Thursday 7 June 2012

Gay Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen & Kate Christie


Life for the Bennet sisters in the quiet rural County of Hertfordshire, England, is all set to change dramatically. A rich, single gentleman has arrived at Netherfield Park. Mrs Bennet is delighted. Surely one of her daughters will make Mr Bingley a good wife? After all, she does have five of them for him to choose from.

Elizabeth though has other ideas and marriage isn’t one of them. Elizabeth has been seeing Charlotte romantically for quite sometime. It’s only when Charlotte decides to marry Mr Collins, that Elizabeth must re-think her options. It’s not that Elizabeth doesn’t have choices. Men do ask for her hand in marriage, but not all women feel desire towards men, nor do all men feel desire towards women. There are some who prefer the company of their own sex. What will Elizabeth decide to do? Will Elizabeth ever find another to love?

First of all I’ll start by saying I haven’t read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, so I have nothing to compare this version with. I have no idea how much of the text is Kate Christie’s and how much is Jane Austen’s. I have seen the film version though, so I do know the original story. In my opinion, this book is as true to the original story as possible.

This is a wonderfully refreshing and cleverly written new take on a much loved classic. I think Kate chose exactly the right characters to write in as gay. She didn’t make the story all about the gay characters, which simply wouldn’t have sounded right. The dialogue is written in the style of the time the original book was written.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I’ve never been too fond of reading the classics, I much prefer the film versions. I’ve always found reading them hard going, if only they were all re-written with Kate’s skill, I may have enjoyed reading them more.

I would love to see this version of Pride and Prejudice made in to a film or even a TV drama.

Well done Kate on what must have been a very difficult and time consuming task to get spot on.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for drawing this one to my attention. I haven't read Pride and Prejudice either (though I should have!) but I might have to, if only to read this afterwards.

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    1. I hope you enjoy it CharmedLassie. It's a great read.

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  2. Pride and Prejudice was one of my favorite books in HS so I'm looking forward to reading this version

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    1. I'm sure you'll enjoy this version CAB.

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  3. Thanks for the kind words, Terry! Actually, it wasn't that difficult--dare I admit that I only spent about three weeks on the first revision (of three)? Austen's work is so wonderful that I couldn't bear to change much other than the obvious shifts in plot and individual "attachments," as Jane calls them. I'll let you know if Gay P&P ever finds its way to the big screen! - Kate

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    1. Wow, that was quick Kate. I hope GPAP is made into a film. I'd be first in line to watch it.

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