tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post6375436288580346457..comments2024-03-25T22:59:30.053+00:00Comments on Desperate Reader: Mrs Darcy’s Dilemma – Diana BirchallDesperate Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708411387912078122noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-67862410207165035792010-09-05T20:07:42.876+01:002010-09-05T20:07:42.876+01:00I really enjoyed your review and commentary. I li...I really enjoyed your review and commentary. I liked "Mrs. Darcy's Dilemma" because it manages to stay true to my somewhat particular "ear". Birchall's writing is closer to Austen's own polished, shapely elegant prose than that of other "sequallists."<br /><br />I'd put Birchall on top in terms of satisfying the reading "ear" of somebody who loves the burnished prose, the tone, the style of Austen. But I also think that the perhaps necessary brevity of the novel and its large cast of characters leaves one wanting more. Yes, I wanted more Bettina but I also would have liked more of most of the characters. Perhaps Birchall felt obligated to give a sort of "family reunion" sense--which is delightful on one hand. One the other, some characters don't get the space I would have liked. <br /><br />I continue to love your blog!sunt_lacrimae_rerumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05659053841051896981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-1045972209214556132010-08-28T20:18:33.865+01:002010-08-28T20:18:33.865+01:00Jennifer, really interested to read what you have ...Jennifer, really interested to read what you have to say especially because when I heard about 'Charlotte Collins' I made assumptions about what it would be about - in my mind the story of a woman who's made her bed and has to lie in it. I've always admired Charlotte's pragmatism and wondered how an intellegant woman would manage with Mr Collins day to day. <br /><br />Before writing this post though I looked for a synopsis and of course found my ideas are just that, yours are completley different, and sound like a lot more fun.Desperate Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708411387912078122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-52077105758999765402010-08-28T19:57:48.168+01:002010-08-28T19:57:48.168+01:00Diana, thanks for commenting, I'm looking forw...Diana, thanks for commenting, I'm looking forward to your suffragette book coming out. It's a period in history that fascinated me, yet one that I don't come across in fiction very often - sounds like a treat to me. <br /><br />I had a brief conversation with Lynn Shepherd and you both say almost exactly the same thing about being happiest with *your* characters. For me as a reader it was the bits which I felt were most *you* that made the difference between thinking 'This is a nice read' and 'I really want to read more of this author'.Desperate Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708411387912078122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-69056313321262577372010-08-28T17:01:27.550+01:002010-08-28T17:01:27.550+01:00I really enjoyed Mrs. Darcy's Dilemma (and rev...I really enjoyed Mrs. Darcy's Dilemma (and reviewed a while back) but it is the only one of the such sequeals I have been able to stomach. There were some fine Austen-esque turns of phrase and some exciting new characters like Bettina, as you mention. But I wold rather read new work by such a talented writer rather than be aware of how Austen-like or Austen-unlike a book is a every turn. You've nailed why I don't like such sequels too.Juxtabookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17102279698993288454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-27856671626749301752010-08-28T02:47:56.504+01:002010-08-28T02:47:56.504+01:00Ps. Warning: My book is not about Charlotte divulg...Ps. Warning: My book is not about Charlotte divulging information to Lady Catherine about Darcy and Elizabeth. If you'd like to read that story, you'll have to write your own sequel. *wink*Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07802462399298945211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-4523298797237363702010-08-28T02:38:20.507+01:002010-08-28T02:38:20.507+01:00Greetings Desperate Reader,
I enjoyed this post a...Greetings Desperate Reader,<br /><br />I enjoyed this post and its critique of the idea of Austen sequels, and to a certain extent I agree with many of your views. One of the dangers of reading an Austen sequel is finding that your interpretation of events and characters did not line up with the author's. I have had the same expereince, which, I suppose, is why I decided to write my own. <br /><br />However, I did not write it with an eye toward parroting Jane Austen. I am a different writer with a different voice, and I have to be true to that. I wrote my sequel for the pure pleasure of doing so and to pay homage to one of my favorite writers at the same time. Well, and I was tired of reading about the same characters again and again.<br /><br />Writing Charlotte Collins was a fun experience and I wanted to share it with others. I'm glad that it sounds like an interesting concept, even if you decide not to read it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07802462399298945211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-73996438218167700152010-08-27T23:27:06.154+01:002010-08-27T23:27:06.154+01:00Thank you so much for the very thoughtful review, ...Thank you so much for the very thoughtful review, Hayley, which I read together with your Murder at Mansfield Park one. An interesting thing to do, reading two "Austenesque" books (as they're rather unpleasingly called) at one go. Provides food for thought, and I appreciate your gallant effort to overcome, or at least deal justly with, your anti-sequel(Pride and) Prejudice! I have to admit, though, that I myself share your feelings and can't bear most sequels. Why, then, did I write them? Well, first of all, I wrote Mrs. Darcy's Dilemma back in 1994 when there weren't many around. It was the year the atrocious Emma Tennant Pemberley was published, and that was why publishers didn't want to publish "another sequel," so that Mrs. Darcy didn't get published till years later! Long story; bad timing. It seemed like a fresh and interesting experiment to do then, and I very much enjoyed writing it and studying Austen's style, but you definitely picked up on the part I actually enjoyed most - writing Bettina! She does have more life than the other characters, and the lesson here for me as a writer may be that she's livelier because she is *mine,* and not someone else's, even if that someone else is Jane Austen. Anyway, so many sequels have come along since, I've suffered from sequel fatigue the same as you. The vampires and monsters are a trendy one-joke idea that I'd have hoped would have disappeared by now. Where will it all end? Well, I do have an Austenesque story coming out in a forthcoming Random House anthology, but it's not a sequel or fanfic, it's a funny story about Austen herself. The novel I'm working on now has nothing whatsoever to do with Austen, however, and is about suffragettes. Time for a vacation!<br />I will close with an Austen quote relating to your comparing sequels to olives:<br />"The idea of the olive branch perhaps is not wholly new, yet I think it is well expressed."Diana Birchallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18291540900938654707noreply@blogger.com