Austen Redux

The fourth in a series called “The Austen Project,” modern versions of Jane Austen’s classic novels, Eligible is a highly enjoyable book in its own right, made even more fun if you have read the original, Pride and Prejudice.  (Others in this series have been penned by British writers Alexander McCall Smith, Joanna Trollope and Val McDermid, rewriting “Emma,” “Sense and Sensibility” and “Northanger Abbey” respectively.) The story is told through the eyes of Liz Bennet, a writer for Mascara Magazine in NYC, who, along with her older sister Jane, a yoga instructor, is called home to Cincinnati when their father suffers a health scare.  What Liz finds is complete disarray:  the family home, a large Tudor, is crumbling; younger sisters Kitty and Lydia don’t have jobs and spend their time at a cross-fit gym, obsessed with a paleo diet; middle sister Mary doesn’t work either and is pursuing her third master’s degree while disappearing mysteriously every Tuesday night; Mrs. Bennet, when she’s not fluttering about over plans for an auxillary club luncheon is compulsively shopping on-line; and Mr. Bennet – along with his wife – has no health insurance, so the family has racked up huge debts due to his medical problems.  Liz decides that if she doesn’t take charge in this laissez-faire household, no one will, contacting repairmen and a real estate agent as well as setting up a meeting between her father and the hospital administrator concerning the bills.  Meanwhile, Jane and Liz meet the Bingley siblings and their friend Fitzwilliam Darcy.  As in the original story, Jane and Bingley fall immediately into lust, if not love, while Liz and Darcy trade barbs that remind one of Benedict and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, an antagonism that at first disguises but finally gives way to a mutual attraction.

Sittenfeld advances the ages of the Bennet sisters – Jane, the eldest, is 40, and Lydia, the youngest is 24 – thus making Mrs. Bennet’s hand-wringing over the single status of all five daughters more reasonable for a story set in the present.  Sittenfeld adds other contemporary touches:  Jane, having all but given up on finding a husband has been going through IVF treatments. Liz has been living in NYC  and involved with Jasper Wick (Austen’s Mr. Wickham), a married man over whom she has mooned for a decade and who has finally started sleeping with her, claiming that he and his wife will soon separate;  Jasper’s best line to Liz is, “I love you. . .in my life.”  The LGBT community has a surprising impact on the Bennet clan – no spoilers here, however; and Mr. Bingley (known here as “Chip”) is well known for his role on “Eligible,” Sittenfeld’s version of “The Bachelor” – a hilarious and appropriate update for a story that is all about finding husbands.  A running joke in the novel is that everyone pretends not to watch the program but they all do, particularly Mrs. Bennet who is addicted to trash reality shows.  Darcy is a neuro-surgeon in a well-known Cincinnati hospital, a role that suits his stoic and arrogant personality.  Austen’s obnoxious and overbearing Mr. Collins, the heir to the Bennet estate due to primogeniture laws, appears here in the form of Cousin Willie, a wealthy west coast financier who seems more likeable albeit socially inept.  When he is unsuccessful in obtaining Liz’s hand in marriage, he promptly moves on to her best friend Charlotte, who quickly moves to California to live with Willie.  There are hilarious conversations between Liz and Charlotte when Liz goes to visit that include a discussion of Willie’s snoring problems.  Sittenfeld moves Austen’s ball scene, in which the Bennets are humiliated, to a party at Chip’s apartment, attended by all of the sisters.  In a lively game of charades, the sisters prove both inept at signing and embarrassing in their guesses, with Lydia and Kitty frequently shouting out scatologically and sexually  laced language. 

I fondly recall a snow day when my daughters were in high school and the whole family was off for the day.  Comfortable in our pajamas and armed with mugs of hot cocoa, we watched the 5-1/2 hour BBC production of Pride and Prejudice.  Then, we promptly loaded the abridged Keira Knightley version and watched that too.  Clearly, I thought, we are all suckers for any Austen-related tales.  I was surprised then, when I mentioned to one of those daughters that I was listening to this book based on P and P, and she responded that she was not interested in reading it and that she didn’t understand why people feel the need to duplicate stories that have already been told and told well.  I see her point; still, it was great fun to see the complexities of class, courting (to use an 18^th century term), and family relationships played out on a modern canvas with contemporary sensibilities.  Sittenfeld is a talented writer and proves worthy of the task.