It’s unfortunate that a modern retelling of Sense and
Sensibility felt the need to forgo, or actually decry, any sense of moral
restraint and instead delved deeply into American politics with a liberal
agenda being the end all/be all of feminism and liberated women. I’m so sick of
American politics that I could puke, and Ladies of the House did not
improve my mood one iota.
Turning Mr. Dashwood into a sleazy politician with a propensity
for young things in their twenties made me sick. Any chance I had for liking Daisy
and Wallis, and there were moments because I like the sister theme, was immediately
undermined by the next political undercutting maneuver. I liked Wallis a tick
more than Daisy, just a tick. She is the most accurate of the women and has a
very Marianne feel. And Atlas? Well, to be fair, he’s just as spineless as
Edward Ferrars, but at least Edward had a controlling family keeping him under their
thumb, unlike Atlas who’s just lily-livered. And heaven forbid that Blake should
turn against Wallis to run for his mother’s senate seat under a political
banner different from Wallis’ own! Horrors!
I did get the inspired by Sense and Sensibility vibes,
which was more than I was expecting, but at the same time, it didn’t impress
me. The author would have done much better if she had just steered clear of a
Jane Austen retelling and just written her political novel. If she had, I would
have never read it and we would have both been happy.
As it stands, I read it. I will never read it again. I would
rather re-read Sense and Sensibility for the umpteenth time than this
half-baked reboot chock full of political posturing.
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC. I wasn’t required to give a
positive review.
Well, I hadn't heard of this one, and now if I see it at the bookstore or library, I'll know to just pass over it!
ReplyDeleteI really, really wish I had liked it. There was so much potential. But I just can't get behind American politics and Jane Austen retellings Yech. At least sexual content was kept to the barest minimum, so that was something. But still, it is not a good book.
DeleteI hadn't heard of this one either, but I find that Austen re-writes are best avoided anyway. This one sounds truly awful.
ReplyDeleteSo far I haven't had very good luck with Austen retellings. The only one I thoroughly enjoyed was Pudge and Prejudice and that was because of the 1980s vibe.
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