First edition as new

Mary, la pequeña de las hermanas Bennet, no quiere llevar una vida sujeta a las convenciones sociales: no contempla casarse, como han hecho sus hermanas, ni desea caer en la rutina de una existencia oscura e infeliz. Sin responsabilidades familiares, aprovechará su libertad para viajar y escribir un libro que denuncie la situación de los más desfavorecidos. Su peregrinaje será mucho más complicado de lo que ella nunca imaginó...

*** ITA/ENG ***
Colleen McCullough con questa sua opera rende piena giustizia al concetto: ho letto fanfiction migliori (ma di molto!). Mi si è affacciato il dubbio che ci sia della parodia di genere da qualche parte nel libro, ma purtroppo resta solo un dubbio.

Nota bene: Jane Austen mi piace il giusto, non penso che sia sacrilegio toccare i suoi libri con meno che guanti di seta, né che sia la fine del mondo se un suo personaggio dice qualcosa di più spinto di "accipuffolina!" se gli cade un martello sull'alluce.

Tuttavia, quando leggo un romanzo che dovrebbe essere seguito, spin-off o simili di un altro romanzo che apprezzo, mi aspetto che sia (1) scritto bene (2) coerente con l'ambientazione e i personaggi originali (3) faccia qualcosa di interessante con i suddetti.

Qui solo il primo punto è centrato a metà (ma c'è anche una traduzione di mezzo per cui non so quanto sia colpa dell'autrice). Per il resto... tristezza.

Piccolo excursus per spiegare la mia delusione con la gestione del personaggio: innanzitutto brutta, Mary Bennet, non lo è mai stata se non nella serie BBC degli anni '90, già nell'ultimo film è tornata solo 'dimenticabile'. Nel romanzo viene descritta come 'plain' ('normale', come del resto lo è Charlotte, l'amica di Elizabeth che sposa il pastore borioso). La sua sfortuna è avere due sorelle maggiori molto belle (quante di noi sarebbero 'brutte' se avessero come sorella Scarlett Johansson?), ma soprattutto un carattere del cavolo: è boriosa, triste e con la testa piena di frasi fatte.

Mary Bennet in questo libro è invece una banale "gnocca che nessuno si filava perché aveva i brufoli", a cui piace fare battutacce che scandalizzano le sorelle (perché è emancipata&moderna). In più vuole salvare i poveri e scrivere libri (emancipata&moderna #2), ma ovviamente... senza un uomo non è in grado di fare nulla di concreto (emancipata&moderna #3).

Di contro gli altri personaggi, per darle un risalto di cui non ha bisogno (ti sta già sulle balle abbastanza così), vengono demoliti a mazzate sui denti. Purtroppo, oltre a vite tristi e nuove e mortificanti personalità credo che il peggio del facepalm sia Darcy che crede il figlio gay perché non vuole fare il militare, quando nel romanzo originale ha sì un cugino ufficiale, ma per sé stesso preferisce la carriera di 'gentiluomo ricco' (d'altronde è pieno di soldi, chi glielo fa fare?) non viene aggiunto niente che dia loro un minimo di spessore.

Un nulla di fatto quindi, con premesse interessanti trasformate in un triste e anonimo romanzetto rosa.
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I do not have any mystical adoration for Jane Austen's books, I don't think the world is going to end tomorrow if they aren't treated with silk gloves. In fact, I picked this book because I liked the idea of a story centering around the unremarkable middle sister Mary Bennet.

However, when reading a sequel or a spin-off of an established work, I expect it to be (1) well written (2) coherent with the original setting and characters (3) at the same time makes something interesting with them.

This book started promising and then utterly failed in favour of the classic, trite romance-erotica book where the protagonist is gorgeous-just-in-need-of-a-makeover, with a supposed 'very modern mentality' (which limits itself to sex jokes, since to do anything relevant se still needs to be saved by a man).

Of course, in case we don't hate her already, she has to be better than anyone else, included, of course, her sisters, so Jane and Elizabeth need to be trapped in miserable lives with... some morons with weird personalities? Of course, the abuse will not count in the end and everyone will be happy again because plot (logic is overrated). ( )

I was very disappointed with this book. Portions of the book were so farfetched that I started skimming chapters. ( )

My Review from my old books blog dated 2009

SPOILERS

Everyone who has ever read good literature knows about the Bennets. That family from Pride and Prejudice with 5 daughters - Elizabeth, Jane, Mary, Lydia and Kitty.

The time is now 20 years after the end of P&P. Mrs Bennet has just died. And everyone gets together for the funeral.

Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy are still married. They have 5 children - Charles, Georgiana, Susan, Anne and Cathy. The Bennet Curse is what Darcy calls it. Their marriage is floundering because there are no more sons and the one son they do have, is not living up to Darcy's expectations. Darcy no longer visits Lizzie's bed.

Jane is still married to Charles Bingley. They have 8 living children (7 boys and 1 girl) but Jane has lost 4 other babies and she looks older than her years.

Lydia ia still Mrs George Wickam, but is now an alcoholic (in modern terms). George has been sent to various wars and lately to America - purely to keep him away from Lydia. Once again this is Darcy's doing.

Kitty had made the best marriage. She married Lord Menadew. She had a coming out season in London and was able to capture a Lord.

Caroline Bingley is still not married and she still lusts after Fitzwilliam Darcy.

And then there is Mary. The middle Bennet daughter. The one who was left to care for Mama Bennet after the other daughters all had their scandals and left home. Darcy has paid an allowance to Mary to care for Mrs Bennet for the last 17 years.

Mary has not be a docile daughter for all these years. No way. She has read every single book in the library. When she finally meets up with Elizabeth at their mothers funeral, she can see how tired Jane is from so many pregnancies. She makes a statement to Elizabeth that is shocking.

"I know I am not supposed to be aware of such things, Lizzie, but can't someone tell brother Charles to plug it with a cork??"

"Mary!! How do you know of such things, How can you be so indelicate?" exclaims Lizzie in shock.

"I know because I have read every book in the library, and I am tired of delicacy about subjects that lie so close to our female fates." is Mary's reply.

This is the first sign of Mary being independent. Fitzwilliam tries to have Mary come live at Pemberley as a proper spinster of their class should. Mary refuses and makes her own plans. Mary has become enamoured of a person named Argus who writes letters to the newspapers about the social inequalities between the upper and lower classes.

Mary decide to write a book about the poor people and the best way to know about the poor, is to go out and live like a poor person. So Mary sets out on a trip by stage coach (not the post mail which is for the upper class). She is leered at and groped by men and gets lost of the hills of Darbyshire. When she refuses one too many men, she is hit over the head by one man and then abducted by another man. She is then forced to be his scribe and to write down his thoughts on religion. He has a following of young children, who disappear when they turn 12 or 13.

For 2 months the family search for her - most of this searching is done by Ned Summers - a half black man (his mother was from Jamaica) and a very close friend of Darcy's. Darcy too has secrets, secrets he has never told Lizzie in 20 years of marriage.

Finally Mary is able to escape from her captor and is eventually found and rescued. The Bennets decide to start up an orphanage for these children who have no idea where they come from and therefore have no home parish to go to.

Lizzie and Fitzwilliam beging talking and Lizzie explains why she no longer allows Fitz into her bed. She felt that he raped her on their wedding night. What to him was passion, to her was rape (although she did not use that word). She said it was by force. She would lay there as a statue while he did his business. This went on for the next 10 years until he stopped visiting.

Fitzwilliam is devastated about how his actions were perceived. He promises to show Lizzie how good love can really be. At age 50, his passions are no longer uncontrollable as they used to be when he was 30.

There are 2 deaths within the Bennet family. One is a Bennet daughter. The other is Ned Summers. Finally all the secrets are coming out.

Oh and Mary (by now only 36) finds her true love and gets married as well. She gives birth to a healthy boy. Lizzie too has another child (at age 41) - finally a second son.

I really really enjoyed this book. I love Mary. I too am a middle child and I too an somewhat independent. I love how Mary tries her best to be independent in that day and age (early 1800s) but how she is used and abused just because it is assumed, by the men, that women have no brains and are good for nothing except making babies. Even in the 21st century, men still think this way about women.

GRR that makes me so MAD!!! ( )