Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Enough fun to finish it, but definitely not Austen. At the same time, P.D. James was able to fill in the back story of this book in such a way as to provide some of her commentary on what was going on at the real Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice. And her commentary was pretty insightful. At the same time, going in the other direction, the “reveal” seemed to me too much like explaining to everyone how you did the crossword puzzle.
SPOILER ALERT for those who insist on SPOILER ALERTS: In this book, Wickham is acquitted on a charge of murder, and then does the only thing that a man of his character would have been able to do, which is to become an American.
Tried to read this a while back and failed. I like P.D. James but something about the way she imagined Jane Austen being rude to her in the front matter chilled me. I quit after a chapter or two.
I remember thinking I’d wished she’d listened to that voice…super disappointing and I’m a PD James fan too.
PD James was my favorite crime novelist. I loved her moral clarity, which often paralleled that of Austen herself. I got to meet PD James once, and she was warm and friendly–I had thought she would be utterly formidable. Austen is my favorite novelist overall, and of her six works, “Pride and Prejudice” is my most beloved. I had hoped this new book would be a treat but, for me, it was more like a travesty. It seemed to me that James took Elizabeth and Darcy, and reworked them into her own typical characterizations of morally decent people. The witty… Read more »
I had pretty much the same reaction when I read it not long after it came out, and you put your finger very nicely on some of the things that bothered me. I would say that this kind of “tribute” is rarely done well. I think Jill Paton Walsh failed similarly in her attempt to finish Dorothy Sayer’s unfinished Lord Peter Wimsey novel, “Thrones, Dominations.” The exception in my book is Pamela Aidan’s “Mr. Darcy, Gentleman” series, which reimagines Pride and Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view. Part of the strength of it, I think, is that she lifts the… Read more »
I should have guessed that you would enjoy Dorothy Sayers! She was my top favorite as a young girl, but the sophistication and worldliness that appeal to you at 20 are not quite so alluring down the road. I realize that I am never going to need specialized knowledge about how to decant the Cockburn ’08, and I no longer even try to work out French quotations, cyphers, and train schedules! Furthermore, I can hardly think of a worse worldly fate than to be married to Lord Peter to whom I would have most undutifully said, “I don’t care if… Read more »
As if you had to tell me who Nigel Havers is! ;-) I grew up watching Ian Carmichael as Wimsey long before I ever read the books, so I have a soft spot. But objectively speaking, he was rather miscast. Edward Petherbridge was a fairly good choice for the later installments — he fit the older Wimsey pretty well, but I doubt he would have made a very good young Wimsey. I agree, Nigel Havers would have made an excellent young Wimsey! I confess I do like Gaudy Night — I think it’s the appeal of all the different oddball… Read more »
Gaudy Night is also my favorite and I am always surprised that so few liked it. It dealt with so many important issues in our lives as women. Also, I loved that she built in her experiences at Oxford. I only recently noticed that her translation was the first Penguin Book….did we talk about that before Jill, or was this something I meant to bring up to you when I was ill?…I also liked the Busman’s Honeymoon and my least favorite is the Nine Tailors, yet that is the one which comes up on reading lists…go figure.
I agree with you. When I first read it in my teens, I took things like academic and intellectual integrity very seriously. It struck me as quite reasonable that a man should starve rather than write deliberately bad poetry, and that a whole family should face ruin because somebody deliberately fudged a footnote. And now I wonder about that in the cosmic scheme of things. I wonder if Sayers did too, and if she ever experienced any conflict of values between her religion and her reverence for academia. I remember that throughout the novel we are told, Essentially nothing matters… Read more »
There’s the third option — a man should dig ditches rather than write deliberately bad poetry. I think that would be my preference. Metaphorically speaking, of course. I doubt that it’s a real world choice where the only options are bad poetry or starvation. Deliberately producing bad craftsmanship should be avoided at almost any cost, but not the ultimate one. As for the academic integrity thing, when you think about it, the problem there was as much one of class as of academic scrupulousness. I think I’m willing to defend the idea that the academic community cannot tolerate that kind… Read more »
Were they truly prevented from living/working in a lower class? The House of Mirth springs to mind…
THIS is the kind of conversation I like to see in a comments thread!
Probably not physically prevented, but they were convinced it could not be. They so strongly believed they were “ruined” if they could not make a professional living that it was as though it was really the case.
Yes, that’s why I love the lecture they get at the end. Now knowing that she had a child emphasizes the struggle she must have been going through in her real life. When Katecho described the faith it takes to be a submissive wife rather than only focus on our personal academic/artistic pursuits and relying on our own intellect, really hit home for me, like that book did.
I forgot to say that I’m not crazy about The Nine Tailors. A little bell ringing goes a very long way! But I think my least favorite is Five Red Herrings–between the dialect, the train schedules, and the interminable talk about trout fishing, I found myself neither knowing nor caring who died or who killed him, let alone why!
You’re right, but he was willing to let Sir Julian Freke kill himself (only the man spent too long writing about how clever he was), and he let Tallboy be murdered in the street rather than handed over to justice! I like Gaudy Night very much as well, but I think the reason I like Advertise so much is that I used to be a copywriter. She captured the atmosphere so well of sitting around with a bunch of talkative people who are being paid to come up with silliness! I
That’s right, I guess he was willing to let Sir Julian kill himself. I only remembered that he didn’t succeed, but that’s right, he did “give warning.” Yes, I liked the copywriter aspects of MMA, because I’ve always wanted to be one — I didn’t dislike the book at all, just that if I had to pick a “bottom” choice that would be it. I also really like The Five Red Herrings, because I love the way the story spins out, switching back and forth from one herring to the other until the apparently most unlikely one turns out to… Read more »
I only watched the BBC miniseries and had a similar opinion. I don’t think Lizzy laughed or made me laugh once through the whole thing, which rather unLizzies her…as if Lady Catherine had somehow managed to temper her wit and vivacity after all. (I also couldn’t quite get past Bessie Higgins in the role.) But although James doesn’t quite get Austen, at least she doesn’t hate her as some of her adapters do (e.g., P&P 1940, MP 1999, Lost in Austen), so I’ll likely watch it again sometime when I need background entertainment for crocheting.
I agree. Did you have the misfortune to see the 2007 British production of “Mansfield Park?” If I were not a Canadian and therefore able to suppress all strong feeling, I would have been throwing my tea service at the TV screen. Playing the delicate and refined Fanny–whose conscience was pretty crippling even by Austen standards–was Billie Piper who looked as if she needed her hair brushed and her bodice covered up from start to finish. This Fanny pouts adorably, romps hoydenishly, and spends a lot of time looking as if she could use a cold shower. She would have… Read more »
Nope. I knew Billie Piper was no Fanny, so could not be tempted. Sylvestra Le Touzel remains the only reasonably acceptable on-screen Fanny thus far.
When I read that Jennifer Ehle was in the cast of a recent decidedly non-Austenian film, my response was, “Are the fifty shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?” It’s sad that she didn’t internalize enough of Lizzy to make better script choices in her future career, but at least the woman could act the part!
I couldn’t bear two full episodes of the miniseries. Lizzy without laughter? That’ll pollute the shades of Pemberley.
To Baroness James’ credit, the miniseries was MUCH worse than the book.
They always are!
Not always always. ;^) I’d rather watch any of the Elizabeth Gaskell adaptations than read the books!
And I specifically meant “much worse than” in this case, not merely “not as good as.” The book was “not very good” by Austen/James fangirl standards, though probably on a more standard scale, it was “pretty good.” But the miniseries was terrible. Being a James fan, it looked to me like they ignored the ways in which the book was a departure from the usual James oeuvre, and filmed it as though it was “if PD James wrote a novel about new characters in a Regency setting” rather than the rather flawed Jane Austen tribute James wrote. James novels tend… Read more »
I think because I’ve never read the book, nor any other P. D. James, I’ve no basis for being offended on her behalf. And since the series did not offend me on Jane’s behalf, I could watch with equanimity. I also can’t remember a single of the details you mentioned. Mind like a steel sieve…
I did love North and South, but never read the book. The love/hate relationship in it may have even been more interesting than in the BBC P&P. 20 years on, and all of Darcy’s staring seems a bit creepy to me :)
Absolutely no kidding! The only exception I would make is her biography of Charlotte Bronte. She didn’t have access to a lot of information that we have, so we don’t learn much about her time in Belgium. But her depiction of Charlotte’s early years, the family life, the fantasy world inhabited by all the children, and their sufferings at the Clergy Daughters’ School is brilliant. She was made to soften the latter a little, which is a real shame.
BTW, either James or Sayers is my favorite crime novelist. James probably wins just because she produced more volume and so has given more total pleasure.