Reviews - The Other Bennet Sister

2.01k reviews for:

The Other Bennet Sister

Janice Hadlow

4.11 AVERAGE

amg100's review against another edition

3.0

hopeful relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

salsalazar's review against another edition

4.25

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cacoleman's review against another edition

3.75

hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

saraelizabetha's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

writethruchaos's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative sad slow-paced

paparicio's review against another edition

4.5

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

a great extension to the original story!

angieinbooks's review against another edition

2.75

The Other Bennet Sister is my second Mary Bennet Pride and Prejudice retelling this year, which is odd because I'd never read a Mary Bennet story before this year. But it also means I get to compare the two stories and I preferred The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet more than I liked this book. And, yes, the other one is sapphic and this one most definitely isn't, but it's also because that one felt like a much more original work and it seemed that Lindz McLeod actually likes the source material when I'm not sure Janice Hadlow does.

On the topic of originality... I wrote about this in my recent review of Pride and Porters that I'm always interested in how people adapt Austen. What do they keep? What to they borrow? And writing a work of historical fiction is hard because it requires--I believe--a writer tap into the language of the era. And Janice Hadlow borrows too much from Austen, IMO, in ways that really took me out of the text. It's a fine balance, but I don't think she quite got it right.

On the topic of actually liking Austen's Pride and Prejudice... Why does Hadlow do Elizabeth Bennet so dirty in this book? I get that Mary's experience with Elizabeth may not be the same as the reader's but people who are reading this book are likely fans of Pride and Prejudice and Elizabeth Bennet is a major reason why. And Charlotte Lucas/Collins comes off even worse. I don't want to come into a retelling and think differently about characters I adore. It was an odd choice.

BBC is apparently adapting this into a miniseries, which is why I wanted to read it. And I did think it was interesting. But I'd much rather have Lindz McLeod's Mary Bennet 100 times over than Hadlow's Mary Bennet.