Lit Reader’s Reviews > Mr Darcy's Quizzing Glass: A Pride and Prejudice Variation > Status Update
Lit Reader
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Almost halfway into the story and Darcy & Elizabeth have not have any major interaction, it’s just Darcy looking at Elizabeth’s mystery glow and rushing away from her, as she loudly and sarcastically mocks him — it’s like a crass parody of the real P&P, like cross-dressing British Pantomine actors playing Lizzy and Darcy in a bad street performance of Pride and Prejudice…
— Mar 24, 2026 09:07AM
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Lit Reader
is 76% done
Everyone talks about Darcy’s fabled quizzing glass, even though he didn’t take it to Hertfordshire and many have never seen it.
In London Elizabeth finds out the magic of this object — she is very mad that Darcy relies on it to judge people, and she also very mad that he didn’t use the object on Meryton population because that was superior & judgemental. She can’t have it both ways !!
— Mar 24, 2026 12:26PM
In London Elizabeth finds out the magic of this object — she is very mad that Darcy relies on it to judge people, and she also very mad that he didn’t use the object on Meryton population because that was superior & judgemental. She can’t have it both ways !!
Lit Reader
is 9% done
The tone of the story is very strange so far >> the past set-up for George Darcy & the quizzing glass was ok; but then Darcy’s use of it is sloppy and random in the context of the story.
The start of the action in Meryton is counter-intuitive: the whole purpose of writing a story about a magical monocle is to re-write & affect events, and Darcy here leaves it back in London, and still calls Lizzy “tolerable” !
— Mar 24, 2026 07:00AM
The start of the action in Meryton is counter-intuitive: the whole purpose of writing a story about a magical monocle is to re-write & affect events, and Darcy here leaves it back in London, and still calls Lizzy “tolerable” !
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Mar 24, 2026 09:20AM
Yikes.
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I am having serious trouble following the logic of the story here >>The Bingles fawn over Darcy HARD, it’s crass and embarrassing, much more overt and aggressive than in the original book; Darcy goes through so much mental turmoil (missing his quizzing glass, wondering about Elizabeth’s magical glow, trying to avoid the Meryton populace), that he hardly does anything (!!), he stands there paralized as we read about his private unease.
The structure of the story is also convoluted; it relies heavily on references to P&P canon, so when there is a gap in the story one needs to assume that certain scenes tool place, because they are references to, but at the same time one wonders what’s supposed to be new and unique here if so much is summarized or skipped over (Darcy’s insult, Jane’s illness, Wickham meeting the Bennets, Collins arrival)… all of this happens off-scene, but it still happens, WHY ???? Why the need to follow every single feature of P&P if there is supposed to be a magical object to affect the world in the story and have fun by showing how that happens ?!
So many times I've been reading a variation, and it introduces some "required" scene/plot point from P&P even though it makes no sense in the story. How many times has Lady Catherine shown up to castigate Elizabeth just out of the blue when it was not needed in the story? I remember a story where Lady Catherine traveled from Rosings to Pemberley to berate Darcy and Elizabeth, only to have her leave after 20 minutes to go back to Rosings!! Lydia's elopement is included in so many stories that would have been better structured, better paced without shoehorning it in because it was not needed. A great example of this problem is "An Excellent Walker" After a truly exciting beginning with the French attacking Rosings, Elizabeth walks away from Darcy (who has just proposed - they are hopelessly compromised), and we have to suffer through a near retelling, including the Gardiners' visit to Pemberley. Sigh.
I'm discouraged by the quality of many recent releases from authors who have written much better stories in the past. Then there are the newer authors who feel they must churn out a full novel every six weeks.
Exactly !! Forcing every P&P character to make a cameo, or inserting every well remembered scene from the original into an adaptation is NOT required, it shouldn’t be, and it usually results in the worst performative adaptations.At this stage, it’s not even a wink, or a familiar trope — it’s a cliché and it substracts from the merits that a unique adaptation CAN have.
As you mentioned, often poor planning/structuring overlaps with basic lack of common sense or historical inaccuracy ; just like Lady Catherine showing up at Pemberley for a 20 min visit (I have read that exact scene too!), or in this case centering the whole plot on a magical device that’s NOT being put to use at all for the most part of the story…
It's so surprising, because based on the blurb, I would expect the quizzing glass to be central to the entire story! Unless it gets stolen, which would be a good plot development, I would expect Darcy to have it at Netherfield. What a strange direction for a plot supposedly centered around a magical device. Rereading the blurb, I notice it's described as "novel length" but it's only 187 pages.
Indeed the quizzing glass is central, but not much in any active role, but more as a permanent reference point and an obsessive presence in Darcy’s life — to the point in which people around him who just meet him, are already questioning him about his famed quizzing glass and about the state of his eyesight [ eye roll ]
