AWESOMELY AUSTEN - ILLUSTRATED AND RETOLD: JANE AUSTEN'S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Pride and Prejudice is my all-time favourite book, so to say I was excited about this retelling for younger readers, would be an understatement. Especially since the reteller was Katherine Woodfine, whose Sinclairs Mysteries I really enjoyed, because she created a long-gone era so vividly and wrote spunky, smart female characters.The writing borrows very heavily from Austen's original text, which is a good thing- best give young readers a flavour of the original- but cuts down on the complex sentence construction (also a good thing). The narrative is swift and pacy, and the characters are true to the originals and likeable too. I really liked how Woodfine has replaced some of the period terms with modern ones- e.g. "call on Mr Bingley" with "visit Mr Bingley and make friends", and has reworded some descriptions to give us better insight into the characters - so Mr Bennet 'grins' , 'likes to tease' and 'speaks mischievously'; Mr Darcy 'drawls'; Jane 'sighs dreamily' when she talks about Mr Bingley after the ball when they first meet, and 'never talks meanly about anyone'; and Miss Bingley 'looks cross'.What I didn't like as much, was that there was no depth to the characters, and no real character development. I don't remember if the abridged edition I had read at age 11 had it either, and have currently no way of knowing whether 10 year olds who read this book will miss it- but I do feel that the characters have been shortchanged. Darcy, particularly, suffers the most- he is like a carboard cutout who goes from being stiff and haughty to being stiff but secretly kind. His character, which had the steepest arc in the original, is completely edited in this one. Some of his best scenes are ruthlessly pared down- the proposal at the Hunsford parsonage is summarily dealt with, as is the embarrassed first meeting with Elizabeth at Pemberley.Also, while there is a line in the introduction about how society in Regency England was sharply divided by wealth (it still is, so no surprises there) and women were expected to marry young (which is no longer the case, and hence was needed to be explained), there is no further explanation about how marriage was the only option open for women of a certain part of society- they were too genteel to work for money, yet had not enough money to live independently as a single woman. This should have been touched upon, methinks.The illustrations are fun and cheerful cartoon-like renditions: all big eyes and pert noses and ready smiles. A sea difference from the detailed, grown-up black-and-white illustrations in the kiddie edition I'd read, that had ladies with perfect Graecian profiles and elegant gowns, rooms with graceful furniture, and gentlemen that looked like Rodin had made them! Those illustrations gave me a peek (maybe they got the period wrong, I don't know for sure) into how Regency England was, they gave the retelling weight and graivtas. But perhaps that is just me hanging on to old memories out of sentimental schamltz. Particularly clever and deft is the usage of a cat on the background- the Bennets seem to have a cat- to underline certain scenes. Have posted a few here, so you can see for yourself. :)In short- a worthy retelling, one that will act as a stepping stone to reading the original.

I've waited for years for this to be available and I finally jumped at the chance of buying them.A perfect retelling without dumbing down the reader. I'm glad these books arrived very fast, just in time for #JaneAustenJuly.

Lovely I enjoyed it very much pleaaw buy it.amaaaaaaaazing Will so get the rest of the books yaaaaaaay....wallet hurting lol

I purchased this for my 9 year old niece who mentioned that she liked the sound of P&P when I briefly told her the plot. This was a gift and she started reading immediately. She told me she found it funny, loved Lizzie and thought she was cool!I'd definitely recommend this - much better than some of the other books targetted at young readers.

Ich habe dieses Buch irrtümlich für ein weiters P&P Spin Off gehalten und erst beim lesen gemerkt, dass es sich um eine Art wiedererzählte Zusammenfassung handelt. Trotzdem bin ich alles andere als enttäuscht. Die Sprache und die Charaktere haben nichts von ihrer Originalität verloren, jedoch wurden die häufig ausschweifenden Dialoge und Briefwechsel in ein, zwei Sätzen zusammengefasst, was den Umfang des Buches wesentlich reduziert hat. Es handelt sich nicht um eine simple Kürzung sondern um eine neuformulierte Erzählung die sehr eng am Original bleibt.Die Zielgruppe sind hier vermutlich Mädchen zwischen 10 und 14 die vor einem allzu dicken Buch zurück schrecken würden. Und, wie ich hinzufügen muss, auch ältere Damen, die Austen lieben, wahrscheinlich auch schon auf deutsch gelesen haben, sich das englische Original aber nicht zutrauen oder sogar schon daran gescheitert sind....Auch im eBook sieht man die hübschen comichaften Zeichnungen die den Text etwas auflockern. In der Papierausgabe kommen diese bestimmt noch besser zur Geltung.Zu meiner eigenen Überraschung kann ich dieses Buch nur wärmstens empfehlen. 5 Punkte gibt es nur für das Original, aber fette 4 Punkte hat es sich verdient!!!!

It was a present for a girl who just turned 9 - and loathes reading! She finished it in 4 days, and now can't stop talking about Elizabeth, Mr Darcy, and the various characters of the book. She asked me for Emma and Sense and Sensibility. Pretty, simplified version of Austen's masterpiece, easier reading for younger kids compared to the original, some things still need to be clarified, but it was the perfect present. I liked the illustrations a lot, too.