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thekatiefu's review against another edition
1.0
Well that was a waste. I like retellings/reimagining in general; this was just bad.
The narrator was annoying, alternating between terrible "character voices" and a sort of affected accent that didn't fit, so if you ever do try this don't listen to the audiobook.
The story itself tried too hard to update to the 21st century, both with the language with which the characters spoke and with the cultural references. I also didn't appreciate the hyper-sexualization of literally every relationship.
Don't waste your time on this.
The narrator was annoying, alternating between terrible "character voices" and a sort of affected accent that didn't fit, so if you ever do try this don't listen to the audiobook.
The story itself tried too hard to update to the 21st century, both with the language with which the characters spoke and with the cultural references. I also didn't appreciate the hyper-sexualization of literally every relationship.
Don't waste your time on this.
emmaledbetter's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
four_out_of_five's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
cmrobe06's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. The characters were hilarious and the pages went quickly. Clearly the story is "timeless" because of how effortlessly the author was able to modernize it.
amrichie64's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
colleen_who_ver's review against another edition
1.0
The ratings on this app for this book were lukewarm; however the curiosity got the best of me, and my library had a copy, so I decided to check it out. I was NOT prepared for how quickly I would find not only the characters but also the author's personal writing style annoying. I nearly DNF, but wanted to see how this mess got resolved. In some ways, Sittenfeld gets this modern retelling right, because this is CERTAINLY a period piece, as depicted by the mentionings of CrossFit and fad diets, the style in which the Bennett sisters text, the fact that our main character works in New York City as a journalist (a la many rom-coms of the era) and the use of an offensive word to describe trans people that most people in a post-2020 society would deem as a slur. I did appreciate that since Liz is almost 40, she probably isn't as connected to her phone as her younger sisters, which explains why she didn't get Darcy's phone number until late in the story, continuing to create the lack of immediate contact that added conflict to the original book. However, that's about as far as my praise will go.
Like most readers who rated this book poorly, I agree that the portrayals of the Bennetts was a huge miss. I do not think Liz, who mentions in the original book that only the deepest love would move her to matrimony, would hold a candle for a shell of a man, and be complacent with being his mistress until his wife's grandmother passes away. Like another reader pointed out, it seemed once again unrealistic that Liz would be complacent in her job and not want to achieve more with it--she gives off the air of a career woman, but it really takes a backseat to her managing the family's finance and policing their personalities. In addition, Mrs. Bennett could have just as easily been as histrionic and overbearing as she was in the original book without being entirely bigoted, and "enlightened" Big City Girl Liz remains complicit in her obvious racism, transphobia, anti-Semitism, etc., taking comfort in the fact that Liz doesn't think like that and she is therefore better than her mother.
To follow, it left a poor taste in my mouth that the Mr. Wickham character, turns out to be not a villan of the story who has purposely wronged others, but is simply a trans man and has no personal history of betrayal between any of the main characters. This plot point is not only cheap, but implies to me, that the author equates trans-ness with being amoral. The fact that the family, and specifically Mrs. Bennett, is in such hysterics over Ham's situation also pointed me to the fact that this story is too 2013-coded and unlike the original, barely holds up just over 10 years later. A "modern" retelling of a classic doesn't mean you pull out every DE&I buzzword you can think of and throw it over a boring plot.
Lastly, aside from unlikable, inaccurate characters and a plot laced with bigotry, why is this author so hell-bent on showing all of us every. single. road. they drive on within the city? I do not care whether Liz took Grandin Road or I-71 to get to where she needs to go; this information is superfluous, and this book isn't SO amazing that people are going to visit those streets excitedly just to see where Mary's bowling league meets in person. The Cincinnati Board of Tourism should be paying Sittenfeld for the rose-colord descriptions of an average mid-sized city in the Midwest.
Overall, like other readers who share my opinion, if you're looking for an easy read and don't look too far into the book (or are a huge fan of Cincinnati), this may be worth reading. As an average romance novel that came out in 2016, it's probably digestible. But as a retelling of Pride and Prejudice it falls short.
Like most readers who rated this book poorly, I agree that the portrayals of the Bennetts was a huge miss. I do not think Liz, who mentions in the original book that only the deepest love would move her to matrimony, would hold a candle for a shell of a man, and be complacent with being his mistress until his wife's grandmother passes away. Like another reader pointed out, it seemed once again unrealistic that Liz would be complacent in her job and not want to achieve more with it--she gives off the air of a career woman, but it really takes a backseat to her managing the family's finance and policing their personalities. In addition, Mrs. Bennett could have just as easily been as histrionic and overbearing as she was in the original book without being entirely bigoted, and "enlightened" Big City Girl Liz remains complicit in her obvious racism, transphobia, anti-Semitism, etc., taking comfort in the fact that Liz doesn't think like that and she is therefore better than her mother.
To follow, it left a poor taste in my mouth that the Mr. Wickham character, turns out to be not a villan of the story who has purposely wronged others, but is simply a trans man and has no personal history of betrayal between any of the main characters. This plot point is not only cheap, but implies to me, that the author equates trans-ness with being amoral. The fact that the family, and specifically Mrs. Bennett, is in such hysterics over Ham's situation also pointed me to the fact that this story is too 2013-coded and unlike the original, barely holds up just over 10 years later. A "modern" retelling of a classic doesn't mean you pull out every DE&I buzzword you can think of and throw it over a boring plot.
Lastly, aside from unlikable, inaccurate characters and a plot laced with bigotry, why is this author so hell-bent on showing all of us every. single. road. they drive on within the city? I do not care whether Liz took Grandin Road or I-71 to get to where she needs to go; this information is superfluous, and this book isn't SO amazing that people are going to visit those streets excitedly just to see where Mary's bowling league meets in person. The Cincinnati Board of Tourism should be paying Sittenfeld for the rose-colord descriptions of an average mid-sized city in the Midwest.
Overall, like other readers who share my opinion, if you're looking for an easy read and don't look too far into the book (or are a huge fan of Cincinnati), this may be worth reading. As an average romance novel that came out in 2016, it's probably digestible. But as a retelling of Pride and Prejudice it falls short.
kmkasiner's review against another edition
4.0
More like 3.5 stars. This is the kind of book that annoyed me the whole time I was reading, yet I couldn't put it down, at it deserves at least one extra star for the fact that I just sat down and devoured the last 150ish pages while I was supposed to be doing chores. Actually, this was a pretty good example of Sittenfeld's work--her characters are usually despicable but well written rich white people. I didn't really feel chemistry between Darcy and Liz until close to the end of the book, and I found the "hate sex" pretense particularly grating. All of the relationships in the book were fairly empty (Lydia/Ham was actually the most romantic!), which is why I didn't enjoy it as a Pride and Prejudice adaptation. I mean, Pride and Prejudice is the original Romance. However, it was good as standalone novel.
camarasaurus's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
4.0
rosalyn_sailoge's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0