Review: Ladies of the House

I'm a Jane Austen fan who enjoys reading (and watching) adaptations of Austen's work. Not everyone does, and that's OK. (I'm more forgiving of adaptations in general than some readers, I find.) So, I figured I'd have a good time reading Lauren Edmondson's debut novel, Ladies of the House, which is a modern day retelling of Sense and Sensibility. I was wrong. I had a great time reading it. It might be my love of Austen influencing me but I absolutely adored this book from start to finish.

Here's the description:

No surprise is a good surprise. At least according to thirty-four-year-old Daisy Richardson. So when it’s revealed in dramatic fashion that her esteemed father had been involved in a public scandal before his untimely death, Daisy’s life becomes complicated—and fast.
For one, the Richardsons must now sell the family home in Georgetown they can no longer afford, and Daisy’s mother is holding on with an iron grip. Her younger sister, Wallis, is ready to move on to bigger and better things but falls fast and hard for the most inconvenient person possible. And then there’s Atlas, Daisy’s best friend. She’s always wished they could be more, but now he’s writing an exposé on the one subject she’s been desperate to avoid: her father.
Daisy’s plan is to maintain a low profile as she works to keep her family intact amid social exile, public shaming, and quickly dwindling savings. But the spotlight always seems to find the Richardsons, and when another twist in the scandal comes to light, Daisy must confront the consequences of her continued silence and summon the courage to stand up and accept the power of her own voice.

Like with any adaptation, Edmondson cut some characters and combined others. Some storylines were removed and adjusted to fit the flow of a modern story. It's been a few years since I've read Sense and Sensibility (and about as long since watching Emma Thompson's excellent movie adaptation), so I could only really recall the broad strokes of Austen's novel anyway. And those were the strokes that Edmonson made sure to make. Her Willoughby was perfection and Beau (aka Colonel Brandon) was wicked smart and an absolute sweetheart, just as he should be. The relationship between the sisters (only two - no youngest sister to be found in this story) and their mother was much better and healthier than I think Austen had ever written - but I loved that. Give me a great sister story and I'm happy - even happier when they get along well with their mother. There was a great scene in this story when Daisy and her mother, Cricket, wander around the National Gallery of Art. She says that she'd forgotten her mother was her ideal museum companion, since her father didn't care and her sister, Wallis, always zoomed through. I can't remember the last time I would have been at an art museum with my mom, certainly not as an adult, but the scene struck me so deeply and I wished the world wasn't locked down so I could go on an art adventure with my mom.

Speaking of the National Gallery of Art, there were a few scenes sprinkled throughout the story that would appeal to those wishing to do a bit of armchair traveling. The majority of the Washington, D.C. the reader gets is very political (which I enjoyed a lot) but there are a few moments where the reader, if they've visited the city like I have, will recognize attractions and be able to exactly picture the setting. 

The story, separate of all things Austen, is a gem. It is smart and amazingly feminist. I loved that Daisy was just a year older than me and absolutely killing it on the Hill. (Equally great was that the story wasn't super bogged down in politics.) I also freaking adored that she took no bullshit from Blake (aka Willoughby) at the end of the novel when he was trying to wrangle an apology out of her simply because his white frat boy self thought he deserved one. The epilogue gave me chills and I think I'm going to have to reread it a couple more times because of how powerful I felt it was. (No quotes here because 1. it's the epilogue and therefore the very end of the book and 2. I only have an advanced copy and can't confirm the finished text.) Wallis and Daisy had such a great sisterly relationship and I wished I could be their friend. 

You don't have to be a fan of Jane Austen to love Lauren Edmondson's debut novel - though Janeites will enjoy the nods to Sense and Sensibility. Ladies of the House is smart, entertaining, heartwarming, and feminist. I loved reading it and I think a lot of others will too. I can't wait to read what she writes next.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Graydon House/Harlequin, via NetGalley, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Rereading Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility

Last year I decided I wanted to read, or reread, all of Jane Austen's novels. I knew it would be a massive undertaking but I wanted to do it. You can read all about that in my post about the reread-a-long here. January flew by and I thought, "That's ok, I have all of February to read the first book." Well, February seemed to disappear too and before I knew it it was the 22nd and I still hadn't picked up Sense and Sensibility. Uh oh! I got it done though, in four days, and finally have my thoughts to share with you all!

The one thing I knew going into this challenge was that these books were not going to be easy to read. They were going to take away time that could be devoted to other review books and they would take me awhile to get through. Don't get me wrong, I still love Austen but the way she writes is much different than today's authors. Mostly it's a language thing. Of course books from the 1800s would be written differently than a book in the 2000s. So, sometimes there was a bit of translation, shall we say, that needed to be done before it could totally make sense in my head.

Once you get past the language, though, there's also the way the story is told. People may think Austen is a romantic but there's not really a lot of romance in her stories. In fact, in Sense and Sensibility, we don't even get to read about the actual engagement between (er...spoiler alert) Edward and Elinor. He came to the cottage with the mind to propose and this is how Austen shares it with us:

"How soon he had walked himself into the proper resolution, however, how soon an opportunity of exercising it occurred, in what manner he expressed himself, and how he was received, need not be particularly told. This only need be said; - that when they all sat down to table at four o'clock, about three hours after his arrival, he had secured his lady, engaged her mother's consent, and was not only in the rapturous profession of a lover, but in the reality of reason and truth, one of the happiest of men."
- page 348

There is a sweetness there, knowing that Edward is "one of the happiest of men" but would any author writing a similar story (think women's fiction) get away with not writing the actual engagement of her main characters? Interesting to note how things have changed and how Austen approaches these romantic matters.

One of the other things I knew I'd have to deal with during this challenge is separating the original novel from all other adaptations and retellings. When I was reading this book I couldn't get the 1995 Sense and Sensibility movie out of my head. Elinor was Emma Thompson, Edward was Hugh Grant, Marianne was Kate Winslet, Colonel Brandon was Alan Rickman, and Mr. Palmer was Hugh Laurie. I'll write a post (or two) about adaptations later on in the year (especially since I found my fourth year film essay that talked all about Austen adaptations) but I had to briefly touch on it in this post because the movie was all I could think about when reading this book. And that kind of frustrated me. Is that silly? I've seen the movie more than I've read the book so I suppose it makes sense but as a book lover I would rather have the books at the front of my mind when I'm rereading. Final note about the adaptation aspect: I couldn't get over the age difference between the characters in the book versus the actors' ages in the movie. I know why it had to be done but there were some massive gaps. For example, Mrs. Jennings is assumed to be about 50 (if that). The actress who played her, the late Elizabeth Spriggs, was 68 when the movie was released.

The cover of my edition.

So what did I actually think about the story this time around? Well...I didn't adore it, which I had a feeling would happen. I wasn't in love with Elinor or Marianne so their stories were not as interesting as, say, the Bennet's. I did like reading about how Elinor had to be the responsible one in the family after their father passed away. That sounds sort of odd, doesn't it? I didn't like that she had to look after every little thing but it was interesting to see how she dealt with the issues as an unmarried woman in the 1800s. Marianne was much too flighty and emotional for my taste (she would translate well to a contemporary YA novel, I think!) but I found myself hurting when she was (curse you, Willoughby!) and wished the pages would somehow change and she'd realize earlier on that Brandon was the man for her.

Fun fact: had my bunny been a boy I would have named her Willoughby, I think! But, she is a girl and I named her Tonks instead :)

I probably haven't added much to your overall opinion or knowledge of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility but I wanted to keep you all updated on my challenge progress. So far it's been a good experiment and I'm really looking forward to next month's reread, Pride and Prejudice. This is the Austen novel that a lot of people say is their favourite, myself included, but I'm interested to see if my reread holds up against the story I have in my head (thanks to those movie adaptations). I also wonder if Persuasion, will take over as favourite by the end of the year! Stay tuned for my next challenge "review" in April. I'll also likely have another fun Austen post later this month.

Happy reading :)

Review: Sense & Sensibility

When I first heard about The Austen Project I was incredibly excited. As they explain it on their site, "The Austen Project is a major new series of six novels teaming up authors of global literary significance with Jane Austen's six complete works." Sounds awesome! I can't get enough of Jane Austen. Then I got to thinking...what if these retellings are awful? Sure, some great names have been attached to the updates (so far we know that Val McDermid will tackle Northanger Abbey, Alexander McCall Smith will update Emma, and Curtis Sittenfeld has the impressive task of taking on Pride and Prejudice) but that doesn't mean anything. They could butcher our beloved novels! After a bit of a panic, I decided to keep an open mind. I was glad I did because I think that helped me really enjoy Joanna Trollope's retelling of one of the classics, Sense & Sensibility.

Here's the synopsis:

John Dashwood promised his dying father that he would take care of his half sisters. But his wife, Fanny, has no desire to share their newly inherited estate with Belle Dashwood's daughters. When she descends upon Norland Park with her Romanian nanny and her mood boards, the three Dashwood girls-Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret-are suddenly faced with the cruelties of life without their father, their home, or their money.
As they come to terms with life without the status of their country house, the protection of the family name, or the comfort of an inheritance, Elinor and Marianne are confronted by the cold hard reality of a world where people's attitudes can change as drastically as their circumstances.
With her sparkling wit, Joanna Trollope casts a clever, satirical eye on the tales of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Reimagining Sense and Sensibility in a fresh, modern new light, she spins the novel's romance, bonnets, and betrothals into a wonderfully witty coming-of-age story about the stuff that really makes the world go around. For when it comes to money, some things never change. . . 

I know it might sound weird but I actually wish things had been more different in this book. Of course, I have no idea how that could have been accomplished. For those of you who don't know the story, the basic plot line is that the lady Dashwoods have been turned out of their home after their husband/father passed away because, in the olden days, everything went to the male heir. In this book, which takes place in the present, the same thing happens. There are vague explanations and mentions of how ridiculous it is for property to be passed down through the males in this day and age but it was like I was just supposed to accept that this was the norm. I did, I suppose, but I think I wanted more creativity (think The Lizzie Bennet Diaries) than just the story we know with a few mentions of iPads and Twitter thrown in. 

That being said, I'm glad the core story was still completely recognizable. The characters made sense and I enjoyed the slight changes that were made - Elinor wanted to be an architect, Marianne is a gifted guitar player, and Robert Ferrars is a very flamboyant event planner. I also have to say that I liked the more rounded characters of Mrs. Dashwood, Belle, and younger sister, Margaret (or Mags). The heart of the novel was still there and that's, in part, what makes us love Austen's novels so much. Trollope did a good job of making sure we were feeling what we expected to feel.

I did find that I couldn't shake the actors' images from the 1995 Ang Lee directed adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. It was especially hard to imagine the secondary characters as anyone else, particular Mr. Palmer who was played by Hugh Laurie in the film. I couldn't recall the actor who played Willoughby, though, and I was somehow able to put Alan Rickman out of mind when "Bill" Brandon was in the story. It's interesting to note how much actors and adaptations get into our heads when we go back to reread books (or read the next books, like in the case of Harry Potter). Do you ever find that? Do you think you could read this and not picture Emma Thompson or Kate Winslet as Elinor and Marianne?

Like most Jane Austen fans, I had my reservations about Sense & Sensibility. Could Joanne Trollope really do justice to such a popular classic? While I had my issues with the novel I really think that it was an enjoyable retelling of Sense and Sensibility. I think hardcore Austen fans might be more frustrated with it but if you go into reading this novel with an open mind, I think most will like it as much as I did.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for an honest review.*

Just Finished: Jane Austen Made Me Do It

Ah, Jane Austen.

I admit, I have not yet read all six of her novels (Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park are still on my to be read list) but I still consider myself an Austen fan. So much so that I actually wrote an essay about Jane Austen adaptations for a film class in university (go ahead, be jealous. My roommates were). Side note: I do not recommend watching the epic BBC version of Pride and Prejudice , the new Pride & Prejudice with Keira Knightly, Sense & Sensibility with Emma Thompson, and Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow all in the same week. I swear I was talking like the characters for days afterwards.

Back to the point of this post...Jane Austen Made Me Do It - a collection of short stories about or inspired by Jane Austen herself. The collection was edited by Laurel Ann Nattress, the creator of the website Austenprose. Overall, I loved reading these short stories. It took me awhile to get through because of other things happening in my life but it was a great read. Like most short story collections there were some stories that I loved and some that I didn't like quite as much. For the most part though, I was able to enjoy every single story.

What I liked about this collection was the variety in the stories. Some of them featured Jane Austen, like Lauren Willig's "A Night at Northanger" while others, such as "The Riding Habit" by Pamela Aidan, were continuations of some of Austen's novels. Some others took Austen's characters and plopped them in the real world ("Me and Mr. Darcy, Again..." by Alexandra Potter). There were even some stories that just featured someone who loved Jane Austen's work, like "Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" by Janet Mullany. If you like the setting of Austen's novels most, you'll find stories that you like. If you're partial to some of the characters, well there are stories for you too. If you're just plain obsessed with Austen you're going to love the whole book.

Not only did I like that there was so many types of stories but I seemed to like one from each type. Some of my favourites include:

- "Waiting" by Jane Odiwe. This was a continuation of of Persuasion, Anne Elliot is forced to wait while Captain Wentworth goes to ask her father for her hand in marriage. Ooh, the tension!

- "Jane Austen and the Mistletoe Kiss" by Jo Beverley. This was a Christmas story so of course I loved it. Jane Austen makes a brief appearance, which I really enjoyed. It also has such a happy ending that made me like this story even more.

- "When Only a Darcy Will Do" by Beth Pattillo. The main character is an American student going to school in England. She decides to do a walking tour of London dressed like an Austen character. Only one person shows up - a good looking young man who appears to be dressed as one Mr. Darcy. I really liked the little surprise the author had at the end of the story.

- "The Love Letter" by Brenna Aubrey. This was actually the Grand Prize Winner of the Jane Austen Made Me Do It Short Story Contest. The story one plays with Persuasion and tells about a man who evaluates his life and romantic past. It was very sweet.

- "Intolerable Stupidity" by editor Laurel Ann Nattress. When I first started reading this one I didn't think I was going to like it but I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. Nattress has created a trial that, depending on the outcome, could see the banishment of any Austen adaptation. This includes the aforementioned epic BBC P&P with the memorable extra scene of Darcy in a wet shirt as well as the newer Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (I don't get this one. Really just...don't). Could you imagine a world where we didn't have any extra Austen? It would be madness. Madness, I tell you!

Any Jane Austen fan, whether you've only read or seen the well known Pride and Prejudice or you're a die hard fanatic who's read each book multiple times as well as anything to do with Austen, will enjoy Jane Austen Made Me Do It. There's something for everyone and that's what makes this collection so great. I also really enjoyed the reading guide at the end. Perfect for a book club pick! I'd love to hear from others who have read this one or those of you who consider yourself an Austen fan as well. What's your favourite novel? Adaptation? Austen-esque piece of work?

Happy reading :)