Name: Eligible
Rating: 3.495327102803738 (107 reviews)
ISBN: 9780007486304

Curtis Sittenfeld

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘The book of the summer’ The Times 'Sheer joy... Giddy and glam and a hearty update of Pride and Prejudice’ Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist

Eligible

Returning with her sister, Jane, to their Ohio hometown when their father falls ill, New York magazine editor Lizzy Bennett confronts challenges in the form of her younger sisters' football fangirl antics, a creepy cousin's unwanted attentions and the infuriating standoffish manners of a handsome neurosurgeon. --Publisher

A Novel

Jackie Cunningham

I'm often sceptical of Pride & Prejudice retellings because I love the original so much. This version is fantastic. Entertaining and unique but reminiscent enough for Austen fans. And has the potential to bring new readers to Austen.

Colleen

DNF Page 84 of 512.

About once every year or two I find myself reading some sort of Jane Austen rewrite. I really don't know why I do this to myself. Because most of these rewrites fall somewhere between mediocre and terrible. Yet for some reason, when Eligible popped up on my library's site (they were promoting it because it is set in Cincinnati), I requested it anyway.

Unfortunately, Eligible is by far the worst rewrite I have read. Usually I feel obligated to finish every book I start; so for me to fling this book back into the library shoot with zero compulsion to look back, it had to be truly atrocious. And page 84 was more than enough. This has got to be the worst rewrite I have had the misfortune to read. 

Jane Austen's famous characters were bastardized and reduced to wretched, hollow shells. Even from the first page, it was clear that these characters were feeble shades of their namesakes. It was off-putting to see once great characters reduced to sallow ghosts cursed to inhabit the husks of insipid modern people. Austen was a master at sketching many different character types, at fleshing them out. This is one of the reasons that her books remain relevant two centuries later. But the characters in Eligible have been reduced to obnoxious, shallow twits.

Sittenfeld tried to mimic Austen's wording and sentence structure, but the result was painful. She managed to simulate some of the wording but with the modern setting, the old fashioned phrasing felt stilted, unnatural, and awkward. Trust me, no one in Cincinnati talks like that. No One. Not even the super rich people in Indian Hill. Sittenfeld might have imitated some of Austen's sentence structure but she completely missed the tone and content. And all of the playfulness and humor was completely lost, replaced only by the petulant narcissism of the ghastly characters. It was like watching someone trying to play soccer with a bowling ball. She also made the characters quite a bit older. And flaws that might be overlooked in a teenager are certainly not appealing in someone pushing forty. Add on top of that any character flaw in the original text was amplified times ten and many new flaws and inadequacies thrown in, and even the nice characters were turned to pathetic jerks. (view spoiler)[For example, sweet Jane was turned into an unemployed thirty-nine-year-old who does not really care about anything other than her ticking biological clock. But far worse than that is Elizabeth turned into the clichéd, delusional twit who is having an affair with a man she knows is married. She furthers that cliché by blathering on about how the married jackoff really is going to leave his wife to be with her. Any day now. Even though it has already been years. (hide spoiler)]

I did not care for the Cincinnati setting. (Of course, I don't know why that should be surprising. I am not totally enamored of my designated purgatory.) But I think the way the setting was described would have been off-putting regardless of what city was chosen. Rather than truly describe the city or build the world, the author just drops in names ad nauseam. Paragraph after paragraph dumps not just neighborhoods but street names, restaurants, buildings, schools, businesses, etc. often without actually explaining them or with any real context. Honestly, I would have been much more frustrated if I was not familiar with this city because then I would have had no idea what she was talking about. "They went to Teller's" means diddlysquat if you don't know that Teller's is a local restaurant.

I didn't get far enough to really tell about the plot, but what I did read was not impressive. There was some horrible tie in to a reality dating show. (SHUDDERS IN HORROR) Again, this misses the point. On the surface, it may seem that the original women's obsession with marriage might be compared to modern obsession with reality tv, but the two are completely different beast. Women throughout history had to rely on making a decent marriage just to survive. Most of them had no opportunity to live independently. They couldn't work, rarely had control over their own lives, and usually had no money or property of their own at least that was not controlled by the men in their lives. Making a good marriage was quite often their one and only chance at improving their lives. So no, comparing that with drama-loving dating shows where love is a farce and half the contestants care more about getting famous than about finding love is just insulting.

Maybe I am being a bit harsh. But this book just had nothing going for it. As far as I read, I disliked the writing, the characters, and the plot. Even my usual obsessiveness about finishing any book I start was not enough to make me even consider trying to keep reading. From the other reviews here, I apparently did not miss anything. I do not understand why so many people feel they can improve upon the greats or why they think there is any need to try. 

Someone please smack my hand the next time I try to read someone's bad attempt at rewriting Jane Austen!


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 1 Star
Writing Style: 1 Star
Characters: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 1 Star
Level of Captivation: 1 Star
Originality: 1 Star

Julia Lotz

3,5 stars

 Vermählung ist eines der Bücher aus dem Jane Austen Project. Diese Reihe ist in Deutschland unter dem Namen Jane Austen neu erzählt bekannt und verschiedene zeitgenössische Autoren erzählen hier die Klassiker von Jane Austen neu. Vermählung ist nach Nothanger Abbey das zweite übersetzte Buch der aktuell vierbändigen Reihe und adaptiert Jane Austens Stolz und Vorurteil neu. Nothanger Abbey habe ich bereits gelesen und für gut befunden, doch bei Vermählung plagten mich vor dem Lesen ernsthafte Zweife. Denn kannte ich bei Northanger Abbey Austens Original nicht, so war es mit bei Vermählung mehr als präsent. Neben den Harry Potter Büchern gehört Stolz & Vorurteil zu meinen liebsten Büchern überhaupt und somit stand von vorne herein fest, dass es Vermählung bei mir nicht leicht haben würde.
Anfangs suchte ich auch noch sehr nach Parallelen und Unterschieden und entdeckte davon einige. Manche Unterschiede lassen sich natürlich damit erklären, dass die Handlung in eine andere Epoche hineingeschrieben wurde. Andere Unterschiede hätte man allerdings nicht gebraucht und an Parallelen mangelte es anfangs zwar nicht, dafür aber im späteren Verlauf. Ich persönlich bin der Meinung, dass dies der große Kritikpunkt der Geschichte ist. Das Problem bei Retellings ist sicher, dass man die schmale Grandwanderung zwischen zu viel und zu wenig Adaption durchmacht und das leider oft schief geht, aber dennoch hatte ich bei Vermählung zu oft das Gefühl, eher eine lose Anlehnung an den Klassiker vor mir zu haben und kein Jane Austen neu erzählt. Ich hätte mir gewünscht, dass Schlüsselszenen aus dem Ursprungswerk übernommen und modernisiert werden doch das hat leider gefehlt.
Dabei ist das Buch ein toller Roman, wenn man die Tatsache weglässt, dass es ein Retelling ist. Die Charaktere sind sehr schön gestaltet und Curtis Sittenfeld zeigte ein gutes Gespür für die Eigenschaften von Jane Austens Schützlingen. Auch die Geschichte an sich ist sehr spannend und gleicht nicht unbedingt anderen Liebesgeschichten auf dem Markt. So konnte ich mich, jedes Mal, wenn ich die Tatsache ausgeklammert habe, dass es sich hier um ein Retelling handelte, sehr gut in die Geschichte eintauchen und besonders am Ende nahm die Geschichte ordentlich an Fahrt auf.
Fazit: Als eigenständiger Liebesroman ist Vermählung super doch als Adaption des Klassikers Stolz & Vorurteil von Jane Austen gelang Curtis Sittenfeld nicht alles. Zwar konnte sie vieles super in die heutige Zeit transferieren, viele Unterschiede wurden jedoch unnötig eingebaut und Schlüsselszenen fehlten komplett. Wahre Jane Austen Fans sollten mit Vorsicht genießen.

Connor 

** spoiler alert **
           Look, I wanted to like this book. Really, I did. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite narratives, and I have devoured most the adaptations floating around (even--shudder--that Hallmark movie of unknown disaster, Unleashing Mr. Darcy). This one just fell... flat. I appreciate that adapting such a seminal classic must be quite difficult, especially since many of the plot twists that provided scandal and outrage in Austen's era do not translate easily to the modern age. 

That being said, the only characters I cared about in this novel were Darcy and, belatedly, Liz. I found few of the characters developed to the point that I actually was interested in them at all (for example: I wanted to be excited about Caroline's confrontation of Liz at the end of the novel because that's such a turning point for Liz's self-realization. Instead, I found Caroline's behavior catty: not the actions of an invested socialite but the actions of a spoiled child we've barely seen on the page). 

The other scandals--Wick and Ham and Mrs. Bennet being her usual delightful self--seemed somewhat flimsy to me. The character of Catherine de Bourgh (here Kathy de Bourgh, renowned feminist) was delightful, more what I'd expect of a Mrs. Gardiner than a de Bourgh, but seemed out of place in the context of the main plot line. 

But perhaps what annoyed me most (other than Jasper Wick and his relationship with Liz) was the alacrity with which characters jumped into Big Relationships: Charlotte moving in with Collins after a few weeks of talking on the phone; Jane and Bingley getting engaged when they see each other for the first time in five months after having parted on difficult terms; Liz proposing to Darcy after Jane's wedding when they've never once been on a proper date.

While I might be convinced to buy it on one account (likely Jane and Bingley, as we see the most of their relationship; it may be a quick turn around, but they're clearly in love), I found it difficult to swallow these rapid changes without resting heavily on my knowledge of the original plot line for Pride and Prejudice. 

Structurally, I really disliked this book. There's too much going on (see previous note about the superfluous inclusion of a Kathy de Bourgh that's not recognizable as Catherine de Bourgh). It's more a series of vignettes than a novel: really, really short vignettes (181 chapters span its 492 pages, and some of those are only a few lines long). Each new scene is a new chapter. In theory this should work fine, but in practice I found it bordered on excessive and cut out any natural transitions between scenes. 

Still, I did enjoy the banter between Liz and Darcy (even if I didn't buy their immediate descent into what Liz calls "hate sex") and the friendship (strange as it was at times) between Charlotte and Liz, both of which were handled with a humorous edge and enough sincere conversation to make the prose meaningful and charming rather than trite and obsequious.

Eloise

Eligible features intriguing characters and funny dialogue, as well as the enjoyment of comparing favorite original sequences to new ones. Sittenfeld draws the action lightly but confidently, exhibiting great storytelling with minimal evidence of the stiffness that may be found in some retellings. The author of Eligible is well aware that when it comes to Elizabeth and Darcy, sparks will fly and all will appear lost for a moment. But, in the end, our lovers' character flaws will be rectified or softened, and love will triumph.

Elizabeth Moore

Super fast and enjoyable read, and way brainier than I expected! It was just as fun to read and compare with the characters and plot twists and turns with Pride and Prejudice as it was to read for itself. Obviously doesn't exactly stack up to the original, but it's obvious that this isn't the intent. The drawings of the Bennet family were clever and really well-done, as was that of Darcy. Jane kind of annoyed me the whole time but to be fair Jane annoyed me in the original, too. I also loved the consistent explorations of feminism as well as the inclusion of commentary on modern biases and realities dealing with class, gender, and race. A really smart, thoughtful, and well-wrought update for our time!

Liz Carpenter

Whenever I re-read an Austen classic, no matter how many times I've read it before, I find myself so absorbed that I generally keep going until I've suddenly finished the whole book, never mind that I know exactly what's going to happen in each chapter. While Eligible is not exactly at the same level as P&P, it might be worth noting that I did read the entire 500 pages in one day. 

The storyline is familiar, yet with enough twists that you're not entirely sure what's coming next. The modern interpretation of the familiar characters and their little dramas were realistic, and for the most part, enjoyable. I found myself connecting with this new Liz even more closely than the original, and Darcy was fantastic. The addition of a VERY thinly veiled version of "The Bachelor" was slightly brilliant, and hilarious (especially as I find myself watching the "20th season special" of that show, complete with a contestant wedding, as I write this.)

Only a few cavils - 
1) I know that Sittenfeld is originally from Cincinnati, so the setting does make sense (I grew up a few hours away), but part of me thinks Louisville would've been even better - Mrs. Bennett as an aging Southern Belle would've been another level.

2) The antipathy between Darcy and Wicks/Wickham is no longer personal, and I think that killed some of the dynamic between their characters and took out almost an entire story arc.

3) Katherine DeBurgh is barely visible in this version, and she's sympathetic rather than an antagonist, which rather took the fun out of it.

Overall, though, a well-written "re-telling" that I think does justice to the spirit of the original.

(I received an ARC of this book and am happy to contribute my review.)

ChiaraB

P&P turned into a shallow romance novel. Way too long for what it delivers.

Caitlyn DeRouin

I wanted to really enjoy this book - really I did. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite novels, and Elizabeth Bennet is one of my favorite female characters in all of literature. There were moments where I did enjoy the book, I will say that I thought the premise was interesting (because really how many different ways can we tell this story without it becoming predictable and boring?) and it did keep my interest, but not exactly because I enjoyed what I was reading. I have to state it now, if Transphobia is a trigger for you in any way at all, please don't read this book.

While in P&P I like pretty much all of the characters, or can even understand the actions of those that I don't particularly like, in this book that was not the case. The only characters I really liked were Jane and Darcy. I had moments where I liked Liz, but for the most part I didn't, which made me pretty upset, seeing as how much the character means to me. The worst of all was Mrs. Bennet. Sure, she's a lot to handle and I don't particularly agree with the way she goes about things in P&P, but I don't hate her. In this version however, I absolutely hated her. She didn't get any better or tolerable towards the end, she was self-centered, entitled, bigoted and racist throughout the entire thing and frankly reading scenes where she was heavily involved was painful.

The writing was good, but at times I thought the author was trying to hard to be funny or clever and it just came off as strange and pulled me out of the story. And some things just seemed completely unnecessary and didn't further the plot at all. The ending was also so incredibly strange to me that once I finished I sat there for a second thinking, "What did I just read?"

I'm glad that I received this as part of my Book of the Month Club subscription, because if I had just picked it up in a store one day, I would've been incredibly disappointed that this was what I got. If you're looking for a good retelling of P&P, check out The Lizzie Bennet Diaries on Youtube.

Sam Pulliam

I'm a sucker for two things - wartime romances and Austen retellings. This Austen retelling is pretty interesting as it is fun to see how Sittenfeld updated certain aspects of the story for a modern audience. She also chose to keep the same names for all of the characters so if you aren't super familiar with P&P, it's easier to see how this all lines up.

I think the choice to end talking about Mary was an interesting one. In both the original and this retelling, the other characters don't understand Mary and are really mean to her. I hate that in both cases but Sittenfeld gives us a little more about her after the story and I think that might be a way of giving her a little kindness as the author. I appreciate that.

I do get that Sittenfeld was probably trying to use Ham and Shane's characters to 1) show why Darcy wouldn't be super keen on Liz's family and also show that her parents are conservative and set in their ways of thinking and 2) to be able to tackle more modern issues but I can't help but get the feeling that her attempt at representation might have reduced the characters to plot devices. Ham was certainly a bit more developed than Shane, though. Some of the writing felt very late 90s - early 2000s and it was weird to read some of these sections.

Amanda J 

I liked this book for reasons I didn't think I would and disliked it for the reasons I thought I would. The romance/relationship/interaction between Liz and Darcy is horrendous. They barely say a few words to one another sure they have (view spoiler)[ hate sex  (hide spoiler)] but the declaration of love comes out of nowhere. 
However, I loved the interaction between Liz and her sisters, hell, I even loved the interaction between Liz and Wickham. It was nuanced and felt more fleshed out than the romance. Also, I really enjoyed the short chapters, it kept the pace of the story moving. 
As far as being an adaption of Pride and Prejudice, I like how Sittenfeld maintains the structure of the original but twists it so that you're left wondering just how an action is going to relate to the Austen's work.

Megan Leprich

Like most high school kids, I had to read the original Pride and Prejudice for my English class. I loved the original classic story back then so anytime an author writes a modern day story I'm all for it. This book made me laugh out loud more times than I can count and Curtis Sittenfeld is one of the best authors I've read that can make a reborn classic this good. I loved Darcy and Liz's relationship and this book definitely had me hooked from the beginning.

Eligible

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