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

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?

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.

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.