Tuesday, 2 December 2008

Finished the Linda Berdoll book. I am in two minds about it really, on one hand I really quite enjoyed it and on the other it was quite disappointing and I am veering rapidly between the two. Some events are given from the point of view of both Darcys, which is a little odd and takes some getting used to, but then other events-where you might expect to hear both sides, left me flicking through the book to check whether I missed the other viewpoint. Berdoll also chooses to regularly shifts perspective on her other characters too, one minute we are at Pemberley with the Darcys and the next in London with Wickham, something which is successful in other novels (although not my favourite story device), but here felt awkward and disrupted the flow of the story. Added to this were the incongrously written passages where Berdoll's affected style slipped and literally shook me out of the story into reality, forcing me to make the effort to reconnect with the story.
The book also ended abruptly, I am not sure whether Berdoll intends to write a third sequel, but it seemed that although the loose ends are tied up to a certain extent there is a lot suggested by the book that is left to explore. The Darcys are explicit in their desire for another child (and just explicit in their desire for each other too!) for example, but whether they succeed is left for us to ponder at the end of the book-and this is a book where nothing is left to the imagination! Indeed, so much is repeated and reiterated that Berdoll seems often to have forgotten that the majority of her readers will actually have read Pride and Prejudice and her first book, so that she doesnt need to have reams of explanation about the previous plot. Darcy Takes a Wife is a long book-I have the trade paperback which runs to over 400 pages and it seems such a shame that there isnt more about the family, characters arent developed further and that we dont advance further in the history of this very famous literary marriage.

Having said all of that I did enjoy the book immensely and miss the world of the Darcys now I have finished the book, but this book has so much potential to be something more than it is.

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