Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Pride and Premeditation

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price

22 reviews

withlivjones's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was a fun and gripping take on Pride and Prejudice, and although it’s not a completely faithful adaptation of the story, I did like how all the characters fit into the plot and all the little references to the original text.

I love the romance between Lizzie and Darcy in the novella and I loved it here too, there were so many sweet moments between them and I loved their rivals-to-lovers dynamic. My only criticism is that one of my favourite things about the original novella is how restrained Austen is when addressing the romance - the reader has no idea about Lizzie and Darcy until Darcy’s first confession and proposal, so that comes as a complete shock when it happens and it’s only after that that Lizzie begins to even consider Darcy as a match - whereas this novel reads much more like a contemporary romance which does make it much easier to digest but it’s immediately obvious that Lizzie is attracted to Darcy and that they’re going to get together in the end. It’s very minor but I did miss the subtle yearning of Austen’s writing.

The mystery itself was very well-written, and although readers who know the story well can probably decipher the guilty party fairly easily, there are still enough twists to make it interesting.

I was, however, rather sceptical about the fact that one of the major plot points hinges on the fact that Mr Collins couldn’t name-drop Lady Catherine at every opportunity or else he’d be found out, and that particular character detail pretty quickly made me suspicious.

Overall, a really run read perfect for Pride and Prejudice fans!

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lunep's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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bessadams's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.25

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a_alves00's review against another edition

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4.0

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koplomps's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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daryn's review

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dark informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

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diana_raquel's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a brilliant idea, conceived and executed by a clever young woman, must be claimed by a man.”

Unsurprisingly, Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors of all time. And although I love the Regency Era, I'm always a little reticent regarding retellings/inspired books of Jane Austen's work. More times than not, I find that they lack something. And, unfortunately, this retelling is no exception.

As a mystery crime story, this book is really good. The story is well-structured, the characters are well-written, and although I was able to predict some plot points, I never found the identity of the killer and their motivations, so that revelation was interesting to me. As a mystery crime story, this is a 4.5 to me.

However, I was expecting more. I was expecting more sarcasm and irony. The thing about Austen was that she was able to write stories that poked fun and criticized society's rules in a subtle way. And I don't think that this was achieved here. Yes, we see Elizabeth struggle to overcome society's rules, although, I wasn't amused by it. Where is the subtle irony? Where's the poking fun? Other writers of the Regency Era have criticized society's rules and the position of women in said society, but the thing about Austen is that this criticism is very subtle and amusing. And we don't have this in this book.

At the same time, we also have very little interaction between Elizabeth and Darcy. The message of the original book is that first impressions aren't everything. And throughout the interactions between Elizabeth and Darcy, we learn that Darcy is proud because he's a product of society and Elizabeth can be quite judgemental because, again, she is also a product of a society that excluded women. We love the book because of the interactions between Elizabeth and Darcy. In this book, there is more interaction between Elizabeth and Wickham than with Darcy. I know that this is supposed to be a mystery crime story and not a romance, but, I think that the book would benefit from a little more interaction between Darcy and Elizabeth.

So, I would prefer that this was marketed to me as an "inspired book" than a "retelling", but I cannot deny that this is a good narrative. Just don't try to sell it to me as a retelling.

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