{"id":136,"date":"2016-08-01T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/index.php\/2016\/08\/01\/the-independence-of-miss-mary-bennet-by-colleen-mccullough-australia-2008\/"},"modified":"2019-12-31T08:15:56","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T21:15:56","slug":"the-independence-of-miss-mary-bennet-by-colleen-mccullough-australia-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/the-independence-of-miss-mary-bennet-by-colleen-mccullough-australia-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough, Australia, 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I am not a fan of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>anyone <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>taking characters from another author’s book \u2013 in this case <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>one of the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>cla<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>ssics \u2013 and writing a so-called sequel to that book. I <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>can imagine that <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Jane Austen<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>turned<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>in her grave when this book hit the shelves: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>t<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>he writing is <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>mediocre<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>, the characterization is <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>extremely <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>poor<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>and the plot is <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>both <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>superficial <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>and unbelievable,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>to say the least. However, for anyone with hours to whittle away and a penchant for <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>third<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>-class romantic novels <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>that follow the Mills and Boon requisite for a happy ending, this book may possibly tick all the boxes.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Independence of Miss Mary Ben<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/em>net <\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/em>picks up twenty years after the conclusion of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Pride and Prejudice, <\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/em>focusing on<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>the middle daughter, Mary, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>who has undergone some kind of transformation and, after being the plain one in the family, is now considered beautiful, possibly even more beautiful than Elizabeth<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>. Mrs Bennet dies on page two, leaving Mary (her carer) <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>the option of moving in with her sister Elizabeth, and becoming a live-in spinster aunt, or pursuing the possibility of independence (a no-no for young ladies of the early nineteenth century). <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Of course, in keeping with the title of the book, Mary chooses the second of these two options. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>As an unaccompanied lady, s<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>he endures a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>hair-raising trip across England <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>ends up being imprisoned by a religious maniac.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
Photo of Colleen McCullough from en.wikipedia.org<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
While we are following the trials and tribulations of Mary, we are also reintroduced to the other characters of Pride and Prejudice \u2013 all of them <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>completely at odds with or, at the very least, c<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>aricatures <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>of t<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>heir original incarnations. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Fitzwilliam Darcy <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>is <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>obnoxious, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Lydia is a drunk, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Elizabeth is frigid, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Jane seems to be completely without backbone\u2026 add to this <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>a number of senseless murder<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>s<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>a surprise sibling, thousands of pounds worth of hidden gold and fifty uncivilized orphans, and the scene is set for one of the worst novels I have read this year<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>am <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>not recommend<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>ing <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>this book, but I do suggest you read (or reread) <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Pride and Prejudice <\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/em>and enjoy <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>a well written and well crafted novel.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am not a fan of anyone taking characters from another author’s book \u2013 in this case one of the classics \u2013 and writing a so-called sequel to that book. I can imagine that Jane Austenturnedin her grave when this book hit the shelves: the writing is mediocre, the characterization is extremely poorand the plot … <\/p>\n

+ Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}