After getting my wife to reread this at last I'm reading it again myself. It's such a fun adaptation.

 

 

In this modern-day retelling of Pride and Prejudice,  the way people know that Chip Bingley, an ER doctor "in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” is that two years before, he appeared on a Bacheloresque dating show called Eligible (without selecting either of the two female contestants who made it to the final episode).  The Bennet family in this version of P & P reside in a ramshackle Tudor home in Cincinatti, Ohio, and of course Mrs. Bennet is convinced that Dr. Bingley will be just right for one of her daughters.  Jane Bennet, who will be turning 40 in the fall, is a yoga instructor who has been attempting to become pregnant via donor sperm and artificial insemination.  Liz, age 38, is a writer for a magazine called Mascara.  Both Liz and Jane live in NYC, but they fly out to their ancestral home when their father has a health scare.  The youngest three daughters have never left the nest.  Mary, age 30, is a misanthrope working on her third online master's degree.  Lydia and Kitty, both in their 20s, work service jobs on and off, but put most of their energy into their Crossfit workouts.

 

Readers of Jane Austen's original will know the broad strokes of the plotlines, but Curtis Sittenfeld changes things up enough to keep the narrative fresh.  There is, of course, a Fitzwilliam Darcy, in this case a neurosurgeon, who must overcome his pride while Liz Bennet makes a journey to get past her own prejudice.  

 

This book was a "staff pick" chosen for week two of the Albany Public Library summer-reading program.  Onto week three (non-fiction)!

SWEDISH REVIEW

Sanning och skvaller är en förtjusande och underhållande modern tolkning av Stolthet och fördom. Curtis Sittenfeld har lyckats modernisera handlingen på ett sådant sätt att man känner igen handlingen från originalet i denna berättelse men allting har förflyttas fram i tiden och speglar dagens livssituationer och moderna problem.

Mrs. Bennet är lika jobbig som i originalberättelsen, Mr. Bennet lika frånvarande och Kitty och Lydia är lika odrägliga och Mary lika nördig (om inte värre). Liz och Jane är de som har lyckats komma undan och flyttat hemifrån men till deras mors förskräckelse börjar de närma sig 40 utan ring på fingret. Skandal! Tursamt nog verkar det som om två läckra ungkarlar, Chip Bingley och Fitzwilliam Darcy dyker upp lägligt när de är hemma för att se över sin far som har haft en hjärtattack.

Jag njöt storartat av boken. Den är humoristisk och dagens moderna problem har ersatt originalets problem på ett lysande sätt. T.ex. så har Jane beslutat sig för att hon vill ha barn och eftersom nuförtiden kan man fixa det på egen hand med insemination så försöker hon med det, hon har gett upp om kärlek men så träffar hon Chip Bingley. Kanske är han den rätte? Jane däremot har mindre tur och finner Darcy oerhört dryg och jobbig och han verkar inte gilla henne heller. Men vem vet, kanske har de missförstått varandra...

Sanning och skvaller är en charming och rolig bok som kommer tilltala båda fans av Stolthet och Fördom och de som inte har läst boken.

Tack till Wahlströms och Widstrand förlag för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

Eligible is a delightful and entertaining modern interpretation of Pride and Prejudice. Curtis Sittenfeld has managed in a good way to modernize the story in such a way that you recognize the original story, but everything has moved forward in time and reflects today's modern life situations and problems.

Mrs. Bennet is as bad as in the original story, Mr. Bennet as absent and Kitty and Lydia are just as pesky and Mary equally geeky (if not worse in this version). Liz and Jane are the ones who have managed to get away and moved away from home, but to their mother's horror are they starting to approach 40 without a ring on her finger. Scandal! Fortunately, two delicious bachelors, Chip Bingley and Fitzwilliam Darcy show up timely when Liz and Jane are at home to look over their father who has had a heart attack.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It is humorous and the modern problems have replaced the original problem in a brilliant way. For example. has Jane decided that she wants to have children and because nowadays you can fix it on your own with insemination so she tries that. She has given up on love, but then she meets Chip Bingley. Perhaps he is the right man? Jane, on the other hand, has less lucky and find Darcy extremely annoying and difficult and he doesn't seem to like her either. Although who knows, maybe they misunderstood each other...

Eligible is a charming and funny book that will appeal to both fans of Pride and Prejudice and those who have not read the book.

Thanks to Wahlströms och Widstrand förlag for the review copy!

Eligible is described as a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice and that is exactly what it is. I picked it up on Audible for my ride to work and hoped for the best. It did not disappoint. I really liked it and the narrator was perfect for the story.

The characters were all perfect and I have to give a special shout out to Mrs. Bennett. She was portrayed perfectly in both style and narration and I know this because she drove me nuts every time she spoke. I literally wanted to cover my face in my hands, but of course I couldn't because I was driving. Just like in the classic, her main interest was to marry off her daughters. However, in this version, she was the sheltered wife, still mentally living in an age overly concerned with proper etiquette and not adapting to modern culture and ways of living. I give this character the most kudos in that she made me wince (or laugh) with compassion for her daughters almost every time she opened her mouth.

The Bennett sisters were also written extremely well. Their stories were interesting and just like in the original, their paths to happiness were riddled with obstacles but ultimately, they all found what they were looking for in life, even if it wasn't exactly what their mother was hoping for.

Not usually a fan of the romance genre on its own, I would tell almost any fiction to pick this book up. I thoroughly enjoyed it and may even reread it in the future. Really engaging and a lot of fun to read.

This is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but honestly, if that sounds intimidating to you, or too high-school-reading-assignment-ish, I will say that it is a fun, well-written book. I am a fan of Jane Austen, but I would suggest that if you have not read any of her books, that should not deter you from reading Eligible. (In fact, if the Box Office sales from Bridget Jones’ Diary are any indication, then most people already know the basic premise.) I am guessing the fact that Eligible in the title refers to a show not unlike The Bachelor will have a draw all its own anyway.

 

The Bennet family is rife with unmarried women, and they are actually in need of more than one Darcy. They are an odd bunch, some mildly ambitious, others with no apparent ability or will to work; in fact, they were often more annoying than endearing. Astonishingly, this did not distract or disturb me, and, at times, I found myself rooting for even the most unlikely of scenarios. The parents are complicit, sheltering their daughters from reality as they have lived their own lives, until the whole of it comes crashing down, demanding immediate attention and sacrifices, much to the shock of their comfortable, lazy children. As men and women alike lose their sense of reason and fall victim to the vagaries of love, the world of the Bennets is remade, all because of a couple of eligible bachelors. The world of Eligible is truly an interesting place to visit… but, as they say, I wouldn’t want to live there.