Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues Review

I'm a big fan of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice.  I've read the book many times and watched the 1995 BBC movie version over a dozen times.  I just love Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, and the relationship between them.  Because I am so fascinated with those characters, I have this obsession with reading the many Pride & Prejudice sequels and follow-ups that others write.  Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife by Linda Berdoll is one that I just finished and I have to say that it is probably the worst, most disgusting, and most pathetic one that I've read thus far.

This book follows the new Mr. and Mrs. Darcy over the course of several years.  At 465 pages in font size 9, it is VERY extensive.  We share their wedding night, just about every night together for the first month, and at least a dozen more throughout the rest of the book.  We also learn about the births, deaths, and other goings-on of the Bennetts, Bingleys, De Bourghs, and Collinses.  You'd think that this extra-long sequel to one of my favorite books would be satisfying.  Unfortunately, it absolutely was not.

My biggest issue with this book was the dramatic transformation of the main characters.  Elizabeth Bennet/Darcy is not the joyful, easygoing, and confident woman from P&P.  Berdoll's Elizabeth is meek, unconfident, and utterly without a sense of humor.  She doesn't have one witty comment during the entire book! And Mr. Darcy...  Austen's aimiable, thoughtful, and consistent character that we knew is transformed into an arrogant, domineering, and cold man who, incredibly, commits murder.  I felt like I was reading about completely new and strange characters as I read this book.

There are many other faults with Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife, including the gratuitous and disgusting sex scenes, the poor writing, and the fact that the plot isn't all that interesting.  I actually found myself wondering if this book was self-published since it was so dramatically different from P&P, so long and rambling, and so poorly written.  I am amazed that a publisher would actually think that this is a viable follow-up to Jane Austen's masterpiece. 

The bottom line is that P&P fans who are dedicated enough to the story to buy and read sequels are NOT going to be happy with this book.  The author has turned Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy into two very unlikeable characters.