So Very Dark

I have finished reading Pride and Prejudice and, though my copy was an ancient paperback that began falling to pieces the moment it was opened and I was often forced to juggle loose segments of story, I enjoyed it quite well.  I do now see what all the fuss is about and also feel like less of a charlatan of a romantic female bookworm type.

Also, I can finally spell prejudice correctly.

However, I suspect that by now, everyone has either read it or isn’t planning to do so at any point, as the story has been around for quite some time.  Therefore, for me to wax poetic on the comparitive vices or virtues found within those fragile pages would be an effort in futility at best.

So, I’m going to tell you about something else.  The something that actually bumped the book I have been discussing up on my reading list*.

BBC, as it is want to do, has released yet another truly lovely miniseries.  Well, they released it last year, but I just found out about it, so, to me it was news.

Lost in Austen is the story of Amanda Price, a 20th 21st century girl who longs for the societal intricacies, romance and courtly manners found in the pages of Jane Austen’s books.  Pride and Prejudice is her very favorite and she knows almost every line by heart.

That doesn’t make her any less surprised, however, when the investigation of a noise in her bathroom reveals Elizabeth Bennet standing in her bathtub.  Once she has gotten over her shock and determined that she probably isn’t simply having a nervous breakdown, she is convinced by Elizabeth to switch places, and suddenly finds herself trapped inside her favorite book and unable to get back.

She then proceeds to immediately cock everything up.

I won’t tell you more, as to do so would give away the story, but the show was quite delightful, with one exception–that in no way ruined the series.

My serious problem with this miniseries was Miss Price’s awkwardness in the first two episodes.  She doesn’t really know how to comport herself and keeps getting into trouble by saying or doing the wrong thing — after she recovered from the first shock of her arrival in a fictional setting, I felt that this lack of grace did not ring true in a girl who was a confessed Austenophile.  She had read P&P somewhere around a million times.  She should have had a superior understanding of how to comport herself, even if she is from the modern world.

Other than that gripe (which does not proceed throughout the story and is somewhat of a vehicle for plot events) I really, really enjoyed Lost in Austen.  It was cute.  It was romantic.  It was pretty.  Mr. Darcy was swoon-worthy and scowly.

And there is occasionally a bit more to certain beloved characters than the pages of their story reveals–rather than the characters bein two-dimentional carbon copies of the originals, hidden motives, flaws and virtues that are revealed as Miss Price tries to keep from ruining one of the most beloved romances of all time.

*One note:  I watched the first episode of four before reading P&P.  Then, wanting to know just what was going on in the subtext, I waited until after finishing the book before watching the rest.  If you are not familiar with the story, I would recommend getting that way before watching this, even if you have to take a shortcut and watch the Keira Knightly movie (although, from what I understand, you are far better off watching the Colin Firth miniseries.)  Lost in Austen would not be unenjoyable without doing so, but it is undeniably much more so when one catches all the subtle references and character sidenotes.