Sarah’s Reviews > The Other Bennet Sister > Status Update

Frustrated that not only did we spend so long foreshadowing Mary's disappointment when she wanted to be closer to her father, she anticipated his reaction and hid the gift without even offering it to him rather than bear it.

Annoyed by Mary's thought processes. Why wouldn't she have been aware that her mother would not approve and why? Why has she determined that her error was caused by feelings and passion?

I wish Mary's personality was not all about her being plain. There seems to be no reason why Lizzy considers Charlotte her best friend and shuns Mary when the focus is on appearance.

How old are the girls at the point where Lydia brings the news about the Meryton Ball? Surely the younger girls are not considered out yet? I will have to check how Austen handled it but I thought she mentioned the impropriety.

I am growing exasperated with Mary's thoughts, or at least with the narrator's insistence on her unhappiness. Her distance from her sisters seems unnatural or at least oversimplified. And it annoyed me that she thought of her seeing the oculist as defiance when what happened was she told her mother she needed it and her mother disclaimed all responsibility but permitted it.

I was looking forward to this and am still planning to watch the TV adaptation but I feel like Mary is getting set up as too downtrodden in this book. Maybe I haven't paid enough attention but Mary isn't usually presented as retiring. What's with her depression over being plain driving her to avoid her sisters and dress in dull colours?