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nicki_in_nz's review against another edition
4.0
Much better than the other Jane Austen Project books I've read. I really love the original Northanger Abbey and moving the story to Edinburgh and the Borders works perfectly, as does Cat's vampire obsession. A bit of a weird twist at the end, but otherwise a very fun read.
linneaeldblomelg's review against another edition
2.0
Of all the Jane Austen books, Northanger Abbey is my least favourite. Of the four books in the Austen project, this one is also the worst. I think the only good one so far is the P&P one. Anyway, I thought it was kind of boring and the characters were even more uninteresting without Jane Austen to make them fun. I listened to it with the speed on the highest mode almost. don't read it!
thetamari's review against another edition
3.0
I think any reader would approach the Austen Project adaptations as something that's a bit of fun. Clearly, no one is really going to out-do what Jane Austen originally did, rather, the contemporary authors are going to pay homage to the beloved classics, work in a bit of their own style, and explore some similarities and differences between the eras of Regency characters and their updated counterparts. I was excited to read this book as soon as I saw that Northanger Abbey was moving up into Scotland and the Edinburgh Festival was subbing in for Bath. I have to confess, my knowledge of NA comes entirely from watching a recent TV adaptation and references to NA in other books like the Jane Austen Book Club. Which might be just as well, because maybe I wasn't as invested in McDermid's treatment of the original material.
This book is quite readable, but not without its issues. The author's grasp of modern teen language was pretty embarrassing and often unrealistic. In some cases, she's using the text-speak to make the point that certain characters are insufferably dim (Bella Thorpe, with her attachment to "totes"), but generally with her modern Cat Morland, I think she just doesn't get it. Modern Cat is still 17, and as an explanation for her naïveté of character which drives the story, McDermid has made her home-schooled. Cat is still attached to her phone and social media though, which plays an important role in showing the social interaction at the heart of Austen comedy. This gets pretty tiring though, as the characters are always mentioning "Facebook and Twitter" (in that order) in a way that doesn't seem entirely natural. It's as if the author thought of social media and using textspeak as being a really novel and funny way of updating the material, but it just makes her stand out as someone who doesn't especially understand that generation or zeitgeist. McDermid does use the Twilight series as this version's Mysteries of Udolpho, which I think translates rather well.
Another issue was not changing the characters' ages, while having them still be so invested in marriage. Teenagers from today who are thinking about marrying the first person they fall in love with is culturally weird. I also wondered about Henry Tilney being that interested in a seventeen year old, when he'd at least be in his mid twenties. She's a bit young, bro.
As for the promised "frisson" that crime writer McDermid is supposed to bring to this retelling, it comes mainly in the form of Cat and Henry using the word "frisson" repeatedly throughout the book. There's no sense of menace or thrill whatsoever.
This book is quite readable, but not without its issues. The author's grasp of modern teen language was pretty embarrassing and often unrealistic. In some cases, she's using the text-speak to make the point that certain characters are insufferably dim (Bella Thorpe, with her attachment to "totes"), but generally with her modern Cat Morland, I think she just doesn't get it. Modern Cat is still 17, and as an explanation for her naïveté of character which drives the story, McDermid has made her home-schooled. Cat is still attached to her phone and social media though, which plays an important role in showing the social interaction at the heart of Austen comedy. This gets pretty tiring though, as the characters are always mentioning "Facebook and Twitter" (in that order) in a way that doesn't seem entirely natural. It's as if the author thought of social media and using textspeak as being a really novel and funny way of updating the material, but it just makes her stand out as someone who doesn't especially understand that generation or zeitgeist. McDermid does use the Twilight series as this version's Mysteries of Udolpho, which I think translates rather well.
Another issue was not changing the characters' ages, while having them still be so invested in marriage. Teenagers from today who are thinking about marrying the first person they fall in love with is culturally weird. I also wondered about Henry Tilney being that interested in a seventeen year old, when he'd at least be in his mid twenties. She's a bit young, bro.
As for the promised "frisson" that crime writer McDermid is supposed to bring to this retelling, it comes mainly in the form of Cat and Henry using the word "frisson" repeatedly throughout the book. There's no sense of menace or thrill whatsoever.
dearemma's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a delightful read. Nice and simple. There is nothing groundbreaking about it, there are free fanfictions that might give you more pleasure than this one (tho, perhaps, not for northanger abbey, fanfictions writers really ignore everything except p&p, don't they?).
But, if you are a Northanger Abbey fan who has read pretty much all of the fanfics out there, and you want something to enjoy for a few days, this book is perfect.
Though, I must say, can authors stop trying to write text speak? You guys really have no idea how teenagers communicate.
But, if you are a Northanger Abbey fan who has read pretty much all of the fanfics out there, and you want something to enjoy for a few days, this book is perfect.
Though, I must say, can authors stop trying to write text speak? You guys really have no idea how teenagers communicate.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
Underwhelmed, I must say. Having read through a few Carol Jordan/Tony Hill thrillers I was looking forward to seeing Val McDermid's take on Jane Austen's Gothic parody.
And it was boring, even cliched at times. It walked in lock-step with the original plot - even to giving Cat a weird obsession with thinking Vampires are real. Um, no. And Bella's slang felt put on, as though it were teen dialogue imagined by a pokey adult thinking about what he/she might say were he/she a teen.
And Cat is too young. 17. And Henry Tilney seems to have been "devilling" for several years making him 25-ish. I don't know too many law students/lawyers who decide they want to date a high school student. :/
And it was boring, even cliched at times. It walked in lock-step with the original plot - even to giving Cat a weird obsession with thinking Vampires are real. Um, no. And Bella's slang felt put on, as though it were teen dialogue imagined by a pokey adult thinking about what he/she might say were he/she a teen.
And Cat is too young. 17. And Henry Tilney seems to have been "devilling" for several years making him 25-ish. I don't know too many law students/lawyers who decide they want to date a high school student. :/
emilymorgan02's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know how to rate this. Northanger Abbey is hard to translate into a modern world and at times I still wasn't convinced we were in the modern world. A lot of these adaptations end up creating caricatures of characters, rather than a believable plot with believable people. I enjoyed it enough to finish it but didn't love it.
bookhoarding's review against another edition
3.0
If you haven't been keeping up with The Austen Project then allow me to debrief you (dirty). The series is spearheaded by popular authors and features re-imaginings of Austen's originals. I was lucky enough to get a chance to read Val McDermid's interpretation of Northanger Abbey via Netgalley.
In this modern interpretation Cat Morland gets a modern makeover. The tomboy with her head-in-the-clouds gets whisked off to the Edinburgh Book Festival and runs into a "wolfish" Henry Tilney. Instead of the gothic romance fantasy of the original, Cat begins convincing herself that Henry is a vampire, relying on the paranormal romance novels she loves to read as evidence. Along the way she gets immersed in the festival community by Bella Thorpe, who we learn is out for money from her very first conversation with Cat.
I'm on the fence about this interpretation. I think it made perfect sense to use paranormal romance as the modern gothic romance, but I felt that that overall plotline fell short. I know that Cat is a teenager enthralled with fantasy and therefore a little more apt to believing the unnatural is natural, but the vampiric nods didn't seem consistent or convincing. I think it serves as a great device to show Cat's growth and awakening to her own immaturity, but it doesn't take center stage until later on and therefore felt a little lacking and hurried.
I enjoyed the drama and intrigue around the festival and the incorporation of modern apps and gadgets into character interactions. Cat looks up Henry's profile on Facebook and Bella posts photos of her fabulous excursions constantly. Johnny Thorpe likes fast cars and Henry is a lawyer-in-training who has aspirations for a much different career path.
As a novel interpretation (ha) this is creative and fantastical. As satire this doesn't quite make it.
In this modern interpretation Cat Morland gets a modern makeover. The tomboy with her head-in-the-clouds gets whisked off to the Edinburgh Book Festival and runs into a "wolfish" Henry Tilney. Instead of the gothic romance fantasy of the original, Cat begins convincing herself that Henry is a vampire, relying on the paranormal romance novels she loves to read as evidence. Along the way she gets immersed in the festival community by Bella Thorpe, who we learn is out for money from her very first conversation with Cat.
I'm on the fence about this interpretation. I think it made perfect sense to use paranormal romance as the modern gothic romance, but I felt that that overall plotline fell short. I know that Cat is a teenager enthralled with fantasy and therefore a little more apt to believing the unnatural is natural, but the vampiric nods didn't seem consistent or convincing. I think it serves as a great device to show Cat's growth and awakening to her own immaturity, but it doesn't take center stage until later on and therefore felt a little lacking and hurried.
I enjoyed the drama and intrigue around the festival and the incorporation of modern apps and gadgets into character interactions. Cat looks up Henry's profile on Facebook and Bella posts photos of her fabulous excursions constantly. Johnny Thorpe likes fast cars and Henry is a lawyer-in-training who has aspirations for a much different career path.
As a novel interpretation (ha) this is creative and fantastical. As satire this doesn't quite make it.
tickledlemonade's review against another edition
2.0
I feel more mislead by this book's description than Austen's characters must have felt in being pruned into the 21st century.