lola425's review against another edition
2.0
For the love of god, why? All of the drama of Sense and Sensibility with none of the complexity or subtlety of Austen. You can't just stick a cell phone in a character's hand and "modern" slang in her mouth and call it a reboot. Shudder-inducing dialog, simplistic re-imagining of the essential events, broad, cartoonish characterizations. This book has got it all.
jaimiable's review against another edition
1.0
Comparatively speaking, this was a far closer adaptation to the original novel than Eligible or Emma, as far as having the same plot points. But that's the only good thing to be said. Even while ~technically~ maintaining the same events, Trollope manages to change the tone behind every action. EXAMPLES: Fanny and the Dashwoods are openly hostile to each other instead of passive aggressive and subtle, the Colonel (and everyone for that matter) knows that Edward was in love with Elinor and asks her permission to offer him a job instead of thinking he was doing her friend a favor, Charlotte tells Willoughby that Marianne is sick because she feels bad for him, etc. Now, this may seem like no big deal and not make you want to claw your eyes out like it did me. But wait, there's more! This author fell into the same trap that the other two authors in the Austen Project series I've read have seemed to fall, and that is focusing on the modernization instead of the story. Every one of them packs the story full of blatant references to technology, even when it's unnecessary. This one, more than the others as far as I remember, throws out embarrassing attempts at slang. "Totes. Most def" are things that people say, sure. Not to a roomful of your distant relatives you've never met before, and I've never in my life heard someone say "hilar." It's like she googled millennial slang and just ran with with. Her grammar is cringeworthy as well. EXAMPLE: "I don't," Belle said, putting her arm round Marianne, "give a stuff about that." Breaking up a phrase makes it INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT to follow your sentence. Please don't do it. The names she calls her characters made me want to die on every page. Everyone is called some cutesy "modern" nickname instead of their name. Margaret is Mags, Mrs. Jennings is Abi, Edward is Ed, Marianne is M, Colonel Brandon is Bill (even though his name in the book is Christopher and why the hell do you have to change it to William Christopher is a perfectly reasonable name), and Sir John Middleton is, I kid you not, Jonno. Perhaps the most egregious offense, however, is the complete annihilation of every character. Mrs. Jennings doesn't care about anything or anyone but gossip, Margaret is nothing more than an intentionally bratty teen, John Middleton (I steadfastly refuse to call him anything else) is a controlling asshole, Edward is forceful with Elinor to the point that he at various times shoves her into a car when she says she doesn't want to go and hugs her while she stands completely stiff, as well as asking his brother-in-law what it's like to be "pussywhipped by women," and Mrs. Dashwood throws her arms about constantly and says nothing if it's not dramatic. They're caricatures of the caricatures in the original novel, and not one of them feels like a real person with genuine motivations. The absolute worst is Elinor, who is, in every other incarnation, my heart and soul. She is everything perfect in the world. She can do no wrong for me. And then here's this Elinor, "Ellie," as she's called. She says that she's selfless. She talks a lot about how she is calm and never wears her emotions on her sleeve. She shouts at her sisters and once told her mother that her dearly beloved and newly deceased uncle was not dear to them because he didn't leave them more money. When Margaret lets slip that Elinor's loves name begins with an F, Elinor berates her and tells their mother that "someone ate a bowl of stuff for breakfast." (Yes, that's a real quote). She took a wonderful character who tries her best (and yes is a little flawed) and turned her into strict matriarch who looks down on her mother and sisters and wants to do nothing but brag about how thoughtful she is. It was an excruciating experience to read this novel, and I hope I can save you from doing it too. Oh, and they genuinely think that $200,000 is an impossibly small sum of money to live on. Rich people, am I right?
bibliovino's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
While following very faithfully to the original, this modern adaptation does manage to bring some freshness to this beloved tale. I particularly liked the take on Edward’s traumatic upbringing and his reasons for spurning Elinor.
However, I had to keep reminding myself it actually wasn’t set in Regency England because of how closely it followed the original plot. Frankly, even the characters constantly had to remind each other they were living in modern times because of how archaic most of the issues seemed. Being so loyal to Austen’s story didn’t do this one enough favors to be completely worth it.
However, I had to keep reminding myself it actually wasn’t set in Regency England because of how closely it followed the original plot. Frankly, even the characters constantly had to remind each other they were living in modern times because of how archaic most of the issues seemed. Being so loyal to Austen’s story didn’t do this one enough favors to be completely worth it.
taleisin's review against another edition
3.0
It's amazing how easily the story translates to modern times
connieholladay's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this book but it just didn't work. I think that sticking with the original is the way to go. It lost the heart of the original. I didn't like the characters or where the story went. It wasn't worth the time.
katebooks's review against another edition
1.0
I still have yet to finish the original book AND this is not my style. The old school telling of dramatic love stories and that being the only big thing you follow other than the gossip that goes along with it. Maybe the original is better but I didn’t like this much. And to make it truly modern doesn’t seem possible as well as maybe you shouldn’t. Throwing in randomly some tweets and Facebook checks does not make it modern. It basically felt out of place and like they had some lines from a different book in here. I wanted to give this book a 2 star because of the way the the characters got their lives together a bit in the end but I just can’t. It’s a one star for me.
demottar's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable, but nothing to write home about. What's relevant and relatable in Austen's novels are the characters and their relationships to each other. Since Trollope focused on such a literal translation, some of the action in this novel felt forced and unlikely in today's world. However, I liked the writing style and enjoyed the dialogue very much.
fictionfan's review against another edition
1.0
Why???
Warning! This review may involve wailing and gnashing of teeth, not to mention cursing...of both kinds. Persons of a sensitive disposition may wish to look away now. And on the assumption that no-one will be interested in this who doesn't know the original, there are some mild spoilers...
The Austen project is a strange little idea to rewrite all the Austen novels for a modern age. Why? It certainly can't be because the originals are unreadable - I'd imagine they are more popular today than they have ever been. One can only assume they see it as a money-spinner. I'm delighted to say I got this book free - and even then it was too expensive.
The original [b:Sense and Sensibility|14935|Sense and Sensibility|Jane Austen|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309203534s/14935.jpg|2809709] deserves its place as a classic because of the light it casts on the restricted lives and opportunities of the sons and daughters of the 'gentry' in Jane Austen's time. This fake S&S concentrates on the same class, but is set in the present day. Unfortunately, society has changed so much that the premise doesn't work. In order to make the story fit into today's England - where opportunity for the middle-classes is almost infinite, where women are freer and more equal than they have ever been and where the norm is for people without money to do that revolutionary thing and get a job - Trollope has decided to make most of the characters completely feckless and thus entirely unsympathetic.
He gave an almost imperceptible smirk. ‘The obigations of the heir…’
‘Oh my God,’ Marianne exclaimed. ‘Are you the heir to Allenham?’
He nodded.
‘So fortunate,’ Belle said dazedly.
Marianne’s eyes were shining.
‘So romantic,’ she said.
The story begins with the Dashwood family losing their home at Norland. Not because it's entailed - oh, no! Because Mr Dashwood never bothered to marry Mrs Dashwood (Belle, heaven help us!) and so his great-uncle left the house to his legitimate nephew rather than his illegitimate nieces. Already I'm wondering what society this reflects? Certainly not the one I live in, which stopped giving a...fig...about legitimacy back sometime in the seventies and where even the crown is now allowed to pass down the female line. To make it work, Trollope has had to make it overly complex and unbelievable...and we're only at Chapter 1.
So the poor Dashwoods, with only £200,000 and a modern cottage given to them by other rich relatives, have to face up to living within straitened means. Why? Has the concept of going to work never occurred to any of them? Poor Elinor has to give up Uni. Why? Can't she get a student loan and live in a bedsit like everyone else? To be fair, she does get her rich relatives to pull strings to get her a job. But the rest whine endlessly about lack of money making me want to a) hit them collectively over the head with a brick and b) explain that living in a four-bedroom cottage, running a car and popping up to London every weekend to go to parties isn't really poverty!
Then we have Marianne (M!) - in this version a hysterical maniac, rather than the overly emotional but sweet and loving girl of the original. Suffering from constant asthma attacks (presumably because when we get a cold these days, we just take paracetemol and get on with it), she spends her time wheezing, gasping, sobbing, throwing tantrums and being revoltingly rude to everyone and yet being so lovely throughout that no man can withstand her (invisible) charm. To explain this strange anomaly, Trollope tells us approximately 15,000 times that M is stunningly gorgeous, even whilst receiving Intensive Care. I shall brush quietly past the sex episode...
Shall I tell you about Wills(!)? Of course, single motherhood tends not to lead to death these days, so how does Ms Trollope resolve this conundrum and ensure that we understand that he's a bad lot? Well, by making Wills, (who's not just the 'hottest boy in the county', by the way, but a complete 'shagbandit' - charming) into a drug-pusher! Yes, little Eliza is a junkie...
Pah! I can't bear to talk about this monstrosity any longer. I will leave you to imagine whingy Ellie, pathetic Ed, and Mags, the nightmare teenager with an iThing habit. I will ignore the fact that all the married women stay at home to look after their children. I will pretend I didn't notice that we now have a Wills, a Harry and - yep, that's right - the Middletons. I won't even mention the youtube 'trolling' incident...and I refuse to think about the gay party-planner, Robert Ferrars, and his marriage of convenience...
‘One hundred parties in the last year!’ Mrs Jennings said. ‘Incredible. That’s one party every three nights that wouldn’t have happened without him!’
‘Too silly,’ Lucy said, looking straight at Elinor. ‘Brainless. My poor Ed must be cringing.’
‘Amaze,’ Nancy said from the sofa. ‘Amazeballs.’
Elinor took a step back.
‘Well, I suppose it’s good to be good at something.’
A fake book that tells us nothing authentic about today's society - might work as a fluffy romance (except aren't you supposed to like the heroines in them?) but doesn't work as a serious novel, isn't funny enough to be a comedy and is an insult rather than an homage to a great classic. Read at your peril...
NB This book was provided for review by Amazon Vine UK.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Warning! This review may involve wailing and gnashing of teeth, not to mention cursing...of both kinds. Persons of a sensitive disposition may wish to look away now. And on the assumption that no-one will be interested in this who doesn't know the original, there are some mild spoilers...
The Austen project is a strange little idea to rewrite all the Austen novels for a modern age. Why? It certainly can't be because the originals are unreadable - I'd imagine they are more popular today than they have ever been. One can only assume they see it as a money-spinner. I'm delighted to say I got this book free - and even then it was too expensive.
The original [b:Sense and Sensibility|14935|Sense and Sensibility|Jane Austen|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309203534s/14935.jpg|2809709] deserves its place as a classic because of the light it casts on the restricted lives and opportunities of the sons and daughters of the 'gentry' in Jane Austen's time. This fake S&S concentrates on the same class, but is set in the present day. Unfortunately, society has changed so much that the premise doesn't work. In order to make the story fit into today's England - where opportunity for the middle-classes is almost infinite, where women are freer and more equal than they have ever been and where the norm is for people without money to do that revolutionary thing and get a job - Trollope has decided to make most of the characters completely feckless and thus entirely unsympathetic.
He gave an almost imperceptible smirk. ‘The obigations of the heir…’
‘Oh my God,’ Marianne exclaimed. ‘Are you the heir to Allenham?’
He nodded.
‘So fortunate,’ Belle said dazedly.
Marianne’s eyes were shining.
‘So romantic,’ she said.
The story begins with the Dashwood family losing their home at Norland. Not because it's entailed - oh, no! Because Mr Dashwood never bothered to marry Mrs Dashwood (Belle, heaven help us!) and so his great-uncle left the house to his legitimate nephew rather than his illegitimate nieces. Already I'm wondering what society this reflects? Certainly not the one I live in, which stopped giving a...fig...about legitimacy back sometime in the seventies and where even the crown is now allowed to pass down the female line. To make it work, Trollope has had to make it overly complex and unbelievable...and we're only at Chapter 1.
So the poor Dashwoods, with only £200,000 and a modern cottage given to them by other rich relatives, have to face up to living within straitened means. Why? Has the concept of going to work never occurred to any of them? Poor Elinor has to give up Uni. Why? Can't she get a student loan and live in a bedsit like everyone else? To be fair, she does get her rich relatives to pull strings to get her a job. But the rest whine endlessly about lack of money making me want to a) hit them collectively over the head with a brick and b) explain that living in a four-bedroom cottage, running a car and popping up to London every weekend to go to parties isn't really poverty!
Then we have Marianne (M!) - in this version a hysterical maniac, rather than the overly emotional but sweet and loving girl of the original. Suffering from constant asthma attacks (presumably because when we get a cold these days, we just take paracetemol and get on with it), she spends her time wheezing, gasping, sobbing, throwing tantrums and being revoltingly rude to everyone and yet being so lovely throughout that no man can withstand her (invisible) charm. To explain this strange anomaly, Trollope tells us approximately 15,000 times that M is stunningly gorgeous, even whilst receiving Intensive Care. I shall brush quietly past the sex episode...
Shall I tell you about Wills(!)? Of course, single motherhood tends not to lead to death these days, so how does Ms Trollope resolve this conundrum and ensure that we understand that he's a bad lot? Well, by making Wills, (who's not just the 'hottest boy in the county', by the way, but a complete 'shagbandit' - charming) into a drug-pusher! Yes, little Eliza is a junkie...
Pah! I can't bear to talk about this monstrosity any longer. I will leave you to imagine whingy Ellie, pathetic Ed, and Mags, the nightmare teenager with an iThing habit. I will ignore the fact that all the married women stay at home to look after their children. I will pretend I didn't notice that we now have a Wills, a Harry and - yep, that's right - the Middletons. I won't even mention the youtube 'trolling' incident...and I refuse to think about the gay party-planner, Robert Ferrars, and his marriage of convenience...
‘One hundred parties in the last year!’ Mrs Jennings said. ‘Incredible. That’s one party every three nights that wouldn’t have happened without him!’
‘Too silly,’ Lucy said, looking straight at Elinor. ‘Brainless. My poor Ed must be cringing.’
‘Amaze,’ Nancy said from the sofa. ‘Amazeballs.’
Elinor took a step back.
‘Well, I suppose it’s good to be good at something.’
A fake book that tells us nothing authentic about today's society - might work as a fluffy romance (except aren't you supposed to like the heroines in them?) but doesn't work as a serious novel, isn't funny enough to be a comedy and is an insult rather than an homage to a great classic. Read at your peril...
NB This book was provided for review by Amazon Vine UK.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
lynnedf's review against another edition
2.0
why ... why ... why!?
Joanna Trollope is actually a really wonderful writer; this book did not do her justice. I spent the entire time wishing I was reading the original and having mental images of the movie. Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet filled my head as I read this book.
Skip this read and just go back to Austen. Twitter, Facebook, text-messaging, 4x4's, Range Rovers ... all of them have no place in this book. The story itself is classic enough that Trollope should just have written about sisters dealing with the death of their father and moving forward.
Also - I was so annoyed with reading about how only Eleanor felt the need to find a job. Seriously? A very frustrating read.
Joanna Trollope is actually a really wonderful writer; this book did not do her justice. I spent the entire time wishing I was reading the original and having mental images of the movie. Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet filled my head as I read this book.
Skip this read and just go back to Austen. Twitter, Facebook, text-messaging, 4x4's, Range Rovers ... all of them have no place in this book. The story itself is classic enough that Trollope should just have written about sisters dealing with the death of their father and moving forward.
Also - I was so annoyed with reading about how only Eleanor felt the need to find a job. Seriously? A very frustrating read.