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

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.

Had to put it aside, waiting for it to come back from the library. I have seen 9 out of 10 episodes of the TV series. Mrs Bennet and all Mary's sisters are caricatures. I wish that the story had permitted Mary to visit each sister in turn. Maybe that is in the book more? In the TV series she is mostly with the Gardiners, briefly at Pemberley with all the Bennets, no Wickham or Bingley, Darcy keeps to himself.

I cannot stand having Lydia constantly rag Lizzy about possibly being interested in Wickham. It's so inartful. I'm going to have to let the book go back to the library and watch the rest of the TV series before I attempt it again. Then I will be able to skim at will.

I have been watching the TV series which has skipped over most of the P&P pretty quickly and so I am impatient to get to the new post-P&P material in this book. Mary feels oversensitive compared to the character Jane Austen wrote, but on the flip side Lizzy seems unkind and Charlotte Lucas isn't much better.

Mary is a bit too much of a sad sack still. I feel like the author has changed her character because she thinks this is the only way we can empathize with her. I want more of the Mary who appears to enjoy herself even if others think she "wants taste".

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.