Yes, I know, more about
Pride and Prejudice... This time, however, I'll discuss books from two authors that write Mr. Darcy's story. Needless to say, this will be a long entry.
Beware! I'm assuming y'all have a familiarity with the
Pride and Prejudice story either from reading the novel or seeing the movie(s). If you are not familiar with the story and don't wish to have it revealed to you, don't continue reading this post! For everyone else, please read on.
I'm going to focus on the five versions of
Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's point of view that I have read. (There are others, I just haven't gotten to them yet.) The first is Pamela Aidan's trilogy,
Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman. The second,
Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange. Then
The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater,
Darcy's Passions: Fitzwilliam Darcy's Story by Regina Jeffers (along with its sequel and a
P&P adaptation) and
Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer.
Pamela Aidan's trilogy begins with Darcy, the Bingleys and the Hursts stepping out of their carriage as they arrive at the Meryton Assembly and ends, most unfortunately, at the wedding. I would have liked for the story to continue to the point that
P&P ends. I loved how she has Darcy take a token of Elizabeth (without her knowledge) at the end of her stay at Netherfield after nursing Jane.
There are two instances in the story where Aidan takes the story to a level that I thought was slightly extreme: 1) Between Darcy's time at Netherfield and his visit to Kent, Darcy goes to visit a friend from his school days. His main goal in visiting is finding "The Woman", the one he hopes will erase Elizabeth from his thoughts because she will be the woman meant for him (he obviously doesn't realize he already has met her...). However, things go very wrong and Darcy returns to Pemberley without having rid his mind of Elizabeth. And 2) A couple months after Elizabeth's vehement refusal, Darcy accepts an invitation to a party hosted by one of the ladies he met at his friend's house earlier in the year. Again, things go very wrong. However, his friend Brougham rescues him from the dicey situation and then meets up with him at a bar later. When Brougham finally reaches the bar, Darcy is already quite drunk on Brandy (Darcy has been holding in his anguish from Elizabeth's refusal, the reason, I'm sure, as to why Darcy was not thinking clearly (though he may have believed he was) when he accepted the invitation). Brougham finally gets Darcy to tell him everything that happened, especially since his visit to Kent. After that night, Darcy is finally able to realize how right Elizabeth was in her criticism of his behavior. Aidan also introduces a great many new characters to the scene in filling in the months of Darcy's absence from Elizabeth's life.
Overall, however, I thought the story quite good. I liked seeing more of how Darcy lives his life - the expectations he has because of his social standing, his treatment of his servants and tenants, etc. But, again, I wish the story could have continued on at least a few more months. I must say, though, that despite the fact that the story gets a little extreme, Aidan describes the obvious passion that Darcy has for Elizabeth very well (especially when Darcy takes a token of Elizabeth - unbeknownst to her - right before she leaves Netherfield after taking care of Jane). And that, for me, mostly overrides my objections to those other parts.
Mr. Darcy's Diary begins with Darcy sending Georgiana to Ramsgate for the summer and ends the March after the wedding. This style of telling the story definitely makes it unique since we only see what parts of the story Darcy deems important enough to write about. There are certainly months with very few entries and months where there's an entry almost every day. Some days the entries are two or three sentences, some are pages long. The longer entries, of course, usually are those where he's thinking about Elizabeth or when he's actually been in her presence. I like how she shows off Darcy's inability to realize he's in love with Elizabeth - it is, I think, quite entertaining.
I noticed, too, how after Elizabeth's refusal, there aren't many entries in the intervening months before their chance meeting at Pemberley. My guess would be that this is because he didn't want to keep a record of his anguish (or, perhaps, he couldn't concentrate enough to get the emotions down on paper...). With the way this story is written, there isn't a lot of "fluff" filling the gaps in time that a regular novel would. Therefore, the story goes by much quicker. I have mixed feelings about this. I find it to be acceptable simply because I'm already very familiar with
P&P. However, if you are not familiar with
P&P, it may leave you wanting in details.
The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy is certainly more complete than
Mr. Darcy's Diary, as far as the number and length of entries goes. This book begins with Darcy's first evening at Netherfield and ends just after Darcy and Elizabeth are officially engaged. In this, I was disappointed. Although the author gives a good reason for the ending of diary entries, I still hate that the story ended so soon.
Regina Jeffers does a very good job with
Darcy's Passions. As the title implies, the book explores the hidden passion within Darcy, the emotional battle within him between what his head says society requires and what his heart says it wants of his marriage. The story begins shortly after Darcy arrives at Netherfield, before the Meryton Assembly, and ends about 2-3 months after the wedding. This particular version of the story has Darcy confiding solely in Georgiana about his feelings for Elizabeth. I like how mature Jeffers makes Georgiana - how much she's grown since her almost-elopement with Wickham.
There is also a sequel to
Darcy's Passions (which I was very happy to discover):
Darcy's Temptation. This book continues through the fall the year after their marriage. Georgiana has fallen in love with an abolitionist. It turns out that the acquaintance of family friends is a very strong objector to the abolitionist movement and this man. On a journey to another family friend to get more information on the objector, Darcy is beset by robbers intent on killing him. Darcy survives the attack and is taken in by another woman. This would not be such a problem if Darcy could remember his name...and the past six years of his life, restoring Darcy's previous hauteur and family pride. Darcy must again overcome his pride to be the man that Elizabeth deserves.
There were definitely times while reading this sequel where I was frustrated by Darcy's attitude toward Elizabeth, and even Georgiana. Of course, that is because I wanted to shake Darcy back to reality while telling him how remarkably foolish he's being. When I read of how much of his memory Darcy lost (and the content of his dreams), romantic that I am, I was really hoping all his memories would come flooding back as soon as his eyes beheld his Elizabeth. But, alas, we can't all have what we want and the story was good despite this obvious lapse.
Jeffers has also written a
P&P adaptation (with more of an omniscient point of view),
Vampire Darcy's Desire. I was expecting the storyline to basically follow the original story. However, this most definitely does not happen. There are elements, especially in the beginning, that are kept nearly the same. But because Darcy and Elizabeth admit their attraction to each other much earlier in the story, leading to a much earlier marriage, the later storyline almost doesn't follow the original at all. The dialogue that is recognized from
P&P is sometimes verbatim, other times has a sentence or two added. Also, even if we recognize dialogue, it is not necessarily said by the same person or within the same setting. Despite these changes, the passion between Darcy and Elizabeth is as inflamed as ever, which is the important thing. Overall, I have this to say about Jeffers: I LOVE YOUR BOOKS!! Keep 'em coming!
Darcy's Story, unlike those above, is written such that you are basically reading
P&P word for word (minus, of course, the conversations Darcy is not privy to), but with Darcy's comments instead of Elizabeth's. However, it begins, like
Mr. Darcy's Diary, with Darcy deciding on sending Georgiana to Ramsgate for the summer, and ends at the wedding. At least there was a little more detail given for the day, versus what is told in
P&P. I would have liked to have seen more depth to Darcy's comments and emotions, the passion hidden within him.
...Okay, here's a random side note/rant: I have realized more and more that every time I read a book, especially one I haven't read before or in a long time, I notice all the typos and mismatched formatting (raise your hand if you've ever done the same thing). Most of the time I overlook it because they are only slight mistakes. But sometimes there is that one book that has so many mistakes you wonder where on earth the editor was! I often wonder if editors ever actually read the whole book. Now, I realize that an editor probably has many, many books to review at once, but, still! One of these days, I might actually take the time and find all the errors in some of the more error-filled books and send them off to the publisher!
If anyone has also read these stories and has opinions on them, please share them. Or, if you've read other versions, please send me your recommendations! I definitely plan on finding more of these types of stories to read and enjoy (though, unless requested, I won't bore you with more long entries on
Pride and Prejudice-related books).
