I was so eager to hear the continuation of the story and I consumed this book in a day. This book portrays Mr. Darcy as harsh and nearly uncaring, Elizabeth obsessed with whether Mr. Darcy has been untrue to her and the continual bore of Mr. Collins. Of course, Elizabeth must produce an heir. If that was easy for her, the story would be boring, right?
I was disappointed with the book because it felt like Emma Tennant took the easy way out. Elizabeth MUST have trouble bearing Darcy a child. Elizabeth MUST be a jealous wife. Mr. Collins MUST be the bore. And the ending was just as predictable as the problems that Elizabeth must encounter.
Worse still, Emma found an easy way to fill pages by having Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy remember the words of her father and husband. Word for word quotation from Pride and Prejudice accounted for far too much of Ms. Tennant’s own work. The entire book felt like a English thesis paper, in which Emma needed to prove each point she made in her book with quotations citing the original work.
As my first introduction into sequels to Jane Austen’s books, Pemberley had the lucky chance to be the standard by which I held all others. Instead, I just assumed that all sequels to Jane Austen’s books would merely pale in comparison.
Emma Tennant has written many other books that might be of interest:
September 17th, 2007 by Laura Moncur in Literature
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single book in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a sequel.
Jane Austen’s book, Pride and Prejudice underwent a revival a little over ten years ago with the A&E portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Now, another revival of sorts in underway. Several authors have taken it upon themselves to rework Austen’s books. Either by writing sequels, prequels or concurrent novels, these authors are extending our pleasure of an author whose work was cut short by death.
This week, we’ll explore some of these novels, but today, we’ll talk about the original work. Pride and Prejudice was the pinnacle of Jane Austen’s writing. Here are some of my favorite quotes here:
PBS has a new series called WordGirl. Something about the animation reminds me of Daria, but the idea of a superhero who overcomes people with her vocabulary is appealing to me. This clip shows WordGirl overcoming an evil butcher and teaching him the meaning of the word “ally.”
Sometimes, clarity is more important than vocabulary, and I hope that WordGirl will teach that lesson as well. Educational programming is so difficult to get right and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch it with child’s eyes again. I learned much at the hands of multi-colored Muppets, but watching them now is painful.
As much as I like WordGirl, I don’t think I’m the one to judge. That falls squarely on the kids that she’s trying to teach.
A rare bible on loan from the Library of Congress has been stolen and it’s up to Agent Bay to retrieve it. This graphic novel is a literary lovers dream and you can read it online here:
This book used to be available to buy at Amazon.com, but it is no longer available. Fortunately, you can read it online. If you have been looking for a mystery that doesn’t have a mortality rate, this just might be a fun read for you.
Happenstance is a word because it’s in the dictionary, but happenstantially isn’t in the dictionary. It does show up in Google searches 300 times, but the New York Times has never used it.
Does it need to be in the dictionary for it to be a word? In Google? In the New York Times? Used by your friends? What do you think?
Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued by Emma Tennant was the first Pride and Prejudice sequel I ever read. I bought it back in 1996 during the A&E Pride and Prejudice revival.
