Well, I slogged my way through the rest of Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James. It remained dull and lifeless throughout its entirety. Even when the murder mystery part got started my enjoyment meter did not budge off zero. Why I kept reading it, I have no idea. I didn’t expect it to get better, though of course I was hoping to be proved wrong. Maybe I kept reading because I paid good money for the book and wanted to add waste of time to waste of money? Or perhaps I just wanted to serve as a warning to others?
If you are a person who regularly reads the Jane Austen spin-off books and genuinely likes them, I suspect you will like Death Comes to Pemberley. If you are among those, like me, who do not like the spin-off books, then stay away from the one. The fact that it is by P.D. James, a very good writer and a fan of Jane Austen, does not save the book.
The book begins six years after Pride and Prejudice ends. Elizabeth and Darcy have two children and no verbal sparring matches. In fact Elizabeth seems to have lost her sharp tongue entirely and become a settled and proper married lady who runs the household at Pemberley with a firm but gentle hand and much good sense. Jane and Bingley live nearby, have a number of children and go on in their happy and easy going Jane and Bingley way. Colonel Fitzwilliam is vying for the hand of Georgiana but she is in love with a newly invented character, Alveston, who is much closer to her own age. Everything goes on in a very proper way with feelings very properly hidden so there is nary a ripple in the very proper pond.
Until Lydia and Wickham show up and Mr. Denny is murdered in the woods of Pemberley and Wickham the apparent murderer. While this ruffles Darcy’s feathers and Elizabeth’s on behalf of Darcy, the pond still manages to stay so calm that the ripple caused by this unexpected event could have merely come from a passing breeze.
When the murderer finally confesses, my reaction was, huh? Followed immediately by, that’s dumb. And then as everything gets sorted out and slotted into place I got mad about something that I don’t believe a particular character would do even as an interesting and creative connection between that character and another was made. But that interesting bit was small and very late in coming and comes nowhere close to making up for the book as a whole.
I suppose Jane Austen spin-offs do two things. One, they indicate how popular Jane Asuten still is even after all these years and hopefully the popularity has introduced even more readers to Austen’s work. Two, these non-Austen books prove time and time again just what a brilliant novelist Austen is because none of the spin-offs can come even close to being a real Jane Austen novel. And unless Jane Austen herself writes a new novel, I will never, ever read another spin-off again.
Fortunately, my copy came from the library. This was my introduction to James and I doubt I’ll ever read another by her.
Is she too much a name author to be edited? There were at least three times in the book where she’d say something near the end of the chapter, then repeat it in almost the same words within a page or two of the beginning of the chapter. Maybe she’s just prone to repetition, but it struck me as if she were still playing around with where to put particular lines to best effect and no one bothered to clean up the draft she handed in.
I just stumbled upon this review. I have read quite a few spin offs but this book was terribly pointless. I have read another book by PD James which was way more impressive and original.
I honestly did not care who the murderer was , or as a matter of fact who the murdered man was.
Check out my review if you have time
http://shadesofwords09.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/death-comes-to-pemberley/
I haven’t yet read a spinoff – though I did read an interesting novel called Jane Austen in Australia but that was an imagining of what happened to her in the “lost” years of her life after her father died. I will probably read this one this year as my JA group, which has to date shown no interest in spin-offs, wants to do this.
My mum, who also has not read spin-offs, read this last week for her bookgroup. No-one liked it. Oh dear … but it just goes to show that people should stick to their own material. I can’t imagine PD James did it for the money — though that is probably why others who write swags of them do — so I guess she did it for the challenge?
Oh dear, I confess I’ve heard nothing but negative reviews about this book. How old is P D James now? I think she must be in her late 80s if not 90s. Given her age maybe this was, as the scientists say, one experiment too many.
Susan, you were far smarter than I to get the book from the library! I hope it doesn’t put you off James though, she actually is a good writer. I’ve read a number of her earlier mysteries and they are very enjoyable.
Vipula, yes, James writing her own original stories is quite enjoyable, but she just didn’t pull this one off. I ended up not caring either.
whisperinggums, warn your JA group that this is dreadful, they will be very unhappy with it. Watch the Lost in Austen movie or something. That was actually quite fun. I can’t imagine James did the book for the money either. I wonder if her publisher put her up to it and somehow convinced her it was a good idea?
Litlove, I think James is in her early 90s. Maybe we can chalk this one up to a bit of senility and pretend it never happened.
Oh dear. I like your point about spin-offs showing just how good Austen really is. I do usually admire P. D. James and wouldn’t want people writing her off because they thought this rather odd venture isn’t any good! (An Unsuitable Job for a Woman is my favorite of hers, though that is perhaps an idiosyncratic choice as it is probably her least conventional mystery.) Well, I’ll probably still give this a try, but this is certainly a discouraging report.
While I think I probably wouldn’t enjoy reading the book, I have very much enjoyed reading your post! Very clever! I really like PD James and want to read more of her Dalgliesh books but I stay clear from Austen spin-offs. When it comes to classic novels like P&P or Rebecca by Du Maurier (another book that has invited a follow up), you just can’t improve on the original. Better to keep happy memories of that perfect reading experience, or even better–give it a reread. Sorry it was a slog, but I do know how you feel about wanting to finish something you start.
I haven’t read this one, but I had heard so many negative things about it that I didn’t pick it up, even when I saw it on the bargain table at B&N. P.S. Do you think Jane Austen *might* right another herself? Maybe through channeling or the Ouija board? Can you imagine having to sit there holding the indicator while she spells out every word, chapter by chapter? One would need an entire case of Red Bull.
Did I just say “right” herself another novel? I really must watch those two martini lunches.
Rohan, I like James too so had expectations for the book that were then cruelly dashed. I’m not a mystery reader in general but I like her books because they are so often about more than the crime. if you do give Pemberley a try I hope you get on better with it than I did. Maybe if you don’t expect much then you won’t be disappointed
Danielle, glad you enjoyed the post! I’ve read a couple of her earilier Dalgliesh books and liked them very much and you know I’m not a big mystery reader. And you are right, there is no way to improve on the original classic, I should know better by now!
Grad, it’s on the bargain table already? That’s just sad. You never know, Austen might “right” another one herself especially if Grad is pushing the planchette after a two martini lunch
It’s interesting. Pre-pub I only heard good things about this book but post-pub? Horrible reviews.
sassymonkey, the pre-pub people must not have read the book very carefully
I’m so disappointed to hear this is so bad. I have never read an Austen spin-off, but I had hope for P.D. James’ contribution. Sounds like I’ll stay away instead…
rebecca, yup, stay away from this one. You are right to have not read an Austen spin-off.
Oh darn that Jane Austen for making 90% (99%?) of subsequent novels unreadable!