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A review by drexedit
Charlotte's Story by Carolyn Korsmeyer
challenging
slow-paced
2.5
I received a complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.
Charlotte's Story picks up the story of Charlotte Lucas where Jane Austen left it. In Pride and Prejudice we see Charlotte make a very hasty decision to marry in the wake of the kerfuffle caused by Lizzy's refusal of Mr. Collins. We see Charlotte again briefly at the parsonage at Rosings, but we don't really get an idea of what her life must have been like or what motivated here to make the decisions she made. Carolyn Korsmeyer attempts to answer those questions with this book and imagine what events and people must have come through Charlotte's life.
I think for most part the book is successful in this until things seem to get slightly out of hand (at least for me) towards the end. The writing style is easy to read and evokes an Austen-esque writer and I found the book enjoyable to read, in the main. The first 1/3 or so of the book follows the events in P&P fairly closely, but from the point of view of Charlotte. Once it diverges from the P&P story I think we get a fairly credible narrative on what Charlotte may have done and who she met. But it does get weird towards the end and the author does not treat all of Jane Austen's characters respectfully.
Of course a modern writer must confront what a writer in Austen's time would never do--what about the sex!? While Jane Austen wrote her stories so they would end long before having to confront the fact of sex, the author here has no such luxury as we know Charlotte is married quickly and we know what must happen next. I do not think this was handled well and ultimately it's what turned me off from the book as I felt the author's control over the topic slipping away. It ended up being a bit icky when approached from the context of a woman who marries a man she knows not at all and has no rights of any kind.
Upon requesting the book I had some small hope of a more psychological study of the Charlotte/William relationship, but we don't really get to know William Collins much more than we do in P&P. It's an interesting read for someone who likes Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice in particular, but it's not a book I would put on my permanent bookshelf.
#LibraryThing #EarlyReviewers
Charlotte's Story picks up the story of Charlotte Lucas where Jane Austen left it. In Pride and Prejudice we see Charlotte make a very hasty decision to marry in the wake of the kerfuffle caused by Lizzy's refusal of Mr. Collins. We see Charlotte again briefly at the parsonage at Rosings, but we don't really get an idea of what her life must have been like or what motivated here to make the decisions she made. Carolyn Korsmeyer attempts to answer those questions with this book and imagine what events and people must have come through Charlotte's life.
I think for most part the book is successful in this until things seem to get slightly out of hand (at least for me) towards the end. The writing style is easy to read and evokes an Austen-esque writer and I found the book enjoyable to read, in the main. The first 1/3 or so of the book follows the events in P&P fairly closely, but from the point of view of Charlotte. Once it diverges from the P&P story I think we get a fairly credible narrative on what Charlotte may have done and who she met. But it does get weird towards the end and the author does not treat all of Jane Austen's characters respectfully.
Of course a modern writer must confront what a writer in Austen's time would never do--what about the sex!? While Jane Austen wrote her stories so they would end long before having to confront the fact of sex, the author here has no such luxury as we know Charlotte is married quickly and we know what must happen next. I do not think this was handled well and ultimately it's what turned me off from the book as I felt the author's control over the topic slipping away. It ended up being a bit icky when approached from the context of a woman who marries a man she knows not at all and has no rights of any kind.
Upon requesting the book I had some small hope of a more psychological study of the Charlotte/William relationship, but we don't really get to know William Collins much more than we do in P&P. It's an interesting read for someone who likes Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice in particular, but it's not a book I would put on my permanent bookshelf.
#LibraryThing #EarlyReviewers