Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld is a remaking of the classic Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, a story that I LOVE. Along with being a modernized version of the classic story, there is a play on the hit reality TV show The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, which is called Eligible in this book. I didn’t know what to expect with this one and I can happily say that I really enjoyed it!
Eligible mirrors the original Pride and Prejudice pretty well and stays true to the characters’ personalities, even using the same names to avoid confusion. It was a bit raunchy at times in a comical way, which I enjoyed and I was amused by the outlandish characters and their bizarre behavior. Filled with delightful surprises that I didn’t see coming (but were quite obvious after the fact) this is a fun read!
Some areas of the book were cheesy and a bit unrealistic as the plot was translated into the 21st century, but that’s to be expected with a retelling like this. For example, some portions of Darcy’s dialogue, which I really liked, seemed a bit too proper to flow naturally in a conversation today. Darcy can do no wrong in my mind though so it didn’t detract from the overall story for me.
While reading I was very aware of the narrator, which isn’t always the case when I read a story from the third person point of view. This is also how I felt throughout the original Pride and Prejudice though so the tone here matched nicely.
I definitely recommend reading the original Pride and Prejudice, or at least becoming familiar with the story, beforehand so that Eligible can have more meaning. I sped through this one and would happily recommend it to a friend!
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld releases on April 19, 2016.
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