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Curtis Sittenfeld’s Austen Update Eligible Explores Modern Pride and Prejudices
And now for something completely different. Well, sort of. Fans of Curtis Sittenfeld have come to expect her deceptively lighthearted skewerings of American culture, from the boarding school drama of Prep, to the Washington elite in American Wife (with a heroine modeled on Laura Bush). Her latest should seem like a divergence—she takes on Jane Austen’s beloved Pride and Prejudice in modern American retelling Eligible. And while she remains relatively faithful to Austen’s much respun plot (see also: Clueless, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the Bollywood-ified Bride & Prejudice), Eligible stays true, too, to Sittenfeld’s signature subtly snarky take-down of tired American mores.
In Eligible, our dear Lizzy Bennet, 38, is a New York City magazine writer—a freelancer suffering all that state’s presumed indignities while penning feminist-ish stories for the fictional Mascara magazine—who’s having a not-quite-affair with a sort-of married man named Jasper Wick (shades of Mr. Wickham). Her older sister Jane, a nearly 40-year-old yoga instructor making peace with modern spinsterhood, has just started experimenting with IVF treatments, in preparation for becoming a single mother.
The pair return to their family’s crumbling Cincinnati, Ohio, Tudor house after their beleaguered, wisecracking father suffers a heart attack, and their opinionated, utterly marriage-obsessed mother is too busy chairing the next big charity shindig to look after him. There are three other Bennet girls still living at home who could manage the task—antisocial Mary, who locks herself in her room while working on her third online degree, and CrossFit-obsessed, unemployed millennials Kitty and Lydia—but none of them can be bothered.
Finding themselves back home, Jane and Lizzie quickly become their mother’s next project, especially when she discovers that former reality TV bachelor Chip Bingley—a hot doctor, naturally—has landed a gig at their local ER. He brings with him a high-end “manager” sister and cranky neurosurgeon pal Fitzwilliam Darcy. Meanwhile, tech genius step-cousin Willie Collins pays a visit, and might just be a great catch for Lizzie—at least according to her mom. You see where this is all headed, of course.
But let’s be clear: this ain’t your mama’s Austen. Sittenfeld’s version infuses the classic with modern-day pitfalls and pratfalls: Tinder hookups and sexting, online shopping addiction (Mrs. Bennet’s, of course), country club culture and big city snobbery, feminism and fertility. (At one point, step-cousin Willie says to our feisty heroine—after confessing an encounter with a prostitute, no less—“For someone like you, with your quality of genes, not to have kids would be a real waste.” Sigh.)
Things come to a head when hate leads to hookups, and the charming Chip leaves Jane hanging. Meanwhile, the girls discover there’s a reason the Tudor is crumbling. Their parents are broke, and the lifestyle to which they’ve all become very accustomed will soon be obsolete if they don’t do something about it—and fast.
Fast-paced, frothy, and fun, Sittenfeld’s story offers a strong commentary on the failings (including classism, racism, and homophobia) of the formerly upper-middle class in Middle America (without sparing the coasts, either). And while this Darcy might not have you swooning a la Colin Firth, Sittenfeld does pull off a charming modernization that can stand on its own stilettos.
Eligible is on sale today.