Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
By: Jennifer Becton / Narrated By: Anne Day-Jones
Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
Good Cow! Apparently my take this second time around is vastly different to what it was… the FIRST time around…!
I was tickled to death that Charlotte Collins was one of two that were voted in for a Listen this week. I’ve always been fond of her character, and I’ve always thought Life and Reality were truly harsh to her. That Mr. Collins is mowed down by a mule cart almost immediately upon whenst the story starts? Oh huzzah huzzah Good-bye to the Unctuous Creep huzzah! And I did so immediately love Charlotte when, after the funeral, she settles down with Lizzie Bennet, and the two can’t help themselves: They chortle that Mr. Collins MUCH would’ve preferred to be mowed down by a snazzy phaeton with a set of matched horses. Gallows humor from the get-go? I’m THERE!
But then… things… started sounding…? Oh so familiar…?
And then? Well, I went over to Audible, and I found that not only had I listened to this story before, but I reviewed the danged thing on March 25, 2014. Eons ago! And apparently, not only was my review all glowing, like, but I was pretty goshdanged glib regarding the plot. I made it sound like Charlotte, now a chaperone for her little sister Maria, is set into a whirlwind of balls and gaiety when it most certainly is NOT.
It’s like this. Charlotte has just enough funds to continue a smaller life renting a cottage, rent-reduced by Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She does indeed become Maria’s chaperone, and she does indeed come into the way of admiring men, something she’s TOTALLY not used to. But there are a couple of unfortunate things that occur, one that leaves Maria heartbroken and mourning, and one that all but deSTROYs Charlotte’s reputation and peace of mind.
This is pretty much the whole book. A downer of a tale especially seeing as Charlotte has alREAdy had the misfortune of having wed Mr. Collins, plus they’d had a daughter who sickened and died. The shenanigans of a wealthy American, his bold banter, aren’t enough to add levity to this tale, and things hit a true downer of a note when Maria takes a page out of Charlotte’s book and Takes One for the Team as far as a marriage goes.
Still, author Jennifer Becton manages to write in the style of Austen, and the situations are true to the time period. It’s just that it’s all Bummer Material with Charlotte desperately dog-paddling so as not to go under. There’s a bit o’ romance, yes, but it’s slow going. At least, I must admit that what I’d initially thought was going to be one of those Enemies to Lovers type o’ things was NOT— it’s all written in such a way that we see that appearances are deceiving as to the true nature of the gentleman involved, and it’s very credible that relationships and situations should evolve as they did. So Brava for Ms. Becton and….
Booooo for narrator Anne Day-Jones…?!? Whazzaaa? Did I not offer this up for votes based on my ultra respect for Ms. Day-Jones (Yes indeed; I’d listened to a bit of Sinful Folk, and she’d had me captivated!)? Well, I gotta tell ya, while she does a decent American accent, her voices for the men in the story were wretched. The tones were low and flat, the men were growly, BO-ring! And THEN! Her voice for Charlotte, wonderful Charlotte! got all flat as the story progressed. I realize that Charlotte, with all hell breaking loose in her life, wasn’t feeling all that upbeat and peachy-keen, but really? MUST she sound like such a drudge? So, yup, I must throw out a Booooo for the narration as it all progressed, everything getting flatter and flatter, duller and duller.
Fear Not! ‘Tis not all CrudStorms for our dear Charlotte, and as this is a good old-fashioned Romance, we do get our Happily Ever After when all was said and done, so yay for the dear character.
It’s just that things were pretty miserable there for a loooong time, and this wasn’t the happy-pappy life I’d envisioned for Charlotte Post Mr. Collins.
Whoulda thunk it? Mr. Collins offed in the first paragraph and things only went downhill from there…?
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.