Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
That's the problem right there--messing with the story. Let the author tell her own story with her own characters, rather than twisting Austen's story and characters to suit her ends.
|
Mostly agreed. I generally prefer classics derivatives which are "loosely inspired by", rather than directly "behind the scenes/filling in the blanks". Although I've read some really good ones that are the latter, like Susan Kay's
Phantom: The Novel of His Life.
But I figure if I'm going to sit through someone's mere alternate viewing angle, I like it to be cracktastic enough to have grounds to speculate on exactly which mind-altering substances the author's been taking, otherwise I might as well not bother.
Because frankly, a lot of these things show a profound lack of imagination.
It seems like there's endless continuations where oh look, the Bingleys and the Darcys are having their idyllically happy life where they have kids who are just like them and oh look, they have a boy from one family and a girl from the other who are now all grown up and have this Slap Slap Kiss Kiss budding love story ju-u-u-st like Lizzy and Darcy*, isn't it all too precious?
* Bonus points if two more of them have this Too Shy To Talk to Each Other and Nearly End Up Breaking Up budding love story just like Bingley and Jane.†
† Extra bonus points if it turns out to be two+ boys or two+ girls reliving their parents' relationships. Because that has yet to be done
ad nauseam.