From Booklist
What happens when the BBC descends on the quiet North Yorkshire town of Maltstone to make a new version of
Pride and Prejudice? For one thing, it upends the life of writer Nick Bevan, who's holed up in Maltstone to work on a novel. In this gender-bending retelling of Jane Austen's classic, Nick and his neighbor and best friend John stand in for Elizabeth Bennett and her sister, Jane, while the parts of Darcy and Mr. Bingley are taken by Mary Dance, the film's formidable director, and Candia Bingham, the leading lady. Both romances are beset with difficulties similar to the ones Austen devised. Is the romance between John and Candia a mere fling? Will Nick and Mary overcome their initial dislike and give in to mutual attraction? It's fun to look for parallels with the original, but though Fenton borrows freely from Austen's plot, she also adds her own twists. The result is brisk and entertaining, a good choice for readers looking for something clever, with an English accent.
Mary Ellen QuinnCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.
Review
"When I read the concept for this one, I shuddered: It'll never work. Pride and Prejudice updated to the 21st century, with the roles reversed? The Mr. Darcy role taken by a woman, and Elizabeth by a man? English novelist Kate Fenton's witty Vanity and Vexation, however, not only works splendidly, but is consistently inventive and entertaining.... Fenton's adroit use of dialogue and her clever characterization place this one a cut above the usual Pride and Prejudice spinoffs." -The Seattle Times
"You don’t have to have read Pride and Prejudice—much less remember it—to enjoy the rewrite. It works beautifully in its own right. If you do know Austen’s novel, you get double the fun.... The tone is witty, the pace quick and the emotions true to the contemporary characters. Austen’s original has great bones, and so does Vanity and Vexation.” -The Washington Post
"The result is brisk and entertaining, a good choice for readers looking for something clever, with an English accent." -Booklist
"A must for any Jane Austen fan!" - Melissa Nathan, author of Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field : A Novel
"An amusing, gender-reversing, media savvy, but still very British update of P&P."
-Paula Marantz Cohen, author of Jane Austen in Boca
"A sparkling, frothy tale... There are neat inversions of Austen's plot, lively characters, intelligent writing and a fun love affair." - Elizabeth Buchan, bestselling author of Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman
"Exciting, sexy, funny... This fresh optimistic tale is the perfect summer read... A witty and clever love story that will keep you gripped until the end - guaranteed to get even the most cynical of readers heaving a deep sigh of contentment." - Company [UK]
"Frothy, humorous and slick." - Daily Express [UK]
