Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld

I always love to read modern spins on classics, in particular, on Jane Austen novels.  Eligible is a modern rewrite of Pride and Prejudice and is the fourth in the The Austen Project which is a series in which all six of Austen’s novels are being rewritten by prominent contemporary authors.  I have read and enjoyed American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld in the past and was excited to be able to see how she treated Pride and Prejudice.

Liz Bennet is a 38 year old writer for the magazine Mascara in New York City.  Her 40 year old sister Jane also lives in New York City and is a yoga instructor.  Jane has given up on finding Mr. Right and has started a series of in vitro fertilization procedures to become a mother.  Both sisters head back to their home town of Cincinnati when their father suffers a heart attack.  At home, Liz finds that her family is in dire straits.  Her younger sisters Kitty, Lydia, and Mary are all unemployed and living at home.  Mrs. Bennet has a shopping addiction, an obsession with her country club, and a keen interest to marry all of the girls off.  They live in their family estate, but are almost set to lose it due to bad financial planning on their father’s part.

Liz has a complicated love life with her married boyfriend, Jasper. It gets even more complicated with she meets Fitzwilliam Darcy at a fourth of July BBQ.  He is a neurosurgeon and seems to disdain all that Cincinnati has to offer. Although she hates him, sparks seem to fly whenever they are together. Jane is smitten with Darcy’s friend, Chip Bingley.  Also a doctor, Chip has recently appeared on the reality TV dating show, Eligible (i.e. The Bachelor).  He was unable to find true love on reality TV, but may have found it with Jane.  When complications come around, Chip fast leaves town and both Jane and Liz are left to wonder was it really love?  

I thought that was a great modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice.  Sittenfeld captured the spirit of not only the story, but of all of the characters as well.  They were all true to their regency counterparts.  That being said, the one part of the novel I didn’t like was the blatant racism and homophobia of the Bennets.  Lydia is constantly badgering Mary about being a lesbian and makes a lot of cringe worthy comments.  This does seem true to the characters, but I didn’t like how we see their crassness through typical homophobia and racist jokes. I’m sure they could be crass in other ways. I thought the transgender character was a cool guy, but I don’t know how he would have been able to stand Lydia and the Bennets.

I loved the setting of Cincinnati.  You could tell the author herself had a love/hate relationship with her home town and the love really stood out as well as the ability to make fun of it as well.  I also loved that Chip was on a trashy TV reality series – that stands in well for the new wealth and underlying crassness it entails in the original novel.

SPOILER ALERT

I also wasn’t a fan of Darcy and Liz’s “hate sex.” I know I’m old fashioned, but I’d really like the romance to develop before they tumble into bed for “hate sex.”

SPOILER END

My favorite quotes (most of them go to one of my all-time favorite characters, Mr.  Bennet):

“My dear,” said Mr. Bennet, “if a sock puppet with a trust fund and a Harvard medical degree moved here, you’d think he was meant to marry one of our girls.”

“I don’t suppose that any of you can appreciate the terror a man might feel being so outnumbered, “Mr. Bennet said.  “I often weep, and there are only six of you.”

“In recent years, Charlotte and Liz hadn’t spent time together beyond Christmas parties or lunches scheduled during Liz’s trips home from New York, but they still took immense pleasure in each other’s company.” – I feel this way about my best friend Jenn

“One of the virtues of the Tudor was the privacy offered by its capacious dimensions, and though Liz suspected that this fact reflected poorly on her, she was at times most able to enjoy her family members when she could sense their presences nearby without actually interacting with them.”  Ha – who doesn’t feel this way sometimes?

Overall, Eligible captures the spirit and humor of the original Pride and Prejudice, but be prepared to see the Bennet family display racist and homophobia tendencies.

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Okay - I've got a bit behind on my book reviews again with the holidays. I'm going to do some quick summaries to catch myself back up over the next couple of days!

I was frankly surprised by how much I liked American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. I was intrigued by the premise of a book roughly based on the life of Laura Bush, but I was also turned off by the thought of an "unauthorized biography" take on her life. I was therefore surprised that the novel had well rounded and intriguing characters. I thought Alice Lindgren was a wonderful character. A small town girl that is involved in a tragic accident, Alice spends years trying to atone for one night's mistake. She becomes a "spinster" librarian and meets Charlie Blackwell at a backyard BBQ. Charlie is the quirky son of a well known Republican family. Charlie and Alice have a great connection and quickly get married. The book skips ahead ten years to a troubled time in their marriage and then skips ahead twenty more years to Charlie becoming president.

It's no secret that I have no love for George Bush and have actually greatly disliked him from day 1. It surprised me then that I really liked Charlie Blackwell. He was a fun loving man who has a deep and passionate love for his wife. He is able to realize his life is heading in a direction that is not good for himself and his family and he is able to turn it around. The only thing I didn't like was the skip of twenty years at the end to Charlie being President. I wanted more story on the improbable path Charlie took to being president. Charlie is a complex individual, but the last portion of the book tried to simplify him.

The secondary characters such as Alice's Grandma were also fantastically written. I also loved the Wisconsin setting. Their vacation spot in Door County would literaly be about half an hour north of me - which was cool to think about. This brings about a good point - why are so many books, movies, and shows based in Wisconsin. When an author picks a midwest state, why is it usually Wisconsin? I love my adopted state, but am originally from Michigan and wonder why my home state does not get the love that Wisconsin seems to!

Overall, I thought this was a fantastic book and one of my best reads of the year. I thought the first 3/4 of the book were great, but the last 1/4 when Charlie was president was disappointing. Mostly because of the great time jump and how it seemed to skim the surface of Charlie and Alice rather than really go in depth. I highly recommend this book.