OYENTE

Linda Hendrex

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Alone with Mr. Darcy: A Pride & Prejudice Variation Audiolibro Por Abigail Reynolds arte de portada

Bodice Ripping Alternative Tale of P&P

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-25-15

What made the experience of listening to Alone with Mr. Darcy: A Pride & Prejudice Variation the most enjoyable?

I do enjoy Elizabeth Klett's reading style.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked that the author of this book kept her ties to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE loose enough that she was free to write a true "alternative" tale. While being familiar, it is also new and fresh. I didn't like that some key elements that define Jane Austen works were missing in this story.

Have you listened to any of Elizabeth Klett’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I am a longtime fan of Elizabeth Klett and find her reading style understandable, entertaining and always first rate. I mostly chose to listen to this story because I knew that this narrator is a wonderful reader who always delivers an enjoyable listening experience. ALONE WITH MR. DARCY is no exception and, once again, she lives up to the caliber of performance that I have come to expect. She is real pleasure to listen to! I am only sorry that this particular book wasn't the best use of her considerable talent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I didn't quite make it through in ONE sitting but it took me about 48 hours to finish the book from start to finish.

Any additional comments?

I was offered this audio book for free in exchange for an honest review, and chose to listen to it because I am a fan of the narrator, and also because I love Jane Austin and am on a quest to find JA Fan Fictions that live up to the originals that inspired them. There are a plethora of "spin-off" books that take their inspiration from Jane, but seldom do they live up to the beloved classics that we cannot get enough of. This one is no exception.

This book is inspired by PRIDE AND PREJUDICE but doesn't try to recreate the classic story at all. I really liked that the author started the book at Charlotte Lucas's wedding and from that point on, she gives us an original story that deviates from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE so much that it plays out in a completely different way. While the roots of ALONE WITH MR. DARCY are anchored in Jane Austen, Abigail Reynolds takes the liberty of writing an original story that gives the reader a completely new and different ending to the book. I found this to be refreshing. However there were some mistakes in this story that ruined it for me.

The biggest issue with ALONE WITH MR. DARCY was that it lacked that certain something that defines Jane Austen's work. There was none of the underlying passion that builds up, so that the reader stays completely engaged without the narrative ever spelling out the more explicit sexual elements that are part of the story. I do realize that there are many people who WANT these things to be spelled out, but many JA fans prefer the understated, clever writing style that results in a balance between the romance and other elements of the story. Jane Austen is not essentially a romance novelist, but a writer whose books are romantic within a context of a well rounded story that develops a number of characters and situations. This is an important distinction for me. ALONE WITH MR. DARCY is a pure, crude, bodice ripping romance novel, and the feel it captures is more correctly defined as Barbara Cartland rather than Jane Austen. If you like that kind of thing, then this is a pretty readable romance, but I prefer Jane's humor, clever dialog, understated passion, insight, satire and well rounded commentary on all elements of society and human relations. Romance enthusiasts will love this book as it is a tidal wave of unrestrained kissing, cuddling, groping and more, so that the characters are in a perpetual state of swooning over each other. True Jane Austen fans will miss the subtle elements that make Jane unique. The characters are familiar only in their names, places and general situations, but they behave in ways that leave the reader wondering where our familiar old friends are!

PROCEED WITH CAUTION! SPOILERS AHEAD!

This story begins on Charlotte Lucas's Wedding day. Elizabeth Bennett takes a winter day's walk during the party and happens upon a barely conscious Mr. Darcy who has been in an accident just as a winter blizzard is beginning. In order to save their lives, the two of them take shelter in a nearby deserted cottage where they are snowed in for 3 days. This particular plot device felt contrived to me - a way to get them alone in a compromised situation and let the sparks fly without Elizabeth deliberately allowing this kind of intimacy. You can imagine what transpires during these 3 days and when it is over, Elizabeth's reputation is ruined in a way that ONLY marriage can repair. I found myself rolling my eyes during this portion of the book, as it is a very unlikely situation and felt pretty manipulative. But that was just the beginning of this book's shortcomings.

One particular thing that grated on me was that it is a lightweight read that tries to tackle some pretty heavyweight subject matter and fails miserably. Early in the book, one of the characters from the original PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is publicly gang raped in a tavern by a bunch of officers. This is pure GRATUITOUS sex and violence at it's worst. Darcy and Elizabeth accidentally walk into the tavern and witness this terrible scene and (even though the girl who is being destroyed is supposedly a friend of Elizabeth's), they do nothing to intervene. Instead, they avoid the situation and leave quietly because they fear that taking a stand would be dangerous to them. As they go on their merry way, they barely seem to be bothered by what they just saw and a few days later, when the terrible event is gossiped all over town, Elizabeth reacts with a vague "oh dear, poor Mariah Lucas, but ins't Darcy HOT!" In really good fiction, as in REAL LIFE, witnessing a close friend being gang raped would have devastated any normal woman. But Elizabeth doesn't seem to be too bothered, which made her come across as a kind of sociopath who I didn't really like at all.

Some works of fiction are very serious, and when sensitively rendered, a story can do a lot of good by including things that are difficult to read or watch. The riveting movie, TWO WOMEN is one such work, and the subject of gang rape is treated with the gravity it deserves. When an author chooses to include such a event in a book, play or movie, they are accepting a serious responsibility on how they do it. Such a writer really needs the chops to handle this kind of subject matter and that was sorely lacking here. This particular book is pure fluff and doesn't have the depth needed for this kind of event. It has no place in the central theme of the story and serves no purpose other than a lame attempt by the author to make this book "serious" when this is absolutely lightweight fodder for folks who don't want to think too hard. (There is nothing wrong with lightweight reading, or enjoying a fun read when you want to relax, but scenes such as a gang rape have no place in this kind of sheer storytelling.) I couldn't believe the careless way this was handled and I found myself not respecting this version of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy for leaving this poor innocent virgin to her fate and not helping her. Later on, Darcy paid some "good sport" to marry Mariah, but I couldn't help thinking that this gesture was far too little and far too late when he could have tried to rescue her and did not. The original Elizabeth and Darcy were ethical and courageous and I cannot imagine them engaging in an act of cowardice like this. And between all her swooning and trembling over Darcy, Mariah Lucas's fate seemed to make very little impression on Elizabeth. She was slightly distressed but didn't shed a single tear, didn't lose a moment's sleep over this situation and barely managed a "tsk, tsk" when she thought of it. This alone was enough to put me off of this particular tale.

When an author chooses to write a book it is important for them to accurately assess what they are capable of, and from what I saw in this instance, I don't think Abigail Reynolds has the talent or depth to tackle something like this. Honestly, as much as I love Jane Austen, I don't think even she could have pulled off such an event in one of her books. P& P is expertly written, but is not constructed for heavyweight material, and when updates and alternate tales veer into such territory, they do a disservice to the type of story they are constructing. One of the things that made Jane so VERY GOOD at what she did was her understanding of what her type of stories could and couldn't handle. It is to her credit that she didn't go to into places that her stories couldn't support, and Fan Fiction writers would do themselves a favor if they refrained from charging into territory that the Original Author didn't dare to tread.

I also didn't think the story had the underlying feel of Jane Austen. As I said before, this might have worked as a Barbara Cartland fan fiction, but it simply didn't live up to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Nothing is included about Jane Bennett and Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth loses her wit and strength, and there is a very dumb back story of Mr. Bennett that was jarring. Mr. Darcy comes across as moral but wimpy. I think it would have been preferable for the author to remove all references to Jane Austen's story and written this book as an original romance novel. And I think it would have wise to drop the rape altogether because it really, REALLY didn't belong here. So if you are an enthusiast of the Romance genre, you might like this book. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, you will may or may not finish reading it, and you will feel unsatisfied, because all the things that make Jane Austen unique are gone from ALONE WITH MR. DARCY.

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Kate: The Future Queen Audiolibro Por Katie Nicholl arte de portada

Interesting Story, but Too Much Repeated Material

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
2 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 07-03-15

What would have made Kate: The Future Queen better?

This was not a Bona Fide new book. Huge sections of it were word-for-word repeats of sections from this author's other books. It would have been better if the parts of this book that were new and unique had been added to one of her earlier books.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Haven't decided what my next listen will be, yet.

What didn’t you like about Sue Pitkin’s performance?

The performance was a little dull and almost monotone. It needed to be livelier.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

This book had several redeeming qualities. It was well written and the parts that were actually new and original were great! The author has a very balanced view of her subject matter and has a perspective that is refreshing.

Any additional comments?

There was A LOT of recycled material in this book. Too much of it was lifted directly from other material from this author. It isn't fair to re-sell warmed over editions of earlier books. If you ask your fans to purchase a new book then you owe them the courtesy of actually writing a full blown NEW book. It is kind of a cheat to write a few new chapters and insert them into old material that we have already purchased. I couldn't believe it when I kept hearing huge sections that were in the other books! Not Cool!

The new stuff was really good. There just wasn't enough new stuff to make a whole book, the the little bit of original information contained here just wasn't enough. It would have been better to update the other book to include the material that was featured here.

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The Making of a Royal Romance Audiolibro Por Katie Nicholl arte de portada

Interesting Account of William, Harry, & Kate

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 07-01-15

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I wouldn't change anything. It is certainly not a work of Literary Masterpiece, but it does the intended job well and covers the subject matter thoroughly.

Would you recommend The Making of a Royal Romance to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories about the Royal Family. If you hate the Royal Family or if stories about the royalty bore or annoy you, then I advise you to stay away. This reads like a very LONG article in People Magazine. So whether I'd recommend it or not depends very much on who I am talking to.

What aspect of Justine Eyre’s performance would you have changed?

This was a decent reading and there was nothing that bothered me about the performance.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No, I don't think so. It always makes me uncomfortable to see actors trying to act out the lives of famous people who are currently living. It never rings true.

Any additional comments?

This was an interesting book. I already knew some of what was covered here, but I thought the author of this particular account came across as well informed, balanced, honest and compassionate. If everything told here is accurate then I think it might round out our impression of the most famous family in the world. A big "IF", since a lot of the story is public knowledge and the more private things are up for grabs as to their truth or not.

Assuming that everything Ms. Nicholl reported is true, I think this has changed my opinion of the Royal Family and the tragic events that shaped William and Harry.

Contrary to much of what is told about this family, there are no heroes and villains in this book. Everyone is treated fairly but honestly. Diana comes across as the compassionate and unique, but troubled woman that she was. Charles's side of the story is given an attention that I hadn't heard before and I came away with a better understanding of what he went through in his disastrous marriage. No one is justified, but we see a balanced story of a tragic relationship that produced two very interesting young men. After listening to this book, I do realize that both Charles and Diana were good and loving parents, and the troubles in their relationship didn't change that.

William and Harry themselves come across as completely normal people who were born into a very abnormal situation. They aren't portrayed as saints, and their faults are covered without glossing anything over. However the "higher angels of their nature" are also covered, leaving me with an impression of people who are real and down-to-earth.

I was surprised that Kate Middleton is given a little less attention than I expected, probably because this book was originally intended as a biography of the two royal brothers. Kate was added into the story in a later revision after she and William became engaged. In order to get that full story, we'll just have to read one of Katie Nicholl's other books that focus more on the Duchess of Cambridge and her life. As it is, we hear a LOT about Chelsea Davy, and plenty about William's other girlfriends as well as Kate. At the end we know that Kate is "the one", but Kate's story is another book for another time.

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Finding Jesus Audiolibro Por David Gibson, Michael McKinley arte de portada

Little or Nothing to do with Finding Jesus

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-17-15

Would you try another book from David Gibson and Michael McKinley and/or Peter Larkin?

I don't know. Some of this book was interesting, but mostly missed the mark for me. Not sure what I expected - I might listen again to see if there were things I didn't understand in the first run through. I felt like the objects they examined were sort of irrelevant to knowing anything about Jesus and the overall book left me a little disappointed.

What do you think your next listen will be?

HISSING COUSINS, by Marc Peyser and Timothy Dwyer

What does Peter Larkin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narration was clear and easy to listen to. Very good job.

Was Finding Jesus worth the listening time?

Maybe.

Any additional comments?

It was interesting but I was surprised that the focus was on objects and manuscripts that either had nothing directly to do with Jesus, or if they did, gave little insight into who He is. I kind of expected some actual historical accounts, but it was all about artifacts, theories and legends. The expected insights were missing.

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