Saturday, March 17, 2012

Death Comes to Pemberley - P.D. James

Title: Death Comes to Pemberley
Author: P.D. James
File Size (Pages): 2100 KB (219)
Published: 2011
Challenges: 2012 Support Your Library, 2012 Historical Fiction
Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction
Edtion: E-book
Source: Library download

Description: The year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years. There are now two handsome and healthy sons in the nursery, Elizabeth's beloved sister Jane and her husband Bingley live nearby and the orderly world of Pemberley seems unassailable. But all this is threatened when, on the eve of the annual autumn ball, the guests are preparing to retire for the night when a chaise appears, rocking down the path from Pemberley's wild woodland. As it pulls up, Lydia Wickham - Elizabeth's younger, unreliable sister - stumbles out screaming that her husband has been murdered. (via Goodreads.com)


Thoughts: As much as I really liked the premise of the book, there was just something about the book that made it something lesser than I had anticipated.  The description of the book intrigued me when I heard about it during the fall run of books that were coming out and because I have really enjoyed the Jane Austen books, I thought I might enjoy this book as well.  While the premise of the book is intriguing and interesting, I would say that the book falls flat.  It has the essence of Jane Austen in the book,  but that is about the only thing that is good about the book.


I really honestly thought it was a book that was really hyped up despite what it offered and didn't really enjoy it and when I was able to sit down and read it, I found it fairly easy to read and found the storyline to be predictable, at least by the end.  I found that the book was dull and there wasn't really any of the action that inhabits Pride & Prejudice nor any of the humour that Austen injects into P&P; this just felt flat throughout the book.  I can understand what Ms. James was trying to do with the book, but honestly it just felt a little too contrived and therefore just seemed it was taking up space that I didn't need taken up.


Bottom line:  Unless you really feel like you are bored or just need a fix of the characters from Pride & Prejudice, I would probably wait with this one and read it on vacation.  And even then I didn't really felt it was worthy to be published.


Rating: 2/5


Pages for 2012: 7920

If you have read this book, what did you think about it?



No comments:

What Strange Paradise - Omar El Akkad

 Title: What Strange Paradise ( Bookshop.org ) Author: Omar El Akkad Published: 2022 (first published 2021) Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Li...