Comments on: On “Sequels”

By: bookchronicle

bookchronicle — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:15:16 +0000

Well said! Last year I had Austen-palooza in my living room where I (re)read all of her books. After finishing, many people pointed out the enormous amount of sequels and roughly a year later I still can’t bring myself to even read the summary on the back of the books. I suppose I’m in the mind set that if I’m going to read about Austen’s plot and characters I might as well just read Austen.

By: kegsoccer

kegsoccer — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:46:03 +0000

I haven’t read any that were truly great, although Pamela Aidan’s books- told from Darcy’s POV aren’t too bad. Obviously nothing can measure up to the original.

By: The Broken Man

The Broken Man — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:11:20 +0000

Eeww, really? What an awful thought. *shudders*

The Broken Man

http://theblogofabrokenman.blogspot.com/

By: danica

danica — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 04:34:39 +0000

Not Austen-related, but here is a horrifying side note: dreams about teeth dissolving (and other horrifying teeth/mouth issues, but I’ve particularly heard dissolving) are generally symptoms of sexual abuse. I doubt that makes it into many dream analysis books….

Edit by Christine: not applicable in my case, but thanks for the info. Other possible interpreations include failure of a small business, fear of losing face in public, the fortelling of a relationship break-up, etc., etc. Personally, I think most dream analysis is a bunch of hooey.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:04:53 +0000

Ugh, I hate them too; I’m an Austen purist. I read one of Linda Berdoll’s books, and guess what? She based her characters on those from the 1995 BBC miniseries, not the book itself! As I read reading, I kept thinking, are tese the same people? Plus, and even though I’m not squeamish about sex, I think Berdoll went a little overboard with the sex. And then she had Mr. Bingley (age 4o-something) have an affair with a teenager. Grr. It irks me when authors try to rip apart favored novels like this.

And I agree: where are the Sense and Sensibility spin-offs? The Emma spin-offs? Whatever.

By: glumpuddle

glumpuddle — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:38:43 +0000

I admit I’ve tried one “sequel’ to P&P. It was called Pemberley, if I recall correctly, and was recommended somewhere online. It was dreadful. It seemed the person who wrote it hadn’t READ the epilogue in the actual book. I didn’t finish the thing as I recall, it was so awful.

On the other hand, I’ve read books by Jill Paton Walsh that pick up on characters invented by Dorothy L. Sayers, and I’ve really enjoyed the Lord Peter Wimsey “sequels” – but Wimsey and Co. were already serialized by Sayers, whereas Austen wrote ONE stand-alone novel about Darcy and Elizabeth. So I think there’s a difference to begin with — series are possibly easier to continue by other authors.

By: kevin

kevin — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:01:27 +0000

I don’t mind so much when the novel’s written using characters and settings from the classics so long as it’s not marketed as a sequel or, worse, the reader is mislead into thinking it’s a book by a favourite author. You know the covers: FRED SMITH’s character Harry Jones in BRAND NEW BOOK by Jim Merkin. Those are utterly despicable.

By: Mrs S | Blue Archipelago

Mrs S | Blue Archipelago — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:31:00 +0000

I have read a prequel/sequel (can’t remember) to Wuthering Heights and Rebecca and seem to remember enjoying both of them. Budge Wilson’s Before Green Gables the prequel the the Anne series could have been penned by Montgomery herself. I suppose there are some decent ones in there if you look hard enough.

By: Amy

Amy — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:11:05 +0000

I see this stuff as glorified fan fiction.