Vanity and Vexation: A Novel of Pride and Prejudice

Vanity and Vexation: A Novel of Pride and Prejudice
by Kate Fenton

Vanity and Vexation: A Novel of Pride and Prejudice
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Book Summary Information

Author: Kate Fenton
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-07-01
ISBN: 0312328028
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Book Reviews of Vanity and Vexation: A Novel of Pride and Prejudice

Book Review: A Real Disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars

I am stunned at the great reviews I read for this book. I was expecting so much more. Instead, I found it disjointed as a story and the characters not particularly intriguing at all. I grew very weary of the saturation of alcohol, tobacco and foul language. Jane Austen would never have presented her characters in such a crude fashion. Being blindsided in the middle of the book with the "novel within a novel" twist and I felt like JR just woke up from another dream. Add to all this the obscure literary references sprinkled throughout and you've got, in Ms. Fenton, an author who, not only can't find an original idea, but she appears to have an ego to rival that of the Bingley sisters. The modernization of Pride & Prejudice should have ended with Bridget Jones. Vanity and Vexation is just another cheap attempt to capitalize on Jane Austen's name.

As to the claim that those of us who are giving an opinion on this book are not understanding that "this is not Austen and doesn't claim to be" so, therefore, are unqualified to use this analogy - all I can say is that if an author doesn't want to be compared to Jane Austen then they shouldn't rip off her stories and include the words "Pride & Prejudice" in the title.

Summary of Vanity and Vexation: A Novel of Pride and Prejudice

A clever and cunning modern day retelling of the adored Jane Austen novel

"Tall, dark, and arrogantly handsome---not to mention distinguished, powerful, and rolling in money. Mr. Darcy? No, that's just the woman director of Pride and Prejudice," reports Nicholas Llewellyn Bevan, impoverished novelist and occasional (reluctant) journalist, when a TV production company trundles into his sleepy North Yorkshire valley. Amusedly he watches these glamorous invaders combine the filming of Jane Austen's romantic classic with the much less modest pursuit, off-camera, of real-life romances with the locals.

Under his very nose, his bashful handsome neighbor John is plucked out of a village dance by the famously gorgeous (and wealthy) leading actress, Candia Bingham, with whom he at once falls completely in love. Our would-be hero manages only to trip over the black-booted foot of the intimidating and imperious director, Mary Dance. So he's amazed---and a little bit alarmed---when her steely eye seems to be straying his way.

A witty and entertaining update on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Austen fans old and new will adore Vanity and Vexation's modern take on her sublime blueprint of the romance game complete with sex, money, and power. With an assured and respectful hand, in the context of the contemporary world, Kate Fenton has penned a riveting story with a hilarious twist.

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