Pride & Prejudice fans?

[BIWI]

New novel by comedian Rachel Parris:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/introducing-mrs-collins/rachel-parris/9781399751612

I really enjoyed this. Brings Charlotte to life very convincingly; makes Mr Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh more sympathetic - and adds a very satisfying element to her story.

I've heard her on podcasts and thinks she seems like a pleasant and witty individual. She's just not a writer with the chops to take on JA characters and come out of it with any credit.

I’ve never heard of her until this thread and she can write as many books as she wants. And people can like or dislike them, accordingly. That’s how books work- any book is ultimately only as ‘good’ as its relationship with the reader.

Oh I forgot she was in Austentacious! She was great in that. I also loved her on the Mash programme with Nish Kumar and thought she had a great way with words on that. I'll definitely give it a go now.

Here is a question which I've been wanting to ask for a very long time: if a book is described as being 'very well written' what exactly does that mean?

Excellent question. I think it's quite subjective.

For me the main thing is I want it to be like looking through a clean window. So I'm not aware of what's on the window but can see clearly what's happening inside. So I don't want to be aware of heavy grammatical structures or over extended descriptions, I just want to be caught up in the story.

For me I also want characters who feel real, and at least one or two where I care about what happens to them.

I can see some comments, including mine, have annoyed you.

However, I was annoyed by your remark that Rachel Parris has brought Charlotte to life very convincingly, as I think Jane Austen managed to do this quite well herself without needing any help from anyone.

I was also annoyed by the fact that you think it is a good thing that Ms Parris has made Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mr Collins more sympathetic. If Jane Austen had wanted to make them more sympathetic , she would have been, I think, entirely capable of doing so.

She must therefore have had a reason to refrain from this and it is not up to Ms Parris to do it for her. They are not her characters. This is a classic book, a work by a genius and it is not up to mediocre writers to meddle with it and fuck about with the characters or plot.

I say this even if the writer was not mediocre. This cap does not fit Ms Parris who, although may possess a competent workman like writing skill, Jane Austen she isn't.

She may write whatever stuff she pleases but she must make up her characters and plot, not place grubby fingerprints over the work of one of the world's best female writer. It is lazy, disrespectful and shows that she has a bigger opinion of herself than she does of Jane Austen.

So, I'm sorry you're annoyed and would never ever want to pour cold water on a book that someone else loves but in this case, you are travelling third class with a tribute band, when you could trave First Class with the original.

Being Mr Wickham was brilliant. I’m quite happy for new authors to continue the stories if they do it well.

I love Jill Paton Walsh’s Wimsey sequels. Less convinced by the Sophie Hannah Poirots. I’m happy to try Austen sequels. Or prequels.

I enjoyed this, didn’t tax me too much. I also enjoyed Longborne and The Other Bennet Sister. Gill Hornby also has some frothy Jane adjacent books.

There was an element of the storyline that jarred, but overall was entertaining enough.

Thanks for the recommendation. Austen is dear to my heart, and I loved The Other Bennett Sister.

I’d use the word arrogance rather than confidence. P&P is a masterpiece. It has lasted for a reason. Lizzie Bennet is one of the most vivid, lively, three dimensional characters ever created. Austen rivals Shakespeare and Chaucer and Dickens and Tolstoy and Proust in her ability to make characters live and breathe. To try and re-write her works is an act of breathtaking arrogance. I don’t know why people do it.

I hope she writes a whole series of JA offshoot novels bahahaha

Important to remember that the original still exists. It’s not as if Parris’ book had somehow wiped it out of existence.

Arrogance is an interesting word. Some of the responses on here have come over as quite arrogant. I'm assuming that wouldn't be the case if we were all just discussing it in a book club.

Arrogant, snobbish and intellectually superior. They might be reassured to know that Parris went to Oxford…..🤣

There’s nothing arrogant in saying Jane Austen is a genius and that it’s not really possible to live up to her. It would be arrogant to say it about oneself!

I went to see if this was available on Kindle and had no idea that writing books based on other author’s characters was a thing! No less than five books about Mrs Collins!
I love P&P, no doubt fuelled by the (in my opinion, flawless) 1995 adaptation, which was broadcast at a particularly trying time in my life and it was the perfect tonic.
Anyhoo I’ll give it a go when it’s released on Kindle. (I was given a couple paperbacks at Christmas and have to say it reinforced why I like my kindle so much).

Love to see where Parris says anything of the kind!

Sequels or prequels which take a very minor character and imagine her life in full can be interesting. One problem here is that Harris is taking very well developed characters and changing their nature, which I don't think works so well. Another issue for me is that anachronistic language and description is jarring, but I know that others are not troubled by this,

It is interesting and I think actually kind of touching to see how acrimonious this discussion is: people really care about these characters

I’m sure she isn’t and I didn’t suggest anything of the sort, so you can save your outrage.

She doesn't need to say it @CurlewKate , she's done it and, as we all know one action is worth a 1000 words-even if they are sub standard ones!😀

I don't really care if she has Double Firsts from every university in the land. Are pp really saying that a degree from Oxford makes her worthy to continue, expand or in any way, mess with the works of Jane Austen,

Who knew that that was all it took. Of course, by that reckoning as Jane Austen didn't go to Oxford, then Ms Parris is her superior and we should all be glad thatshe has taken it upon herself to make Austen's characters more "sympathetic" as well as adding , a "very satisfying element to her story".

It is not snobbish-what on earth does that mean in this context- to wish that any writer less than a genius does not lift their hand to a work of genius.

In fact, I would not wish to see a writer of genius-even one that went to Oxford-do so and I think we can all agree that Ms Parris is not a genius.

Maybe she can turn her hand to Beethoven's 5th and give it a, "more satisfying element".

Some will continue to defend Ms Parris and her book and others will speak the truth!

I don’t defend her book-I haven’t read it. I do defend her right to write it. And your right not to read it. If it’s crap, it’ll flop. If it isn’t, it won’t. Jane Austen is glorious and central to my cultural and artistic life. And my academic life at one period in my life. She is not, however, and shouldn’t be, sanctified. She is a writer, just like any other writer.

Thank you for the opinion that Jane Austen is a writer just like any writer.

In what way isn’t she? Better than most, but still a writer.

😂

The thread title drew me in (I wouldn’t like to even hazard a guess at how many times I have read Pride and Prejudice!) but I’m afraid I agree with the ‘snobby’(!) responses. I can’t bear this sort of book, it seems so arrogant to snap up someone else’s characters and rewrite them.

That being said, there was a tv series, possibly bbc, years ago, Lost in Austen, about a real-life, modern day woman who somehow (I think? Long time since I watched it!) swapped places with lizzie bennet. What a fantastic piece of nonsense that was!

There really is nothing to say to that.