Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - Eligible

I'm really not sure how I feel about this book. On one hand, I enjoyed reading it, and was very invested in what was going to happen. I wasn't at all bored by it because I knew how Pride and Prejudice goes, or anything like that.

On the other hand, for the first third of the book I hated all of the characters, and I still don't really like most of them by the end. There's a lot of transphobia, fatphobia, racism, and homophobia. Some of these are very clearly faults of the characters, but others are less easily dismissed. (More details on each of these under the spoiler warning.)

Transphobia: a major plot point in the novel is when a character is revealed to be trans, and this is treated very badly by almost every character. This is actually the one spoiler I knew ahead of time, because I'm trans and I read a little bit about this part of the book before starting it. But what I didn't realize is that even Lizzy was going to be weird and transphobic about it. She does quickly learn what she said/did was wrong, and becomes better towards the end of the book. But still, that section was frustrating and I didn't like it. It feels way out of proportion for her to fly home because of this, and to be honest I think Darcy forgives her too easily for this. Overall though it's clear Sittenfeld meant the transphobia to be a fault of the characters, and she herself doesn't agree with that, and so on and so on. I'm glad it was so clearly disputed in the book. But I still wouldn't have made that this big of a deal in the book at all.

Fatphobia: the fatphobia is one of the bigger issues I have with the book, as it's both blatant and not super clearly disagreed with. Lizzy as the narrator repeatedly says things like how she tries not to get caught up in diet talk, but that she's not completely successful. The characters' fatphobia is made fun of in some ways but reinforced in others. Charlotte is the only fat character that I can think of who is presented in a positive light, but she's repeatedly called unattractive--by the characters, but still. I think all of the characters who are portrayed as attractive are straight size, if not actively thin.

Racism: part of me wants to say the racism is disputed in similar ways to the transphobia, but I know I might also just be less focused on that since I'm white. Lizzy does definitely point out that several characters are racist, and this is seen as bad, and it's clear neither Lizzy as the narrator nor Sittenfeld as the author think any of the racism is okay. However, the casual racism just scattered throughout the book was still obviously not great, and I'm not sure how much of it was necessary or relevant to the plot.

Homophobia/lesbophobia: the homophobia was pretty bad in the beginning, and got a little better later on. I feel it could have been addressed more clearly, rather than just being accepted as normal, but I have less issue with the homophobia than with the rest of the things listed above. Lizzy's sisters are kind of awful about it though, and if you don't feel like reading a bunch of "haha you're a lesbian" "no I'm not" interactions, I wouldn't recommend this book.

Overall, I'm pretty torn on if I liked this book or would recommend it. In general I like Sittenfeld's writing, but the more of her books I read, I'm not sure if I should want to read them. I don't think this was a terrible retelling of Pride and Prejudice, though it's definitely a different story with different characters. I was also not super convinced by Darcy's character in general; I feel like in the beginning he was an almost irredeemable asshole, and then later he just sort of became nice and interesting. I don't buy that that's the same person with the same motivations.

Content Warnings

loveisland's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted

5.0

I cannot stress this enough: it’s my favorite modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Most modern retellings fail because they don’t understand the satire and class commentary elements to Austen’s work. Don’t get me wrong. I love the romance between Elizabeth and Darcy in the original but that’s not the only point to Austen’s work. To reduce her work strictly to romance is to cheapen her wit and humor as a preeminent society analyst. Sittenfeld not only nails the class commentary but adds in racism, transphobia, fat phobia, and anti-Semitism to underscore the nuances of society as it currently is today. The people of color, trans folks, and folks of religious minorities are never the butt of any jokes; in fact, the naïveté, callousness, and frankly the “white, upper-middle-class”-ness of the Bennett family is what is on display all of which make sense to the class/status/habitus to which they belong.

Most importantly, Eligible retains the Spirit of the original: two deeply flawed people from stratospherically different class statuses fall in love and have to over come their pride and prejudices to do so. It tells the love story, yes, but also does a wonderful job of bringing in the other parts of the novel to the forefront.

Content Warnings

tay_af's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

It is a truth universally acknowledged that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, and this book should not exist. It is maybe the worst book I’ve ever read. It featured an egregious misunderstanding of character dynamics and fundamental (and lovable) traits. Its attempts toward diversity were sloppy and self congratulatory at best, and more often, explicitly racist, homophobic, and transphobic in the execution, no matter how well intentioned it may have been. It’s insanely fatphobic as well: for instance, Charlotte Lucas’s undesirability which, in the original book, is principally linked to her lack of fortune and the fact that she is no great beauty, is replaced by a high paying job that cannot counter the fact she’s plus size. It’s a clear example in the need for sensitivity readers, even from authors who mean well. Beyond that, the writing is in general mediocre to abysmal, with terrible description and exposition. You have to try really hard to make Pride and Prejudice this bad, honestly. I could go on for days about it, but suffice to say, there are no redeeming qualities.

Content Warnings

More...