Death Comes To Pemberley: BBC 2013 series (Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge: December)

So, it’s the last day of 2013 and time for my final review as part of the Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge. As you’ll see from my original plan, I had various different ideas about what I’d review for this challenge over the year, some of which have come to fruition and some have not, largely owing to the difficulty of getting hold of some of the books (they were unavailable at the library and some belt-tightening in the family finances prevented me from buying them). However, other opportunities have presented themselves at just the right time, and this final review is of one of those.

Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James was published in 2011, an imagined sequel to Pride and Prejudice. If all had gone according to plan, I’d have read it in January of this year with my reading group, but I knew early on that I wouldn’t be able to make the date chosen for the meeting and chose to catch up on some other reading rather than read the book I was not going to be discussing. So it was that I approached this BBC adaptation fresh to the plot as well as the casting and production, meaning that there will be no reflections on how the series stands up against the book. By all means get in touch and let me know what you thought, if you’re in a position to do a comparison.

Several years have passed since Lizzy married Darcy and they are now the parents of a small son and live a happy family life at Pemberley. Preparations are underway for a large party and a ball (it’s going to be so big they don’t have room for all their guests to sleep at Pemberley) and the Darcys’ main concern is over the two suitors for the hand of Georgiana – one of whom she likes a lot more than the other. I thought this part was acted really well and the humour of the resentment between the two gentlemen was brought out to great effect.

Suddenly, however, things change. Lydia Wickham – who was travelling with her husband to Pemberley uninvited as a “surprise” for them all – arrives in hysterics because Wickham is missing and she heard shots in the woods. On investigation it turns out Captain Denny is dead and it seems highly likely that Wickham is the murderer.

As well as following the development of the case, the story focuses on its impact on the household at Pemberley and in particular Darcy’s relationships with his wife and sister. I felt that the existing characters – by which I mean those whom we know from Pride and Prejudice – were developed in a believable way, especially Wickham as the incorrigible rogue motivated alternately by the pursuit of his own pleasure or the desperate attempts to cover over his mistakes, whose past was now coming back to bite him as nobody believes in his innocence.

We were given more of an insight into his relationship with Lydia and in particular her decision to turn a blind eye when it came to his extra-marital dalliances.

The new characters introduced by PD James fitted well into the setting and there was nothing much which struck me as confusing or at odds with Austen’s world. However at one point during the trial I did question the behaviour of the judge in his refusal to allow Wickham’s lawyer to raise objections – I couldn’t work out whether he was biased in favour of the prosecution, or if those kinds of interruptions just weren’t permitted in Austen’s day. But it was puzzling, whatever the reason!

The plot strands were enjoyably woven together as the story progressed and it all finished in a most satisfactory manner with a last-minute revelation and the inevitable race against the clock to resolve matters.

All in all I really enjoyed this three-part production (which surprised me, as several people I know hadn’t liked the book). My main disappointments were that Colonel Fitzwilliam was dropped rather suddenly from the story and did not appear in the final summary of “what happened next” to everyone, and that Lady Catherine de Bourgh only featured very briefly. Everyone in my family thought that we’d have liked to see a lot more of her, played as she was by the excellent Penelope Keith in a very effective yet understated way with not too much of the Lady Bracknell about her (anyone who’s planning any adaptations of P&P in the future would do well to bear her in mind for the part!).

So that’s my year of reviews finished. I’ve really enjoyed it and read a few things I wouldn’t have otherwise so it’s been fun and enlightening.

I wish you a Happy New Year with minutes to spare (in the UK at any rate!) – see you all next year!

Thankful for

Champagne!

Time with family

The chance to see some friends today after years of being unable to meet up

Being able to make plans for the future

All my gratitudes from 2013. What a year it’s been.

Longbourn by Jo Baker: audio edition read by Emma Fielding (Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge: November)

Once again I’m blogging this review in the nick of time – tomorrow is the last day of November and I’ll be out all day anyway.

I’ve had Longbourn downloaded to my phone for some time and finally got to listen to the bulk of it whilst driving to and from my sister’s in the North West at the beginning of last week. In the little car I’d hired there was nowhere to plug my phone into, so I had to rely on its own speakers and the volume turned up as high as possible to compete with the sound of the engine and variable road surface, but I discovered in the end that I could hear it quite well if I had it in my lap, and only had to pull over a couple of times when, frustratingly, the Audible app froze and needed restarting (it’s a very elderly iPhone which I’ve somewhat overloaded and occasionally it protests and requires kind words and soothing taps to placate it).

Anyway – for those who haven’t heard of it, Jo Baker’s Longbourn is a novel which takes place over roughly the same time period as Pride and Prejudice (with a flashback to some years before, and a continuation at the end), but is told from the point of view of the servants who work in the Bennets’ house. Mrs Hill, the housekeeper, at least, will be known to the readers of Pride and Prejudice (and certainly to the viewers of the BBC television adaptation, thanks to Alison Steadman’s frequent screeching of her name!). Alongside her, the staff comprises her husband Mr Hill and housemaids Sarah and Polly. A manservant, James, joins them early on the story, and readers also meet some of the staff of Netherfield and Pemberley at times.

The story piques the reader’s interest from the outset – who is the fleeting figure Sarah glimpses in the road outside the estate, whilst she’s hanging out the washing? Why is Mrs Hill shouting at Mr Bennet in his library – and how does she have the nerve? As Sarah goes about her daily business of laundry, cleaning, cooking and dressing the young ladies of the house, not to mention the seemingly endless washing up, she’s aware that there might be more to life than what she’s experienced so far. With vague memories of her life before she came to Longbourn and ideas from the books she borrows from the Bennet family, she wonders if she should be content with her lot in life. The new arrivals at Netherfield bring more upheavals and romantic notions and Sarah begins to question who she is, and who she wants to be. Meanwhile Mrs Hill and James are both struggling with secrets from their past which affect their hopes for the future, and the Bennet family’s concerns about their future security when Mr Collins inherits their home are echoed by the staff, whose own future is in jeopardy if they fail to impress him during his visit.

As the events of Pride and Prejudice progress, observed in part by the servants (although sometimes with their own take on things, such as the occasion on which Jane falls ill at Netherfield and it is proclaimed in the kitchen to be “just a cold” that she would soon be over), they have as much impact, in a different way, on the lives of Sarah, James, Polly and the Hills as on Elizabeth, Jane and their family. I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler, however, to say that ultimately all the loose ends are tied up in a very satisfying – if at times unexpected – way.

On the whole I really enjoyed this book. It’s very long – quite a commitment, as it mimics the traditional three volumes popular in Regency times, and covers a long period of time – but for me that makes it more of a worthwhile read (or listen, in my case). I found the insights into life in service at the time fascinating and enlightening, and a vivid contrast to the world portrayed in Pride and Prejudice – I’d never thought, for instance, despite the fact that it’s pretty obvious when you consider it, that whilst the girls are dancing and enjoying themselves (or being snubbed and offended) at balls and assemblies, the drivers who brought them and who will take them home are sitting outside waiting in the cold, unless a kindly housekeeper invites them inside for a while. Elizabeth’s petticoats, famously three inches deep in mud, need to be cleaned and perfectly white again for the next wearing, however much scrubbing and soaking and bleeding chill-blains that entails. There was a lot of local colour, sometimes in the form of swearwords (which took me by surprise at first, when the language and style is similar to that of Austen herself, but as time went on felt more natural to the characters), and sometimes in rather bald references to differences between then and now, which I found rather jarring. For example, in a passage describing Sarah dressing Elizabeth, there’s a reference to the “musky down” revealed when Elizabeth lifts her arms (I think those were the words – that’s the difficulty with audiobooks, it’s harder to quote from them reliably), which felt almost as unnecessary as if Baker had written “in those days, of course, women didn’t shave their armpits”. As it was so common, it would hardly have been remarkable to Sarah (from whose point of view the story is being told at the time), and therefore really not worth mentioning.

Those moments aside, however, there wasn’t much that I disliked about the book. As I mentioned, there were a few surprises about some of the characters which I found interesting, but not necessarily in a negative way. I’m not sure how I feel about the development of Mr Bennet’s character, as I thought it was a real departure from what we see in Pride and Prejudice – not impossible, but in Longbourn he seems rather spiteful and hard at times, rather than merely weak and acquiescent. I really loved the way Baker allows Wickham’s true colours to be revealed amongst the staff, whilst not for a moment making him into a pantomime baddie, but a charming, confusing, complex man who wants it all without having to lift a finger for any of it. And it was good to see Mr Darcy taking his proper place as a man of whom little, if anything, is seen until the later moments of the book!

I haven’t much to say about Emma Fielding’s narration, which I think is in itself an endorsement – it was never intrusive, her character voices and accents were helpful to the understanding of the story and her gentle narrative tones were easy to listen to. Altogether, it was a very different experience from the previous audiobook I reviewed here.

I’d definitely recommend this to anyone, particularly lovers of historical fiction and Austen-lovers who’d like to consider more of what was going on below stairs and out in the gardens and fields (and battlefields), whilst Austen’s heroines are closeted in their relatively safe little worlds. I’ll also be looking out for more of Jo Baker’s novels to read myself.

Finally I’d like to thank Jane of What Jane Read Next for reminding me that this book was in existence, since I’d meant to read it when I first heard about it (pre-publication) and then completely forgotten about it until I read her review. This was one I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on, and a useful way to pass two long and tedious car journeys.

For my next (and final) review, I’d really like to cover the BBC TV adaptation of Death Comes to Pemberley which is scheduled to be broadcast in three episodes over the coming Christmas period. However, I’m not sure if this will be contained within December or whether it will spill over to January, in which case it wouldn’t qualify! No doubt I’ll discover more when the Christmas issue of Radio Times comes out shortly. I haven’t read PD James’ novel, so it will be fresh to me, but the cast looks like a good one and I can particularly imagine Jenna Coleman (of Doctor Who fame) making a wonderful Lydia Bennet.

Thankful for…

• Some time with my sister and her family last week, and the opportunity to visit the care home where my Gran now lives.
• A lovely friend who has taught me to crochet
• Christmas preparations coming apace, including being very close to finishing my Christmas shopping (just a few stocking bits to get now)
• Really uplifting choir rehearsals, preparing for next week’s performance of Handel’s Messiah
• A couple of days spent with the Butterfly whilst she’s been off school with a bad cold
• The prospect of advent’s being almost upon us, and two new books (this one and this one)

Doctors Austen week, 2013 BBC series (Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge: October)

Wow, this was confusing!  First I read that there’s a whole week of Austen-related specials on Doctors.  I watch two of them (Austenland: Part 1 and 2) and judge by the preview of the supposed third episode (Charlotte’s Web) that it has nothing to do with Austen and that in fact it was just a two-part special.  Before I get round to reviewing it, we find a letter in the following week’s Radio Times discussing the Austen-inspired episodes on “14-18 October” and realise that I need to watch the rest after all.  In fact, it turns out that there are six in all – seven, if you count the episode in which the main, stand-alone story hasn’t anything to do with Austen (that I could spot) but the ongoing story arc does – spilling over into the start of the following week.

Doctors

For a summary of the series as a whole, see my previous post.

The background to the specials is that there is to be a Jane Austen exhibition held somewhere in the locality, which one of the regular cast is encouraging others to attend.  Also ongoing seems to be a sponsored read they are taking part in to raise money for charity.  Some of the characters who have never read any Austen are being sponsored to get through one book, but must pay the money themselves if they fail in the attempt.

Plot summaries and comments

Austenland: Part 1 and 2

The two Austenland episodes (nothing to do with Shannon Hale’s novel of the same title) seemed distinct from the rest of the series, except for a few references to the sponsored read and a shot of the poster advertising the launch of the exhibition.  The story concerned a girl in her late teens or early twenties who had been the victim of a mugging some time before and was now selectively mute, choosing to carry around a computer tablet on which to write any communication.  She was shown with her head in an Austen novel from the outset.  I felt that the design of her costume was very clever as she looked quite Regency in style whilst wearing modern day clothing – a long dress with a high waist and a cropped denim jacket with a very Spencer jacket look to it.  Unfortunately this was about the only thing I did like, and to be honest if I hadn’t decided to review the episodes (and that I wouldn’t have time left this month to listen to the audio version of Longbourn) I’d have stopped watching after the first one.  The girl, whose name is Lizzie, visits the the GP for a reason that now escapes me, although it can’t be connected to her trauma problem as the doctor quizzes her about why she hasn’t been attending her counselling appointments.  The girl becomes even less communicative but it’s clear she doesn’t want to belong to our world, but to retreat into the society of Austen’s novels.  She falls suddenly unconscious and begins to dream a strange version of Pride and Prejudice in which she is Lizzy Bennet and other characters from the book are played by characters she has met around the surgery.  She has clearly developed a crush on one of the doctors and casts him in the role of Darcy, whilst a practice nurse plays Lydia (the only other sister present) and a receptionist plays Mrs Bennet.  Before long Mr Collins appears on the scene (played by one of the nicest doctors – I felt a bit sorry that he had to have such a ghastly part but he did it very well!), along with – inexplicably – Frank Churchill and General Tilney.  Despite her confusion over where these characters have come from, she’s enjoying herself and goes out, only to find herself at the picnic scene from Emma.  Mr Woodhouse and Miss Bates are there, and Lizzie insults Miss Bates in the way Emma does.  Embarrassed, she leaves the party and finds Mr Darcy, who scolds her.  She returns to the house and discovers she’s now at Northanger and must endure a terrifying night during a storm.  From then on things deteriorate further – she’s discomfited by Mr Collins’ lecherous looks as he proposes and won’t take no for an answer, she’s alarmed by the violence Darcy shows when he rescues Lydia from a gypsy and she’s horrified when she discovers Darcy and Caroline Bingley in a passionate embrace in the gardens.  Everything is going wrong, and she’s confused because it’s a world of her own creation.  The doctor finally succeeds in wakening her and she is now able to speak.  She agrees to return to her appointments to help herself reintegrate into real life, but by the time she has got through the very busy reception area she’s obviously having second thoughts and as she leaves she spots a man who’ll make a perfect Captain Wentworth…

I really wasn’t sure what to make of those two episodes.  There didn’t seem to be any clear message in them and it looked rather like the cast had all had the chance to pick an Austen character they wanted to be and a story had been woven around that.  I thought they all did very well in their characters but the whole thing didn’t hang together very well, the doctors were unable to help the patient and the status quo was restored by the end of the episodes.

Charlotte’s Web

The other episodes focused on one book each.  Charlotte’s Web was a modern take on the story of Charlotte Lucas.  I think I found this the most interesting.  It investigated the idea of marrying for money and security, but the main difference was that the modern-day Charlotte seemed to be doing this out of laziness and a disinclination to work, rather than the need for protection that a Regency woman would have had.  However, it examined the effects on her other relationships, including with a close male friend who obviously has feelings for her, and raised the question over whether, like Austen’s Charlotte, she would sacrifice as much as she gained in the marriage.

Northanger Bungalow(!)

This covered the story of Catriona Morbrook, a teenager living with her recently separated mother, and obsessed with horror films and zombies.  She becomes convinced that the previous occupant of her home had murdered his wife.  Whilst searching the loft for evidence she believes she sees her own mother who has now become a zombie.  It turns out to be a type of epilepsy, but whilst it was a good way of updating the story, I was unimpressed with the hallucinations and the very casual treatment of apparent mental illness (similar to the Austenland episodes).

Gemma

This episode was a reworking of Emma in which a young girl from a council estate becomes frustrated that she can’t be as in control of her friends’ lives and events around her as she would like.  It turns out that this is her reaction to the discovery that she has rheumatoid arthritis and her fear that this will stop her dancing, which she wants to pursue as a career.  I quite liked this story apart from its rather laboured use of signs such as “Hartfield Estate” and “Randalls Park”, in case we couldn’t work out the connection!

Remission

This was the story of a man who’s celebrating his five years clear of cancer.  As he arrives at the health centre to invite the staff to his party he bumps into his former boyfriend, who disappeared overseas during his illness with little explanation.  The staff work together to uncover the cause of the split (the mother of the recovered cancer patient who had in fact given the impression in an email that her son was dead!) and reunite the pair.  Although this was a little predictable at times, it was probably the best updating of one of the stories and I also liked the title, which was enough to give a clue to the source novel but also describe the focus of the medical storyline.

Background story

Running throughout the latter four episodes, and continuing into the subsequent, non-Austen, episodes, was the ongoing story of a mother and daughter who were opening a beauty salon locally.  It quickly became clear that this was a Pride and Prejudice idea, the twist being that the mother was both Mrs Bennet and Jane.  They turn up at the health centre to register and Gloria, the mother, quickly becomes convinced that Kevin, a young GP, will be the perfect partner for her daughter Sigourney.  Sigourney, however, is unconvinced that she’s in need of a man and has a low opinion of the medical profession.  Gloria falls for an older doctor, Heston, who’s quite flattered by her attentions, but Kevin convinces him Gloria’s a gold-digger and he’d be better off steering clear.  At the launch of the Jane Austen exhibition Kevin becomes keener on Sigourney and “rescues” her from the attentions of her landlord who’s also the security guard at the health centre (in fact, this was one of the most poorly attended launches I’ve ever seen, since everbody there, but for Gloria and Sigourney, was a staff member of the health centre!)  Next day, Barry the security guard turns up at the salon to mend a leak and takes the opportunity to impart some information about Kevin’s past (it’s all true – I knew just enough about the history of the programme to know that! – but slanted to make Kevin look bad).  Kevin turns up later and tries to ask Sigourney out, but she throws it all in his face, along with the accusation that he split up Heston and her mum.  Before he can leave, the leak – which Barry had repaired badly so he’d have to come back again – bursts and Kevin comes to the rescue.  He defends himself against Barry’s rumours and then storms off.  Later, however, he encourages Heston to think again about Gloria and finally Sigourney turns up in the health centre car park and kisses Kevin.

Conclusions

My thoughts on the short series are that the on-going story was well thought through, although I’d imagine the more familiar you are with the series and the characters, the more you would get out of it.  There was another storyline in which Emma, a doctor, and Howard, the practice manager, were seen separately on several occasions reading Persuasion for the sponsored read, usually with the other’s voice heard as a voice-over reading the passage from the book.  I assume they have had a previous relationship a long time ago but I don’t know this as the last time I watched it, Emma had not yet arrived.  If I were a regular viewer, no doubt those scenes would be more meaningful to me.

I didn’t feel that the individual stories worked very well, however.  Because there was no time to develop the guest characters, a very broad-brush approach had to be used in order to establish their personality as well as make the link between the episode and the source book.  This led to the issues I’ve already highlighted surrounding mental illness, along with the fact that everything felt rushed and forced.  And why no Mansfield Park or Sense and Sensibility episode?

Overall I was disappointed; when I was still a regular viewer I saw a short series of Shakespeare-themed episodes which were much better constructed.  The stories were developed over several days, making them more believable and involving, and nobody had to dress up in period costume! In addition, much of the action took place on location in Stratford-on-Avon itself, which made it seem more of a special event.  A shame the Austen season didn’t achieve as much.

My November review will definitely be of Jo Baker’s Longbourn (audiobook).

Thankful for…

• An enjoyable (if brief) trip to Kent to visit friends and relatives
• Surviving the storm whilst we were there, with no damage to property or person
• Ann Voskamp’s recent series on Missing Jesus, which I’ve found encouraging reading
• The chance to spend time with my parents, who arrive today
• The decisions over the Bookworm’s high school applications finally completed

Heads up for my next review

As I explained in my September review post, my intention was to review the audio book of Jo Baker’s Longbourn for my October selection in the Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge. However, I discovered last week that the BBC daytime medical soap Doctors is running a week of Austen-related specials and I’ve decided to watch and review them, for a different angle, and defer Longbourn to November.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, Doctors is based around a GP surgery in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge. The staff (medical and admin) are the recurring cast and their patients are usually one-off or short-term characters. You can read more about it on the Wikipedia page. I used to watch it regularly but these days I only do so occasionally if I’m ill or if I read that someone famous is making a guest appearance. They’ve done themed weeks like this in the past, including a very good Shakespeare week that I managed to catch. I thought that this week’s episodes might each focus on one novel, starting with Pride and Prejudice, but having seen today’s I’ve realised it isn’t going to be like that so I’ll have to watch all five episodes before I review.

The purpose of this advance notice is to bring it to the attention of anyone else who might like to watch it, because by the time I post the review, today’s episode will be close to being removed. I know some of you are in other countries where Doctors might be running behind the UK, or not screened at all, but if you are able to access BBC iPlayer from where you are, you can find the first episode here. The episodes are available for a week, so today’s will disappear next Monday night.

Today’s episode both intrigued and confused me, and I’m interested to find out more. In the meantime, I’m trying not to become distracted by what may or may not have happened to the long-standing characters since last I saw them!

Austenland by Shannon Hale/Lost in Austen, 2008 ITV series (Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge: May/June)

Well, hello again, after almost two months of struggling through colds and other bugs (not all mine, although it sometimes felt that way!) and generally not having time to do an awful lot besides keep the essentials ticking over!  In view of the fact that I’m now a month behind on my Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge posts, I thought I’d do a sort of two-in-one this month, with a review of two Pride and Prejudice spin-offs set in modern times.  They don’t actually have that much in common, story-wise, but by chance I ended up reading/watching both this month and as they both concern a young woman thrust into the Regency world I thought I’d review both and possibly compare and contrast a bit.

“I’m not hung up about Darcy. I do not sit at home with the pause button on Colin Firth in clingy pants, okay? I love the love story. I love Elizabeth. I love the manners and language and the courtesy. It’s become part of who I am and what I want. I’m saying that I have standards.”

So speaks Amanda Price, at the start of ITV’s 2008 series, Lost in Austen.  She’s a single-ish, twenty-something resident of modern-day Hammersmith, who loves to immerse herself in Austen’s novels and feels as a result that she can expect more from her romantic future than her lacklustre relationship with Michael, who seems to love beer and bikes more than he loves her.

Her claim not to be hung up about Darcy is not something that could be echoed by Jane Hayes, protagonist of Shannon Hale’s novel Austenland.  She’s similar to Amanda in some ways, but slightly older and lives in New York.  Although she’s read almost all of Austen’s novels (with the exception of Northanger Abbey – “of course” says the narrative, which, as one forum contributor put it, “lets you know she’s one of Those People”!), her real obsession is the 1995 BBC adaptation starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.  She has watched it countless times and has become caught up in the love story, which has had detrimental repercussions on her own love life to the extent that she has decided to give up on relationships altogether rather than settle for anything less than Firth’s Darcy.  An elderly relative, who dies shortly after discovering Jane’s obsession, bequeaths her a curious legacy in the form of a Regency-themed holiday in an English stately home, where actors are employed to enhance the visitors’ experience.  Jane goes along intending to lay her obsessions to rest but finds it difficult to “play along”, especially when some of the other visitors’ attempts at authenticity leave a lot to be desired.  She cannot fully immerse herself in the experience but constantly wonders, for example, what purpose each of the actors is serving (whether a particular gentleman has been brought in “for” someone in particular, etc) and whether she is being sidelined because she’s been told by the very strict and disapproving holiday manager that she’s not their usual type of guest.

Surreal as this may be for her, it’s nothing compared to the shock Lost in Austen‘s Amanda receives when, one day, she discovers Elizabeth Bennet in her bathroom, and learns that a small door in the wall (which seems just to cover up some pipework) is a kind of portal between Amanda’s world and Elizabeth’s.  On going to investigate, Amanda finds herself trapped on the Pride and Prejudice side and must explain her presence in the Bennet house (she’s a friend of Elizabeth’s), along with Elizabeth’s absence (she has gone to stay at Amanda’s house in Hammersmith whilst she writes a book).  Unfortunately, Amanda finds she has arrived just at the beginning of the novel’s events and, try as she might, she’s unable to prevent them from going off course from time to time.  She finds the whole situation quite stressful and initially responds to this in a very 21st century way, for example getting drunk at the Meryton Assembly and snogging Mr Bingley who comes out to check on her and who subsequently becomes infatuated with her.  Small mistakes set off a chain of unintended events and, just as everything seems to have got hopelessly out of hand, she finds herself unexpectedly back in modern times and realises she must find Elizabeth so that everything can be rectified.  In the meantime, however, both Amanda and Elizabeth have acclimatised to their new surroundings and find it more difficult than Amanda had envisaged to return to normal.

My responses

I found Austenland very difficult to get into, which came as a disappointment because I’d heard great things about it and I know it’s about to be released as a film featuring some actors I really love, so I wanted to like it.   The main problem was that I really didn’t like the character of Jane.  I’m all for escapism in the form of books, films, or whatever takes your fancy, but I have little sympathy for anyone who allows it to take over their life – especially to the extent of giving up on relationships because they’re not fulfilling the standards set by the fantasy.  I also found the first half or so rather disjointed and confusing, although I later wondered whether that might be intentional to some extent, to reflect Jane’s own state of mind.  My other problem was with the unconvincing portrayal of an English character.  I don’t want to come across as all snobbish and exacting, but it just sounded so wrong!  Now, it’s complicated because many of the characters in the book aren’t all they seem, and this one was no exception, so you might say in Hale’s defence that it could be deliberate.  But I don’t really buy that – even with that in mind, it just didn’t convince.  It was made more grating by the fact that the author had chosen to include another character who tried to be English and failed miserably.  If you’re going to poke fun at that sort of person, you need to be confident you know what English people are, and are not, likely to say and do, and this didn’t really seem to be the case in Austenland.

Anyway, for the sake of knowing I was going to review the book, I persevered and eventually settled into the flow of the story (as Jane settled into her surroundings, which was what prompted me to wonder if it was deliberate!) and actually quite enjoyed the end.  I did like the accounts of Jane’s relationship history interspersed throughout the book, which was a clever approach and tied in neatly as the book drew to a close.  There were some surprises towards the end which cheered me up, just when I thought I knew what was going to happen.  I never really warmed to Jane herself though (maybe I just couldn’t get past her aversion to Northanger Abbey!) and I’d be unlikely to bother with any more in the Austenland series.

Lost in Austen seems to me a much more entertaining approach to twisting a story.  The sudden and surprising way in which Amanda finds herself in Longbourn and the Pride and Prejudice world means that the audience is swept along with the storyline, and despite lacking some of the freshness it had had when I first watched it, it still held plenty of surprises in the small details I’d forgotten.  The dialogue is witty (and in some places, laugh-out-loud – Darcy in particular is given some hilarious lines) and the way the story persists in going off course, despite Amanda’s efforts to salvage the situation, is lots of fun.  However, Amanda’s early insistence that her interest in the novel is more than superficial meant that I felt extremely let down by her decision to ask Darcy to jump into his lake (despite the comedy value in seeing him standing in a much smaller and more ornamental pond than in the BBC version) and I didn’t really think it fitted with the overall story of her dawning realisation about where she truly belonged.

My favourite part by far was the final episode, there are some wonderful comic occurrences involving Lydia’s elopement (not at all the way it turns out in the book!) and in particular Darcy’s assessments of modern-day London.  I also enjoyed the way in which the writers had played with the back story so that not everyone turned out to be what they’re portrayed in the novel – particularly George Wickham, who’s full of surprises!  What’s really interesting, for an Austen fan, is the way little elements from other novels sneak into the storyline.  Obviously Amanda is referred to as Miss Price throughout the series, which brings echoes of Mansfield Park, but there are other moments too, such as when Amanda berates Darcy for his snobbery and uses Mr Knightley’s “badly done”, and when a rumour circulates that Amanda has exaggerated the extent (and source) of her fortune and is turned out by the Bennets in a very similar way to Catherine Morland’s experience at the hands of General Tilney.

Lost in Austen is currently available on Lovefilm Instant in the UK, as well as DVD, and I’d recommend it as an interesting and lighthearted watch if you haven’t already seen it.  It features some long-established British actors such as Hugh Bonneville, Alex Kingston and Lindsay Duncan, as well as some who have gone on to make more of a name for themselves in the past five years, like Jemima Rooper, Gemma Arterton and Tom Riley.  Guy Henry (whom I first saw in a play in Stratford when I was an A-level student, and whom I generally love to bits) is marvellously vile as Mr Collins (but, like the BBC P&P, far, far too old!) and Ruby Bentall (who has since turned up in Lark Rise and The Paradise and who, it turns out, is the daughter of the wonderful Janine Duvitski) makes a refreshing change to the usually unlikable character of Mary.

For my July review I’ll probably either be discussing Georgiana Darcy’s Diary or the audiobook version of Love, Lies and Lizzie, because I have both of those already and can just get onto them.  If something crops up, however, I may change my mind – both of the titles I’ve reviewed this time turned up completely unexpectedly but seemed like too good an opportunity to miss!

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Thankful for…

Keeping going through a long period of minor illnesses

A lovely weekend last week with our church family, plus the Boy and the Baby and their mum

Some answers to prayer regarding my grandmother who was struggling to care for herself and now has the support she needs

Repairs to our leaky roof!

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries by Hank Green and Bernie Su (Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge: April)

Oh, my goodness!

I really don’t know how to begin a post on something which has been so new to me in lots of ways, and has covered so many different modern media.  What would you even call it – a TV programme?  A social media experiment?  An internet tribute to a classic novel?

Described on its own website as “an online adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice“, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is all of those things and – without wanting to sound too clichéd – many more besides.  When I first “discovered” it, via an organisation I follow on Facebook, it was already half-way through and it took me weeks to realise just how far-reaching the contributions and updates were.  What I first encountered was essentially a TV programme, broadcast via YouTube in short, twice-weekly episodes typically lasting between 2 and 5 minutes.  (You can read my initial responses here).  I also discovered that there had been spin-off webisodes featuring blogposts from Lydia Bennet and Maria Lu (sister to Charlotte, the LBD version of Charlotte Lucas) and that various social media sites (Facebook, tumblr, etc) had pages concerning the show.  There were twitter accounts for just about every character but I did not realise for a very long time that reading and following these would enhance the experience, as the characters posted comments and photos and held conversations with one another which expanded and furthered the story (I was never very good at following these as my activity on twitter is sporadic and I’m not very good at isolating the accounts I want to read, but I did manage to catch up on occasions via storify).

Whatever I might have said in the past about post length, to describe in detail the LBD universe would take more space (and time) than I have here, and there’s also the spoiler issue for those of you who haven’t yet experienced this for yourself and might like to (there are plenty of other places on the internet to look if you’d prefer the concise spoiler version to the full experience!).  So here I intend to provide a brief summary and talk about some of my favourite elements and points of interest.

Lizzie (I know, but it’s a modern-day adaptation, and after a while you get used to the spelling) Bennet is a grad-school student in America, studying mass communications.  The vlog diaries which constitute the episodes are a project, produced with her lifelong best friend Charlotte Lu.  In the early episodes the viewers also meet Lizzie’s elder sister Jane, who works in fashion, is kind, generous and softly spoken, and their younger sister Lydia, who lives life to the full, eschews any kind of serious activity and isn’t afraid to speak her mind (as I mentioned in my previous post on this series, Mary and Kitty are present but it cousin and cat form respectively).  The rest of the characters referred to in their conversations are portrayed in “costume theatre” moments, in which Lizzie and any of the other three who are on hand don particular garments and accessories to represent the people they have met.  Lizzie begins her vlog just as a local house has been sold to a wealthy single man, which has excited Lizzie’s mother whose ultimate aim in life is to subscribe her daughters to the “2.5 WPF club” (2.5 children and a White Picket Fence).  The way the first line of the novel is incorporated into the video is ingenious!  Via costume theatre we’re introduced to her parents, then to the new owner of the house – Bing Lee – his sister Caroline and his friend Darcy whom they meet at a wedding.  Some characters eventually appear in the flesh (there’s a wonderful on-going joke about what Bing thinks is going on), whilst others, such as Lady Catherine, never do.

As time goes by, just as in the novel, Lizzie sees Jane become involved – and then much less so – with Bing, Charlotte move away to be with Mr Collins (although not in quite the same way as in Austen’s version!), Darcy being pompous and irritating, George Wickham being charming but rather shallow and her mother being obsessive and neurotic.  She visits Charlotte, meets Darcy’s friend Fitz and ends up in the same, very surprising, conversation with Darcy.  She spends time at home feeling the loss of both Jane and Charlotte.  She goes away again for an internship with Pemberley Digital (oh yes, it’s a real company now) where, of course, she becomes better acquainted with Darcy (the boss) and his sister Gigi.  Just when it’s all starting to go better she has to return home in a hurry when a terrible crisis occurs concerning Lydia.  Eventually the story reaches similar (but not identical) conclusions to the novel and Lizzie decides to wrap up her vlog at episode 100.

What impressed me most about this series is undoubtedly the way in which the writers have moved away from the recent fixation with the Lizzy/Darcy romance.  As I said in a previous post, Pride and Prejudice is Lizzy’s story, which includes her relationship with Darcy, but also her relationships with her parents and sisters, the development of her understanding of the way the world works and her growth to more maturity of outlook and opinion.  All of this can be found within The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  It’s been said often, all over the internet, but it’s certainly true that one of the best decisions the makers made was to confine Darcy to costume theatre until more that half way through the series, despite the repeated pleas from the growing fan-base for him to make a personal appearance.  In Pride and Prejudice we often see Darcy through Lizzy’s eyes, especially earlier in the novel, and so it’s right that this should be reflected here.  The costume theatre device was a wonderful way of recreating that (Charlotte and Jane even draw our attention to this in Episode 15: Lizzie Bennet is in denial), so we don’t get to see Darcy for himself until her own views begin to change.

The other most impressive element was the treatment of Lydia’s disgrace.  Clearly a girl running away with a young man who isn’t her husband, whilst concerning for her family, isn’t going to garner much in the way of long-term social disapproval in the twenty-first century.  The writers approach to updating what happens (I really, really don’t want to spoil this for people but if you want to know without watching the series then Wikipedia is your friend) is perfectly conceived and the use of the internet for Lydia’s spin off vlogs leading up the the crisis (powerful acting, especially if you’ve been in, or know someone who has been in, that kind of relationship), for the problem itself, and for its resolution, fits so well.  The change it all brings about in Lizzie’s relationship with Lydia is lovely, and adds an extra element of realism to the updated version for a time when family relationships are more intimate and informal and we talk more openly about our feelings.

What makes this series so different from other adaptations is the fresh and spontaneous feel.  Part of that is the way the videos are edited (“the video feels more authentic when it’s not too polished”, as Charlotte tells us in an early episode) but much of it is the script and the way that the vlogs fit together with other elements of the adaptation, such as Gigi’s Domino videos, which are ostensibly intended as a demonstration of Pemberley’s new product but actually become the means for something much more significant, and the twitter posts.  Seasons of the year (summer, Thanksgiving, New Year) are mentioned as the series plays over the course of a real year which makes it all the more believable (if you start watching it now at 2 episodes a week it would probably work out right again, actually, although I defy you not to keep watching once you’ve begun!).

I’d like to give balance to this review by saying something more critical, but I really don’t have a bad word to say about it!  It’s obviously possible to dismiss it as teenage candyfloss, not worth any serious attention – it was on the internet, for goodness’ sake! – but actually the acting is good, the casting is good (Laura Spencer is my new favourite Jane!) and it’s all so much fun it would feel churlish to find fault.  Its credibility was borne out when the DVD set was advertised on Kickstarter and 100% of the funding was pledged within three hours (some of the money will be ploughed into the next project, which I’m eagerly awaiting!).  It has introduced me to to a whole new vocabulary (probably one I’m far too old to be using!) where “fangirl” is a verb (as in “fangirling so hard over this”), “awesome” is a noun (“check out the awesome and the adorbs!”) and “shipping” has nothing to do with P&P and everything to do with rooting for two characters to form a romantic relationship!

My summary is a quotation from this article:

So thank you Lizzie Bennet Diaries, for reminding us why we love Pride and Prejudice so much. You have breathed new life into a story which didn’t need it, but has benefited greatly from it all the same.

Some things were different, some things were left the same, but every decision was appropriate and well-executed.  I’m really glad I found it.

If you’re interested, prior to the commencement of the next main project, a mini-series called Welcome to Sanditon, featuring Gigi Darcy, will be broadcast in May.

Thankful for…

Wonderful friends to meet with, eat with, chat with and pray with

The recent sunny weather – long may it continue!

My children settled in new clubs and projects

The prospect of a public holiday next week

A lift in energy from a change in diet

Good news about some household repairs we require

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice BBC DVD set (Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge: February)

So, here we are at the end of February and I’m ready to review my second Pride and Prejudice-inspired choice for the year.  A while (maybe as long as two years) ago, I spotted this DVD set online at a bargain price and decided to buy it, but I never got round to watching it.  This is the series made by the BBC and first broadcast on Sunday evenings in September and October 1995 as a 6 part series.  At the time of buying it I was under the impression that this edition was created and released for the 10th anniversary, but I don’t know where I got that from now as there’s no mention of it anywhere on the box and the copyright date is 2009, so I (or the online advertising) must have been mistaken.  That said, the set is classed as a “Special Edition” on the grounds that it features “frame by frame restoration from the original negative”.  There are also three extras in the form of featurettes, which, as they contain clips from the original, allow the effects of the restoration to be seen very clearly by the viewer.

My first observation concerns the plot summary on the back of the DVD case:

Elizabeth Bennett, a spirited and independent young woman, is the subject of her mother’s obsessive goal to marry off her five daughters to the wealthiest gentlemen available.  But Mrs Bennett’s plan is compromised with the arrival of the proud and enigmatic Mr Darcy, as he and Lizzie embark on one of the most famous and compelling romances in history.

In addition to the spelling mistakes and the rather confusing factual error (the idea that Darcy’s arrival might “compromise” Mrs Bennet’s plan surely implies that he is not one of the “wealthiest gentlemen available”), this sort of synopsis frustrates me, chiefly because that isn’t what the book is about.  The story concerns a series of unexpectedly connected events during a year in Lizzy’s life, during which she matures in all sorts of different ways and learns to be less hasty when forming opinions.  During this time she gets to know a man whom she eventually begins to love and respect enough to want to marry him.  In the meantime he, and some of the other characters in the novel, are also able to improve and develop their characters, especially when they see in some of the others what they might become if they don’t work to change themselves.  Now, obviously, that doesn’t really grab the potential viewer as a plot summary, but I hate to see any of Austen’s novels reduced to a mere love story.  They are always observational, didactic and entertaining – there’s nothing wrong with a simple love story but this is so much more complex and I feel that should be respected.  There are enough people in the world who believe that it’s all about Colin Firth Mr Darcy, without the BBC encouraging them.

The DVD set

I have to say that I was slightly disappointed with the lack of extras on this, as I thought a “Special Edition” should contain more and expected at least a commentary on some of the episodes.  However, the featurettes themselves were interesting.  The one on disc one, accompanying the first three episodes, was about how the series was adapted from the book and included interviews with Andrew Davies who adapted it, producer Sue Birtwistle and director Simon Langton, as well as the costume designer and the location manager/set designer (whose contributions I found fascinating, especially footage of the set team trying to decide how to arrange chairs in the sitting room at Longbourn!).  What made a real impression on me was Andrew Davies’ account of his desire to bring a physicality to the characters and make them more real and concrete in the minds of the audience.  His method of doing this seems to be to see them in states of undress as much as possible (Darcy in a bath, Lizzy and Jane frequently in nightwear, talking in the privacy of their bedrooms) but it also extends to scenes of action (various characters riding horses, the gentlemen shooting, Darcy fencing, lots of running – or “haste”, as Mrs Bennet might call it!) which help to show the characters as more than just figures in Regency costume exchanging witty repartee, as can be the danger in adaptations from books of this kind which are driven primarily by conversation.

The other two featurettes, on disc two, focus on the restoration of the film itself and on the lasting effect this adaptation has had on period drama adaptations.  The latter discusses how this series became “watercooler TV”, the most discussed feature of people’s weekend when they returned to work on Monday morning.  This was as unexpected as it was phenomenal – the series creators had expected to appeal to those with an interest in literature, mainly older people who had already read the book and were interested in seeing how it translated to screen, and instead they quickly found they had an audience of 10 million which spanned ages, genders and backgrounds.  Simon Langton calls the series “the Big Brother of its time” (and, as the film was made a few years ago now, we might well update that currently to the X Factor of its time), because of the impact it had on the population, the media (articles about the series and photos of the characters frequently popping up even in the first few pages of daily newspapers).  As I’ve mentioned before, I missed out on this spectacle by leaving the country early in September, so I never saw any of the attention it was attracting.  Perhaps it’s for this reason that I’ve never been able to “get” what it is about this adaptation that people love so much.  Perhaps you had to be there, surrounded by all the fascination and the attention and photos of Colin Firth (“who? Oh, the posh guy from Circle of Friends, I remember”), at that defining moment in TV history, to appreciate the obsession it generated.  I watched the video recording my dad had made for me (because I’d studied the book for ‘A’ Level) during my Christmas holiday, and reflected that it was a lot better than the version we’d watched at school (the 1980 series – just as a by the way, can you now picture this man playing Mr Darcy?!).  Whatever the reason (and I know I’m in a small minority here, so please try to accept my views and move on!) I just can’t seem to love it the way so many of my friends do.

The series itself

That said, this is probably my favourite “straight” adaptation of the novel (can’t help loving the twists on the original, like Lost in Austen, Bridget Jones’ Diary and Bride and Prejudice).  The casting is almost flawless (my main reservation is over the choice of David Bamber as Mr Collins, who – whilst undeniably excellent and quite incredibly oily – is at least ten years too old) and a lot of attention to detail has gone into the scenes, the locations and the acting.  Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth in particular can convey a huge amount with their facial expressions without ever needing to speak: one scene in particular comes to mind, in which Lizzy is visiting Pemberley and she and Georgiana are at the piano, whilst Darcy looks on from across the room.  His expression conveys a real sense of pleasure that his sister and the object of his affection are getting on so well together, and when Lizzy manages to distract the attention away from Caroline Bingley’s catty remark about Wickham he positively glows with approval.  In return her smile expresses her new-found respect and growing fondness for him.  The two other actors I found particularly pleasurable to watch are Crispin Bonham-Carter, as a hugely enthusiastic and completely adorable Mr Bingley, and Susannah Harker, elegantly serene as Jane.

I was pleased to find online a list of the locations used in this series, as these really added to its overall effect and I wanted to know more about them.  I hadn’t expected there to be so many! Most of the buildings used different places for the exterior and interior shots, such as Pemberley, whose grounds and exterior are those of Lyme Park in Cheshire but (some of) whose interiors are in Sudbury Hall, Derbyshire.  We visited Sudbury a few years ago whilst on holiday (I strongly recommend the Museum of Childhood), and was surprised to find that it had been filmed there as I hadn’t realised.  (I’m always very pleased when Chatsworth isn’t used as Pemberley since, although it’s said that Austen modelled her fictional estate on that real one, she also mentions that Lizzy and the Gardiners visit Chatsworth on their tour, which makes it feel slightly wrong if they then go to it as somewhere else!).  Belton House, which is used as Rosings, is very near my parents’ home and we used to visit there a lot when I was growing up*, so I was pleased to be reminded that both the interior and exterior make appearances.  I was interested in the use of Thorpe Tilney Hall (apparently nothing to do with Northanger Abbey!), as that is also fairly near my parents’ and I knew it had been used as Longbourn in the previous BBC adaptation, but couldn’t picture where it could be in this one.  However, further research into that has convinced me that it’s a mistake and wasn’t used.

A “newbie’s” response

Finally, I just wanted to record the responses of my daughters, who came to the series with no prior knowledge of the story or the characters at all.  I thought that the Bookworm would enjoy it but I offered both of them the chance to watch, as it was half term so I didn’t want the Butterfly to be left without entertainment.  She watched all but one episode but found them long and sometimes wanted them to hurry up and be over so we can do something else.  The Bookworm, on the other hand, was quite captivated by it and found it difficult to wait between the penultimate and final episodes (she only had to wait a day!).  It took her a while to “tune in” to the style of speech and language (she’s only 10 after all) and in the first couple of episodes we had to keep pausing to catch up on what they had said, and what it all meant.  But towards the end she was picking things up very quickly and also remembering other things the characters said which bore relevance to the subsequent plot.  She noticed, for example, that after Darcy has initially insulted Lizzy’s family (with very good reason, she acknowledged!) he then mentions on at least two occasions his respect for them – signs of his personal transformation, as well as his developing esteem of Lizzy.  She adored Mrs Bennet and her frequent outbursts, and could quite see how she had missed the point about Lydia’s disgrace by focusing mainly on the idea that Mr Bennet might be killed in a fight and then she would lose her home (and on Lydia’s need for new clothes).  Despite Southern Daddy’s persistent attempts to make it all about Darcy and Lizzy when he discussed it with her (there is still much work to be done with him), she picked up a good understanding of the story and hugely enjoyed watching with me.  I’m wondering what we can watch together next!

My next review will be of Darcy’s Story by Janet Aylmer, which is apparently the first “tribute” book written after this ground-breaking TV series was broadcast.

UPDATE: 1/3/13 – I’ve just discovered that  The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is set to reach its final episode on 28th March, so I’m now considering making that my March selection and keeping Darcy’s Story for April.  I’ll see how it pans out!

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*It’s also the setting for a children’s novel – and subsequent TV series – called Moondial, by Helen Cresswell, which I’d strongly recommend if you get the opportunity to read/see it)

Thankful for…

A relaxing and refreshing half term holiday

A fun cake decorating lesson with a friend on Monday!

Good, supportive Bible study friends whom I saw today

Summer Holiday plans

A new doormat and runner in our front hall

Mr Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange (Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge: January)

A NOTE ABOUT SPOILERS: For the purposes of all these reviews I am assuming that the reader has already read Pride and Prejudice and I shall therefore feel free to make reference to any events in the “tribute” works which occur in the original.  I shall, however, endeavour not to reveal too much of any extra or alternative plot details which may spoil the enjoyment of these works themselves.

My first review for the Austenprose Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge is of Amanda Grange’s Mr Darcy’s Diary.  There are many, many retellings of Pride and Prejudice in diary form (I discovered today there’s even another one actually called Mr Darcy’s Diary) and I have three on my list of prospective reads for this challenge.  It does seem an obvious way of lending another point of view to the events played out in the novel.  I would, however, like to reiterate at this point something I mentioned in my review of the original novel, back in December 2010: that we tend to forget, from long over-exposure to alternative versions and TV adaptations, that Austen doesn’t just tell the story from Lizzy’s point of view.  Whilst the action remains with her the whole time, and she is undoubtedly the central character of the novel, there are paragraphs and comments devoted to other characters – Darcy in particular – describing their feelings and their state of mind, and any author who attempts to write something from a different point of view must take this into account and pay careful attention to clues in the original as to how their character might be feeling in certain situations.

I feel that Amanda Grange has achieved this quite well with Mr Darcy’s Diary.  Of all the books on my list, this is the only one I have read before, so I knew what I was expecting.  Despite (or perhaps because of) this, I found it difficult to get into at first and only really settled into it on my third or fourth “session” with it.  The action begins in early July, a few months before the opening events of P&P.   The reason for this is to hear first hand from Darcy of his sudden discovery that his sister intends to elope with George Wickham, and his feelings on the subject, given Wickham’s motivation and past behaviour.  I think this was a good decision on the part of Grange, as it sets the context for Darcy’s mood – and to a certain extent, his behaviour – once he arrives in Hertfordshire, but there was a certain amount of difficulty in that when the shocking events of the planned elopement are revealed, the book has hardly started and the characters not really established.  This means that it is more difficult for the reader to respond emotionally to the news, than it is when it is reported in Darcy’s letter to Elizabeth at the end of her stay at Hunsford in P&P.

However, this short opening section aside, the story soon gets under way with Bingley’s plans to find a house (partly, it would appear, in response to Caroline’s nagging).  Through Darcy’s writing we have an insight into the characters of Bingley and his sisters which matches and enhances those portrayed by Austen (comments regarding Bingley’s capricious nature, for example), and we also see Darcy’s opinions on each of them.  There’s a certain dramatic irony in places, where he misses the mark on something which seems obvious to the reader – particularly where Caroline is concerned.  Although he has a feeling that Caroline might be angling for the position of future Mrs Darcy, it’s not until quite late in the book that he understands the extent to which she has set her heart on being mistress of Pemberley.  By this point, Darcy has already proposed to, and been rejected by, Lizzy, which contrasts quite starkly with Caroline’s fawning attention to him.  Through this, coupled with an earlier comment from Colonel Fitzwilliam (which really struck Darcy) about the importance of having a wife who looks up to you for who you are, Darcy is able to understand that whilst Pemberley might be a draw to the myriad women who usually court him, Elizabeth is interested only in a husband she can respect personally, and sets out to become that man.  From then on he records the ways in which he recognises how he has changed and developed, as well as his attempts to improve his behaviour towards strangers (because she has teased him about it) and to temper his pride.

The description of Darcy’s growing feelings towards Elizabeth is well written – understated at first, as he tries to master his feelings and subdue them, gradually becoming more obvious as he realises that he thinks about her more than he would like to and struggles to reconcile his love for her with his repugnance at her family and her connections.  These descriptions, however, do not dominate the book, and there is a good balance in the portrayal of him as a loving and concerned brother (even more so since the attempted elopement), a misguided friend who allows his snobbery to colour his feelings towards Bingley’s romantic attachment to Jane and a respectable and respected employer to his staff.  Some of my favourite passages are at times when he is not part of the P&P action and Grange’s imagination has been allowed free rein as to how he might have spent his time.  There we see his Christmas celebrations with Georgiana (wistful that his baby sister is becoming a young woman who no longer takes such a childish pleasure in the games she once loved), his foray into the seedy part of London where Wickham has taken Lydia after Brighton (despairing that the girl seems quite happy with the situation, even when Wickham spells it out in front of her that he has no plans to marry her) and his breakfast with Caroline Bingley after he has announced his engagement to Lizzy.  There is also a section at the end of the book which charts the couple of months following the weddings of the Darcys and the Bingleys which, although pure whimsy on Grange’s part, is very entertaining and a final chance to observe the personalities of the various characters as they gather for a Christmas party.  Interestingly, Grange chooses to give a much bigger part to Anne de Bourgh than in the original and kindly develops her character into something far more likeable.  It seems that out of the shadow of her overbearing mother, Anne has her own feelings, ideas and opinions and looks likely to become a good friend to Lizzy in the future.

In summary, as I’m sure I’ve said before of Grange’s Austen Heroes Diaries, they are in no way any kind of rival to Austen’s originals (nor, I am sure, would she expect them to be considered so).  However, I have found them to be entertaining, faithful, well-researched and an enjoyable complement to the original, and Mr Darcy’s Diary is no exception to that.

In my next review I’ll be looking at the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.  I plan to watch it with the Bookworm (who’s 10) during the February half term holiday, so that I can record her response as a newbie as well as my own as a previous viewer, so I expect my review to be ready in the last week of February.

 

Thankful for…

Good reports on both the girls at their parents’ evening today

Managing to stay on top of housework planner despite not being well this week

The snow having all gone!

New Year Sales! – I’ve got lots of birthday presents for children we give to (and consumable ones for adults – more on that soon!)

My sister and family coming to visit for the weekend

It’s challenge time again!

That’s right – it’s time for another blogging challenge!

January 28th 2013 marks 200 years since the publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, many people’s favourite Austen novel and the one she herself referred to as her “own darling child”. To mark the occasion, the Jane Austen blog Austenprose has launched The Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge 2013 and I hereby announce my participation.

The aim is to celebrate Pride and Prejudice and the many adaptations, tributes and re-imaginings it has spawned by committing to read/watch/use, and then review, as many of them as possible throughout this year. There are three levels of participation: “neophyte” (1-4 selections), “disciple” (5-8) or “aficionada” (9-12). Naturellement I am plumping for the biggest challenge and aim to post one review of a P&P-based offering each month during 2013.

One of the greatest challenges for me is to choose my 12 selections. Having taken part in a previous Austen-themed challenge in 2010 I have previously read and reviewed several books linked to Pride and Prejudice. I can’t re-post those reviews as the activity has to be from 2013, and it would be rather lazy of me (not to mention tedious for you) to re-read and re-review the same items. I shall, therefore, not be reviewing the following (which you can click on if you care to read my review from 2010):

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Prawn and Prejudice @ Salcombe by Belinda Roberts (now republished as Mr Darcy goes overboard)

Being Elizabeth Bennet by Emma Campbell Webster

The League of Austen’s Extraordinary Gentlemen by Austenblog

I’m delighted to be able to include Mr Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange – I have read it already but my so-called review of it was, quite frankly, rubbish and amounts to two lines or so in the middle of a post on another Austen Heroes Diary. So I’ll be including it this time, along with some non-book media items and some other books. My selection criteria for the books were not deeply exacting – I had no idea which of the multitudinous spin-offs to choose, so I visited a review page provided by the Republic of Pemberley and chose three titles which seemed almost universally liked by those who had submitted a review. I also chose a fourth title because it was free on Kindle – this could prove to be awful and provide some balance with the more approved stories!

The projected list currently stands thus (alongside I have given the way in which it relates to the events of P&P and my reasons for choosing it):

January: Mr Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange [prequel + alternative concurrent p.o.v; already own it]

February: Pride and Prejudice BBC adaptation, 1995 [TV adaptation; already own it but haven’t watched it since I bought it!]

March: Georgiana Darcy’s Diary by Anna Elliott [sequel; free on Kindle]

April: Darcy’s Story by Janet Aylmer [alternative concurrent p.o.v.; rated highly on Republic of Pemberley]

May: Wickham’s Diary by Amanda Grange [prequel; previously impressed with Grange’s Diaries and thought it would be interesting to look at a villain for a change!]

June: Lydia Bennet’s Story by Jane Odiwe [sequel with small overlap; rated highly on Republic of Pemberley and to parallel consideration of Wickham!]

July: Lions and Liquorice by Kate Fenton [modern-day re-imagining; rated highly on Republic of Pemberley]

August: Happily Ever After by Susannah Fullerton [non-fiction examination of Pride & Prejudice; new for this year]*

September: Lady Catherine’s Necklace by Joan Aiken [sequel; not very highly rated in reviews but I loved Joan Aiken as a child so I’m intrigued!]

October: Love, Lies and Lizzie by Rosie Rushton [modern-day re-imagining for the teen market; I’ve read & loved three of Rushton’s Austen updates already…]

November: Celebrating Pride and Prejudice by Hazel Jones and Maggie Lane [non-fiction celebration of the novel; new for this year]

December: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries by Hank Green and Bernie Su [modern-day re-imagining broadcast in episodes online]

UPDATE (June 2013): My May/June review was eventually of Shannon Hale’s Austenland and ITV’s 2008 series Lost in Austen, neither of which appeared in the original list but just presented themselves at an opportune moment!

UPDATE (October 2013): My October review was eventually of the BBC daytime soap Doctors which had a short Austen-inspired “season” over 6 or 7 days

UPDATE (November 2013): My November review was eventually of Longbourn by Jo Baker, as an audiobook read by Emma Fielding

UPDATE (December 2013): My December review was eventually of the BBC adaptation of PD James’ novel Death Comes To Pemberley .

This list is subject to change, however – I don’t currently own many of the books, so my reading of them will depend on my financial situation or how easily I can access them through the library, etc. I might also switch the order around depending on when I’m able to come by certain titles. In particular, the review of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries will come once the series has ended, or in December, which ever occurs sooner (! – I know I have already shared some of my thoughts on it but it seems to be spreading over the internet more than I’d thought possible and I’m fairly confident it will end this year, leaving me with plenty more to say for a review!). I hope the list will present enough variety, as well as opportunity to compare and contrast within the various categories.

My reviews will typically come at the end of the month, especially this month, as I’m in the middle of Zola’s The Ladies’ Paradise for book group and can’t really stop to re-read Darcy’s Diary just at the moment.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading about my thoughts and responses as the year progresses, as well as any other ways in which I find to mark the bicentenary. Will you be participating in this or any other commemorative events? Please share them with me and let me know how they go!

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*I’m still unclear about whether this book is the same as Celebrating Pride and Prejudice: 200 Years of Jane Austen’s Masterpiece by the same author. It seems odd that she might publish two books on very much the same subject at the same time!

Thankful for…

Having remained below my target pre-Christmas weight for the whole of the Christmas period!

A wonderful day’s singing at the Sage Gateshead last weekend.

Lovely new books to read.

A great night out last night to see Les Miserables at the cinema (more on that soon).

A clean and tidy kitchen.

Settling quickly back into our routine, with some small amendments.

Austen in the Twenty-First Century?

Those of you who’ve read some of my past posts will know of my great love of Jane Austen’s novels, and how in 2010 I enjoyed taking part in a challenge to read not only her own novels but also various tributes, sequels and prequels.  Recently, my attention was drawn to something new in this vein which on investigation turned out to be a lot of fun, so I thought I’d share it with you here.

It would appear that someone has had the idea to have a modern-day Elizabeth Bennet broadcast her experiences as a vlog on YouTube.  It’s called The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and apparently a new “episode” is added every Monday and Thursday, effectively making it a TV series (which is in fact how it’s listed on IMDB), although each broadcast lasts only about 5 minutes.  What’s interesting about it is that the vlog style first of all allows events to be reported by Lizzie, rather than appearing on screen themselves, making it inevitable that we see things through her eyes, as we do in Pride and Prejudice.  Secondly, the five minute, twice-weekly broadcasts give the action the appearance of happening almost in real time (and she refers to the time of year at some points, e.g. summer holidays – she’s a grad-school student – Hallowe’en, etc) which is a fascinating way of allowing the events to unfold.

So far there have been 61 episodes*, and you can watch them all in order by going to this page.  Although each vlog-post is very short, the whole lot runs to more than 4 hours in length so you might need to watch them over a period of time!  The broadcasts began in April and I think they must have got to about half way through the book, from the way the plot has unfolded so far.

Briefly, the premise is that Lizzie is studying Mass Communications at Grad School and her friend Charlotte Lu is studying Film and TV production, so together they’ve created the vlog to explore that aspect of film and communication.  She begins by introducing her family (just the two sisters in this, Jane and Lydia – Mary is now their (emo!) cousin and Kitty is Lydia’s cat!) and talking about her life.  Before long, events start to unfold in a similar way to the book (although obviously with some updating, which for the most part is clever and enjoyable) but the creators have done a good job of making the whole thing feel spontaneous and very fresh, rather than a planned, scripted performance.  An example is a recent episode which depicts a well-known Incident from the novel (which takes Lizzie by surprise) as something which happened just after she had finished filming the previous part and therefore got caught on camera by accident!

Throughout the course of the films so far the viewer gets to meets some of the other characters although at many points Lizzie, sometimes aided by Charlotte or one of her sisters, recounts conversations and scenarios which have taken place by using hats, props and particular voices to portray different characters – the same ones each time so that they soon become familiar to the viewer.  This has become a popular recurring feature of the shows and is particularly fun when someone else such as Lydia plays Lizzie whilst Lizzie plays someone else.

Over the last few months the idea has obviously really taken off and many of the characters (in addition to the show itself) now have Facebook pages and Twitter.  There’s a blog on tumblr, several Q&A videos have appeared as Saturday bonuses and two of the characters, Lydia and Maria, have vlogs of their own (I haven’t watched all of those but Lydia is shaping up to be a very entertaining character so her messages are bound to be interesting!)

All in all I feel this is turning out to be a very good reworking of Pride & Prejudice – there’s enough tweaks of the plot to make it believable as a modern-day scenario (although I did have slight trouble accepting that a mother would be quite so quick to start talking about marriage once her daughter had got a boyfriend – even the most marriage-obsessed usually wait a little longer!) whilst remaining faithful to the themes and ideas in the original novel.  Because most of it’s so easy to believe, it demonstrates once again how, whilst Austen’s world and culture might be long-gone, the themes she discusses are still pretty well applicable in the modern world and that some things don’t change, especially where relationships (of all kinds) are concerned.

Some of the comments underneath the clips are interesting, as viewers discuss why certain elements are portrayed in the way they are, almost like an online college seminar! (Word of warning though: don’t go to the comments unless you’ve read the book or are unconcerned about “spoilers” as there have been several complaints about the comments revealing what’s coming next!).  As with any TV dramatisation or updated classic, I don’t suppose we’ll ever know how many people, if any, are prompted to read the originals or explore the author or the genre, but it certainly goes to show that there’s always a market for classic literature, if you package it in the right way.

Give it a try, and don’t forget to let me know what you think!

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*Another episode has been added as I’ve been typing this!