Sorely disappointed in "Eliza's Daughter," bored with "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters" and warned by my mother never to read "Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife" (at least I think that was the one), it's fair to say I was more than a little skeptical of "Mr. Darcy's Diary."However I found myself pleasantly surprised. Though the original is still better, the Diary is actually quite a decent and entertaining work. Once you can get over the notion of Mr. Darcy keeping a diary and chronicling such thing as buying presents for his sister (yes, really? But it's chick lit, and details of business transactions or how many birds he bagged at Bingley's aren't going to keep the ladies reading), it's engaging and well-written. I was actually surprised at how well Grange managed to imitate the writing style of Austen.
It's a light read, but I think a fun one, and actually quite appropriate. I'd have no qualms handing this to a pre-teen to read - so long as they'd read the original first!
Though I think it might have worked better as a first person narrative rather than a journal-entry style, it is an interesting look at one person's imagining of the most famous romantic hero in English Literature.
Now I suppose I will have to go to the library website and put "Mr. Knightley's Diary" on hold...
2 comments:
Sounds like an interesting book. Thanks for sharing this review with us. And I completely agree, read the original first!
Blessings,
Maggie
www.foreverfindingmybliss.blogspot.com
The only one of that series I've read was Edmund Bertram's Diary, and I must say, if Mr. Darcy's was similar, your review is spot on. Light reading, but clean and pleasant. Thanks for all your reviews; I can't wait til I am finished with school and can really dive into Chesterfield and The Inklings and several of the others I've noted down from your blog to get my hands on soon.
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