Sarah > Recent Status Updates

If Miss Bingley's use of truth universally acknowledged was bad, Mrs Bennet's substitution of search for want was somehow worse. Too on the nose and yet also not understanding what makes it clever.

I wish that Mary had incorporated Mrs Gardiner's advice into her thinking and decided that she had to speak first because of Mr Hayward's diffidence.

The TV series gave quite a different impression. The book is much clearer that Mary prefers Mr Hayward. Mrs Gardiner warns her that he might be slower to declare himself and not to think that means he isn't interested.

I didn't think it seemed proper for Mr Ryder to run into Mary walking alone and after taking her to enjoy an ice letting her walk home alone. Or for Mr Hayward to comment hypothetically in front of the Gardiners on how nice it would be if he and Mary were married and eating greengage jam. I disliked Jane and Mrs Gardiner telling Mary they hope for her to marry.

Haaaated Miss Bingley's reference to "a truth universally acknowledged" in her attempt to put down Mary.

I wound up watching the entire TV series while waiting for my library hold. I wasn't always sure early on which was Mr Hayward and which Mr Ryder as the actors had a superficial resemblance. Mr Ryder has now been introduced in the book as fair-haired where the actor was dark.

No. I refuse to believe that Mary Bennet would be ashamed to show her knowledge. γνώθι σεαυτον.

It still feels like the author doesn't understand Austen's Mary Bennet and has changed her into a character whose problems she knows how to solve. Mrs Gardiner is beautifully wise and kind and tries to thread the needle of saying it's OK not to care about your appearance but if you do care about your appearance you should not refuse to improve it.

Picked this up because PBS is airing the series again. I think I like the way the novel starts better, in medias res rather than with the information that Cassandra is rushing uninvited -- in fact specifically urged not to come -- to a deathbed. But I am puzzled by the claim that the reverend's children had refused to inherit his living.

The end of Mary's visit at Longbourn was pleasanter than I feared but I still think it was hard on Charlotte and soft on Mr Collins. One thing I think is missing is an awareness that society is part of the problem and not just all of these absolutely hideously unkind people. Also Mr Darcy could absolutely afford to support Mary so she doesn't need to be a governess. She should not have had to borrow £ for the coach.

So Mary has observed that Mr Collins is unhappy because Charlotte doesn't love him. Austen's Mr Collins proposed to Lizzie without any encouragement and switched to Charlotte very quickly. It is interesting to consider the husband's feelings but it feels a bit unfair to Charlotte as presented. Did she entrap him with false sentimentality?

Does Austen suggest that Longbourn was not well-maintained when the Bennets lived there?

Interesting to note that in the book, Caroline Bingley insults Mary's wardrobe before Mary has ventured to get things to her own taste. In the TV show I think it was after?

I should have known better than to expect anything pleasant of Mary's visit at Pemberley. Of course she was too oversensitive to enjoy herself and could not bring herself to confide in Lizzie or seek advice. It seems odd that she did not choose to write a letter if she could not bring herself to speak.

The little keepsake book that Mary made for her father and then did not give to him because she decided he would despise it has resurfaced. Spoiler: she is sad because now she can never give it to him. It has been two years. She could have thought about it when he gave her the strawberries after her singing humiliation, BUT NO.

Now Charlotte is oversensitive, bursting into tears because Lizzie doesn't approve of her engagement to Mr Collins. And Mary empathizes because she was so distraught when she realized that Lizzie had been so embarrassed by her singing that she had led Mr Bennet to publicly humiliate her by asking her in front of everyone to stop.

Must have overstated the last update.

The author has gone too far in trying to make Mary relatable, I think. Mary should not be anxious and over-sensitive about her piano playing and singing. The effect is to make everyone else brutally insensitive.

Picking this up again after watching the TV series. I find myself impatient to get beyond the P&P story. But I should be prepared for the characters to not be at their best given how unpleasant they were in the show.

Found the infamous error where someone is apparently knitting with sewing needles.

It feels too late in the story for any twist reveal.

The scene where Natalie's mother revealed that she had in fact divorced Natalie's father after her own infidelity didn't make any sense. It doesn't explain why the father couldn't be a part of his children's lives. Or offer any insight into Natalie's unkind personality.

Why would Shannon have a camera with film in it?

Why does Natalie do laundry in the 19th century using cold water?

Why does Mary think gray water left over from bathing is suitable for laundry?

How much laundry are they doing? I get the feeling she thinks that things will be washed after each wearing.

Is the modern-sounding dialogue in the historical Yesteryear evidence that it is fabricated or just a lack of effort from the author?

How is it possible that both Natalie and the people she despises are so despicable?

Natalie is worse and worse. The only character I don't hate is Mary. I don't see any way out of this. And I don't believe in any aspect of Natalie's characterization. Or Caleb's. Or Reena's.

Why did no one tell me this book was in the horror genre?

If hypothetically Natalie is capable of learning and changing, is the moral that she should expand her sexual repertoire?

I hope I don't have to wait too much longer for the thrilling revelation about what Yesteryear really is. All of the characters are portrayed as horrible.

Really disliking the structure going back and forth between Natalie's youth and her foray into the 1850s or thereabouts.

Puzzled as to why her eldest daughter in the 1850s seems to know that she doesn't understand anything.

Are both Natalie and her enemies bad? In the first section it seemed like her prejudice against the Angry Women was just smug but her first day at (inexplicably) Harvard was truly nightmarish.

Rather broad and unsubtle.

And the recap of Aunt Sadie describing childbirth as the worst pain in the world but one forgets between times is just so clumsy and inelegant compared to Nancy's version. When something is so delicious don't spoil it.

I don't feel very persuaded by the argument that of course Sydney was a loving mother because it's just "her daughters found her distant, but their cousins say Sydney was a better mother than their own" without any specific evidence. There is also a muddled claim that mothers are always better at caregiving than nannies, so mothers who delegate care shouldn't be surprised the children suffer. Wow.