Ratings47
Average rating3.4
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Wonderfully tender and hilariously funny, Eligible tackles gender, class, courtship, and family as Curtis Sittenfeld reaffirms herself as one of the most dazzling authors writing today. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND THE TIMES (UK) This version of the Bennet family—and Mr. Darcy—is one that you have and haven’t met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help—and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray. Youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia are too busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to get jobs. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master’s degree and barely leaves her room, except for those mysterious Tuesday-night outings she won’t discuss. And Mrs. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane’s fortieth birthday fast approaches. Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip’s friend neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . . . And yet, first impressions can be deceiving. Praise for Eligible “Even the most ardent Austenite will soon find herself seduced.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Blissful . . . Sittenfeld modernizes the classic in such a stylish, witty way you’d guess even Jane Austen would be pleased.”—People (book of the week) “[A] sparkling, fresh contemporary retelling.”—Entertainment Weekly “[Sittenfeld] is the ideal modern-day reinterpreter. Her special skill lies not just in her clear, clean writing, but in her general amusement about the world, her arch, pithy, dropped-mike observations about behavior, character and motivation. She can spot hypocrisy, cant, self-contradiction and absurdity ten miles away. She’s the one you want to leave the party with, so she can explain what really happened. . . . Not since Clueless, which transported Emma to Beverly Hills, has Austen been so delightedly interpreted. . . . Sittenfeld writes so well—her sentences are so good and her story so satisfying. . . . As a reader, let me just say: Three cheers for Curtis Sittenfeld and her astute, sharp and ebullient anthropological interest in the human condition.”—Sarah Lyall, The New York Times Book Review “A clever, uproarious evolution of Austen’s story.”—The Denver Post “If there exists a more perfect pairing than Curtis Sittenfeld and Jane Austen, we dare you to find it. . . . Sittenfeld makes an already irresistible story even more beguiling and charming.”—Elle “A playful, wickedly smart retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.”—BuzzFeed “Sittenfeld is an obvious choice to re-create Jane Austen’s comedy of manners. [She] is a master at dissecting social norms to reveal the truths of human nature underneath.”—The Millions “A hugely entertaining and surprisingly unpredictable book, bursting with wit and charm.”—The Irish Times “An unputdownable retelling of the beloved classic.”—PopSugar
Featured Series
1 primary bookThe Austen Project is a 1-book series first released in 2016 with contributions by Curtis Sittenfeld.
Reviews with the most likes.
This was good. I found myself more annoyed by the Bennet mother and sisters than usual, but in general it was a fun retelling of P&P.
This is a tough one to rate. For instance, some characters are perfectly updated from Austen's era (e.g., Mr. Bennett, Lydia and Kitty, Chip Bingley), and the plot is good, of course, because it's Austen. But because it's Austen, Sittenfeld has the unenviable task of retaining the perfection of the characters of Darcy and Elizabeth and updating them for the modern era. She didn't succeed there, but she made a fairly good effort in transmuting them into their 21st century versions. (There's something to be said for an Elizabeth Bennett who can get drunk).
HUGE EXCEPTION TO THE RELATIVELY GOOD RATING: the modern twist of turning duplicitous, villainous cad Wickham into a male suitor who reveals himself to be transgender was . . . unfortunate. A gross and moreover poorly made attempt at a parallel.
Overall, it was worth a read – and it really is a compulsively readable book, even if it ultimately just made me want to re-read Pride and Prejudice for the real thing.
This book is just not keeping my attention. I can't seem to keep the people in it straight. Characters are flying in and out of the scenes so quickly that I am not connecting with ANY of them. This is a story about The Bennett Family. They have a bunch of kids, everyone is self indulged and all are living chaotic modern/millennial lives which I THINK I am supposed to be somehow interested, entertained by or perhaps relate to. Unfortunately I am experiencing none of these things. I am simply confused, disinterested and feeling like reading this is a chore. Does anyone know if it gets better? I have actually NOT finished it and am deciding if I will complete reading it or not. Perhaps it improves. In all fairness I only made it through 10%.
Ik zal meteen met de deur in huis vallen: dit boek is regelrechte rotzooi.
Voor mij werkte de zogenaamde moderne setting totaal niet, want de schrijfster koos voor goedkope shock-elementen en marginale plotwendingen. Ik heb me echt door de eerste 100-tal pagina's moeten worstelen en heb serieus getwijfeld of ik verder zou lezen.
Omdat ik het echter nog altijd moeilijk vind om een boek zomaar aan de kant te leggen, bleef ik volharden. De tweede helft las al vlotter, waarschijnlijk deels omdat ik mijn verwachtingen serieus naar beneden had bijgesteld.
Over de ganse lijn vond ik dit maar een goedkoop, ongeloofwaardig stationsrommanetje, dat niks van de gebruikelijke Pride & Prejudice-emoties wist op te roepen, maar mij alleen maar ergernis en plaatsvervangende schaamte bezorgde. Fans van P&P, lees deze rommel NIET.