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se_wigget's review
3.0
Darcy’s Story is Pride and Prejudice from a different perspective, that of Fitzwilliam Darcy, as Rosenkrantz and Gildenstern are Dead is Hamlet from a different perspective. Within the first couple pages, I quickly became aware that this is fan fiction (though the writing is much more skilled than fan fiction I’ve come across online) and that the author’s style isn’t as funny and witty as Jane Austen’s. However, as the author points out in a note at the back of the book, the witty and satirical tone of Pride and Prejudice is appropriate since it’s from Elizabeth Bennet’s vivacious and witty perspective (although it’s in third person), and Darcy’s Story is appropriate more serious and brooding, since it’s from Darcy’s perspective. That said, Jane Austen would have written it with her customary wit.
Darcy’s Story begins chronologically before Pride and Prejudice, because it covers the time when Wickham elopes with Darcy’s sister Georgiana. Since most of the novel takes place at the same time as Pride and Prejudice, the author has taken much of Jane Austen’s dialog, but this time around we witness Darcy’s thoughts and emotions. The book does continue after the classic novel ends, because it includes the couple’s preparations for married life and it includes the wedding. I think this ending could have been omitted.
If you’d like to learn more about Fitzwilliam Darcy, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and Colonel Fitzwilliam, you’ll enjoy this book. (But a more page-turning and well-written book is Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler.)
cris136's review
3.0
It was alright. This is Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's point of view. However I felt the author could have developed Darcy's character more, his "point of view" was mostly just stating what we already know from Pride and Prejudice, not how he got to that particular thought or feeling.
melissadegraffbooks's review
5.0
This was so good! I would recommend this to anyone who loved Pride and Prejudice. It is just a retelling of the same story from Darcy's point of view, but so interesting! I always wondered what Darcy was thinking.
megthegrand's review against another edition
4.0
This book is like a comforting blanket that I got to wrap around me for a few hours. Lovely to revisit it after so many years.
letsreadmorebooks's review against another edition
3.0
because one can never get enough p&p, aylmer gives us the story from mr. darcy's perspective. and who doesn't want to indulge in more mr. darcy? illustrations from an 1894 edition of p&p are scattered through the book, which is sort of fun. it's a nice, light-hearted book to read between heavier, more serious books.
gasoline_allie's review
3.0
Honestly, 2.75 stars rounded up to 3. I liked it well enough, and it was certainly faithful to the original work...but that may actually be the problem. Even though it was "told from a whole new perspective," I don't feel that really added anything or gave me new insight into Pride and Prejudice.
orinoco450's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
annebennett1957's review
4.0
A Pride and Prejudice re-telling from Mr. Darcy's perspective. I sped through the book, since I knew the story, but found it charming anyway.
(Catching up on old reviews from pre-blogging and pre-Goodreads days. Written on 7/23/21 but the book was read years ago. I'm working off my notes.)
(Catching up on old reviews from pre-blogging and pre-Goodreads days. Written on 7/23/21 but the book was read years ago. I'm working off my notes.)
scribesprite's review
4.0
Good book, good book. I’d always wondered about Darcy when I was reading Pride and Prejudice because you just think of Darcy the way Elizabeth does so I thought it would be interesting to see what Darcy might’ve thought while Elizabeth was hating him. And I was right. Before I go farther I should mention that I really liked Pride and Prejudice but I’m not a diehard fan.
Darcy’s Story stays true to the original. About 90% of dialogue Darcy has with Elizabeth is straight from the book. But you get his thoughts, his feelings, and why he does what he does. I enjoyed the fact that you even got to see a little more of how Elizabeth reacted (i.e. Elizabeth blushes and smiles a few times). You don’t really get to see what or how Darcy stays so wealthy except that he took his father’s place. For some reason I thought that it would be a bigger deal, but I guess Aylmer wanted to focus on the relationships like Austen did. You see his relationship with his sister, his cousin, and the Bingleys which I appreciated. In comparison with Pride and Prejudice you get more feelings and reactions than Austen did and I could tell when the writing wasn’t Austen’s but that didn’t really bother me. It didn’t go from Austen’s 1800 style of writing to modern slang, but I could see that it was a bit more...relaxed.
I think I like Darcy more after reading this book. It’s not that he didn’t feel all high and mighty and above everyone because he did there is no going around that, but it seemed a bit more sympathetic towards Darcy’s actions. I saw how much he was willing to do for her, thought of her, and how much her words affected him. That being said, he thinks a looooooot about Elizabeth. Not in the beginning, but once he realizes his feeling for her, his focus on nearly everything is pretty much Elizabeth. It’s not that I didn’t want him to think about Elizabeth; I did but not so much. He kept recapping this one phrase that she said about him not being very gentlemanly about four times. But I guess that shows that he really cares about her opinion which is always a good thing.
Now that I’ve read this book I feel like Elizabeth and Darcy are even more right for each other. Darcy isn’t perfect but he really is a good guy and Elizabeth just makes him that much better.
Darcy’s Story stays true to the original. About 90% of dialogue Darcy has with Elizabeth is straight from the book. But you get his thoughts, his feelings, and why he does what he does. I enjoyed the fact that you even got to see a little more of how Elizabeth reacted (i.e. Elizabeth blushes and smiles a few times). You don’t really get to see what or how Darcy stays so wealthy except that he took his father’s place. For some reason I thought that it would be a bigger deal, but I guess Aylmer wanted to focus on the relationships like Austen did. You see his relationship with his sister, his cousin, and the Bingleys which I appreciated. In comparison with Pride and Prejudice you get more feelings and reactions than Austen did and I could tell when the writing wasn’t Austen’s but that didn’t really bother me. It didn’t go from Austen’s 1800 style of writing to modern slang, but I could see that it was a bit more...relaxed.
I think I like Darcy more after reading this book. It’s not that he didn’t feel all high and mighty and above everyone because he did there is no going around that, but it seemed a bit more sympathetic towards Darcy’s actions. I saw how much he was willing to do for her, thought of her, and how much her words affected him. That being said, he thinks a looooooot about Elizabeth. Not in the beginning, but once he realizes his feeling for her, his focus on nearly everything is pretty much Elizabeth. It’s not that I didn’t want him to think about Elizabeth; I did but not so much. He kept recapping this one phrase that she said about him not being very gentlemanly about four times. But I guess that shows that he really cares about her opinion which is always a good thing.
Now that I’ve read this book I feel like Elizabeth and Darcy are even more right for each other. Darcy isn’t perfect but he really is a good guy and Elizabeth just makes him that much better.