transformed seamlessly into a present day tale by Sittenfield. This modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice created the perfect bridge of understanding for today's readers to more closely follow and experience the air tight tension and banter between the two main characters in Austen's original story. What context is lost through the years since its publication, is regained in Sittenfield's version. I found myself laughing and "clutching my pearls" at all the same moments and maybe even more in this book. It was seriously a joy to read this.
sashapasha's review against another edition
3.0
So I don't know why, but I found the hate-sex to be the most intriguing part of this book.
I was just skimming away, enjoying the story sleepily, when suddenly, Lizzie is like hey want to go have hate-sex? and my ears perked up and things got interesting fast.
For some reason, I just never envisioned Lizzie and Darcy being intimate before Lizzie's opinion of Darcy starts changing for the better. The original is obviously much too old-fashioned for such things, but also it just seemed a tad off-character. Lizzie (the original at least) doesn't seem like the type to act on lust, rather than love. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the whole hate-sex aspect of the story. I think more books should have hate-sex. It was very well-portrayed in this book.
The rest of the updates are executed with varying degrees of success. I liked the whole cross-fit thing with Lydia and Kitty, and I was a fan of the inspirational, non-dragon Kathy de Bourgh. I wasn't a huge fan of how defensive Lizzie was about Cincinnati and other things to Darcy. She came across as having an inferiority complex at times, and it seemed like she spent almost all of her early encounters with him trying to defend her insecurities.
The spider infestation was absolutely horrifying. It was like a fire-breathing hydra suddenly turning up in a story about teddy-bears. What the hell? Keep that shit bottled. I don't need nightmares from reading contemporary romances.
I was just skimming away, enjoying the story sleepily, when suddenly, Lizzie is like hey want to go have hate-sex? and my ears perked up and things got interesting fast.
For some reason, I just never envisioned Lizzie and Darcy being intimate before Lizzie's opinion of Darcy starts changing for the better. The original is obviously much too old-fashioned for such things, but also it just seemed a tad off-character. Lizzie (the original at least) doesn't seem like the type to act on lust, rather than love. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the whole hate-sex aspect of the story. I think more books should have hate-sex. It was very well-portrayed in this book.
The rest of the updates are executed with varying degrees of success. I liked the whole cross-fit thing with Lydia and Kitty, and I was a fan of the inspirational, non-dragon Kathy de Bourgh. I wasn't a huge fan of how defensive Lizzie was about Cincinnati and other things to Darcy. She came across as having an inferiority complex at times, and it seemed like she spent almost all of her early encounters with him trying to defend her insecurities.
The spider infestation was absolutely horrifying. It was like a fire-breathing hydra suddenly turning up in a story about teddy-bears. What the hell? Keep that shit bottled. I don't need nightmares from reading contemporary romances.