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A review by book_concierge
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
2.0
Book on CD performed by Soneela Nankani.
2.5**
This retelling reverses the roles of Elizabeth and Darcy. Set in modern-day San Francisco it features Trisha Raje, daughter of a very wealthy immigrant Indian family, with royal connections back in India. She’s an incredibly brilliant “genius neurosurgeon” with a tendency towards quick judgement and, according to her siblings, absolutely NO emotional insight. (She’s clearly the Fitzwilliam Darcy character). Darcy James Caine, known as DJ, is a transplanted Brit of Indian and Rwandan heritage. (He’s the Elizabeth Bennet character.) He’s a brilliant chef and slated to cater the Raje family’s fundraiser for their brilliant scion’s announced run for Governor. He’s also the brother of brilliant artist, Emma, who has a brain tumor that only brilliant neurosurgeon Trisha Raje can possibly remove.
Did I mention that these characters are all brilliant? I just wanted to be sure, because the author manages to mention this in every single chapter! Good thing she does, because most of the time Trisha, in particular, doesn’t act brilliant at all. She’s a complete mess. I worked with surgeons, including some extraordinarily talented and innovated ones – several of the best were women. Not a single one of these women behaved even remotely like Trisha does. I rolled my eyes so often I made myself dizzy.
I did like DJ, although his secrets and guilt were a bit much. But his genuine goodness and steady support of his sister and his friends were admirable qualities. And his way with food! Oh. My. Stars. I was practically salivating whenever the book focused on DJ’s skills as a chef. (And there’s a recipe at the end that I’d like to try.)
In general, though, I think the author was trying too hard to match P&P. There’s even a Wickham character – Julia Wickham. Perhaps if she had just focused on the Bollywood-movie style romance without trying to force the elements of Austen’s classic into her story this might have worked better.
Soneela Nankani did a fine job with less that stellar material. She had a lot of characters to interpret and she was up to the task … even when sisters where talking I was never confused.
2.5**
This retelling reverses the roles of Elizabeth and Darcy. Set in modern-day San Francisco it features Trisha Raje, daughter of a very wealthy immigrant Indian family, with royal connections back in India. She’s an incredibly brilliant “genius neurosurgeon” with a tendency towards quick judgement and, according to her siblings, absolutely NO emotional insight. (She’s clearly the Fitzwilliam Darcy character). Darcy James Caine, known as DJ, is a transplanted Brit of Indian and Rwandan heritage. (He’s the Elizabeth Bennet character.) He’s a brilliant chef and slated to cater the Raje family’s fundraiser for their brilliant scion’s announced run for Governor. He’s also the brother of brilliant artist, Emma, who has a brain tumor that only brilliant neurosurgeon Trisha Raje can possibly remove.
Did I mention that these characters are all brilliant? I just wanted to be sure, because the author manages to mention this in every single chapter! Good thing she does, because most of the time Trisha, in particular, doesn’t act brilliant at all. She’s a complete mess. I worked with surgeons, including some extraordinarily talented and innovated ones – several of the best were women. Not a single one of these women behaved even remotely like Trisha does. I rolled my eyes so often I made myself dizzy.
I did like DJ, although his secrets and guilt were a bit much. But his genuine goodness and steady support of his sister and his friends were admirable qualities. And his way with food! Oh. My. Stars. I was practically salivating whenever the book focused on DJ’s skills as a chef. (And there’s a recipe at the end that I’d like to try.)
In general, though, I think the author was trying too hard to match P&P. There’s even a Wickham character – Julia Wickham. Perhaps if she had just focused on the Bollywood-movie style romance without trying to force the elements of Austen’s classic into her story this might have worked better.
Soneela Nankani did a fine job with less that stellar material. She had a lot of characters to interpret and she was up to the task … even when sisters where talking I was never confused.