Quote:
Originally Posted by Yapyap
Looking at the reviews on Goodreads, a lot of people think it was awful.
I think it's going to depend a lot on people's expectations and whether one is predisposed to feel okay about the whole concept or not - if you think the entire idea is stupid, this probably won't be a lot of fun; if you're curious and have no inherent issues with the idea, it should be at least moderately enjoyable, I think.
Joanna Trollope is an experienced, competent writer (I haven't actually read her other books, but she seems to be popular and has been for a long time), so .. writing-wise, while it's not Austen, it came across as a perfectly fine (if not particularly deep or literary) modern novel.
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I just finished this last night, and I pretty much agreed with your assessment. It was a light, fun read, and it didn't stray as much from the original story as I would have expected. Of course, it's not the original, but I'm surprised so many people had such vitriolic reactions to it. It probably just depends on whether you're predisposed to like that sort of thing or not - I like pastiches on Austen just fine, as long as they're done well (I loved Clueless and Lost in Austen, but Austenland not so much...)