In June, I will be hosting a number of Jane Austen themed
programs including a Jane Austen impersonator. In preparation for the
festivities, it’s my duty to read as much Austen inspired literature as
possible. What a difficult life I lead. :-)
Thus, here is the first installment of my Austen-inspired reading.
Napoleon Bonaparte has escaped Elba and is back on the
continent to claim France as his dominion. Here begins our tale. Over in jolly
old England we meet back up with two of our favorite Colonels from Pride and
Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, that is Colonel Fitzwilliam and
Colonel Brandon. There is a newcomer to this bunch in the form of former rogue,
Colonel Buford. We follow the three through their romantic entanglements with
other well-known characters and then in the end, at the Battle of Waterloo. This
novel focuses on new relationships forming between Colonel Buford and Caroline
Bingley along with Colonel Fitzwilliam and Anne de Bourgh.
Although it had its eye rolling love scene, this novel was
well done. Jack Caldwell did a wonderful job of bringing to life new
characters, while keeping the old relationships at arm’s length so as not to ruin
the relationship the reader had formed with Jane Austen’s characters in former
novels. He writes about characters who are seldom mentioned, or minor characters
in her other books. In this way, he doesn’t have the problem of having to both
remain true to Austen’s main characters and please fans by remaining faithful,
yet adding onto the stories.
I found some of the characters’ actions a bit unbelievable.
For example, though I truly enjoyed her as a character in this book, I do not
know that Caroline Bingley could completely reform herself from the woman she
was in P&P. Caldwell goes into the detail of how Caroline sees the error of
her ways, but it’s just a little too righteous for a character who was such a
social climbing ninny. He also has Mr. Collins have a realization about Lady
Catherine and even apologize for his errors. No. Stop right there. Mr. Collins
is fun and annoying because he is so oblivious. Don’t turn him into something
he isn’t.
I truly enjoyed the parallel story lines and even the
intermingling of other notorious characters from Persuasion and NorthangerAbbey. Caldwell also did an excellent job portraying the characters and
military strategy during the Battle of Waterloo. Other than my discomfiture
with characters’ actions, as stated above, I did not have any complaints. The
story is fast and compelling. I found myself wanting to stay up late and get up
early to read this novel.
If you are a Jane Austen fan, might I suggest An Assembly
Such as This by Pamela Aidan. It is the first in a trio of books written
from Fitzwilliam Darcy’s perspective as his journal during the period of Pride and Prejudice.
~Kristin M.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments