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Friday, August 28, 2009

Lost In Austen

This month I watched Lost in Austen on dvd for the Everything Austen Challenge. What a fabulous mini-series!!! I absolutely loved this show so much - it was just a great mix of contemporary life and Austenish drama. Basically, we have the character of Amanda Price, a modern day gal who absolutely loves everything Austen. Fed up with her love life and career going nowhere, Amanda finds Elizabeth Bennet in her bathroom. Wanting an escape from the real world, Amanda switches places with Elizabeth and soon finds herself living and breathing the pages of Pride and Prejudice. We meet the Bennet family, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley and his disagreeable sister, Caroline Bingley and the rest of the cast that make up Austen's wonderful novel, P&P. We see the dances, the courtship, the etiquette and dresses from Austen's pages come to life and find that Amanda's presence tends to alter the story a bit. We have Mr. Collins marrying Jane and Mr. Wickham being the innocent with regards to his relationship with Darcy's sister and of course we have Darcy falling in love with Amanda - not at all following the storyline Austen created. There are some great moments, like when Caroline Bingley hits on Amanda and tells her that she will marry Darcy because society deems that the right thing to do, however her passionate feelings for women will require a bit of secrecy. And we have Elizabeth enjoying her time in the real world - she is working as a nanny and is now acquainted with the Jane Austen novel , P&P. Its wonderful to watch Amanda attempt to fit into a world that she thought she loved when she was reading about it at home, but is quite unsure about once she is living it. And it is quite lovely to see the characters of Amanda and Darcy falling in love and fighting against it. The ending is superb! A must watch for any Austen fanatic!!

5 comments:

Maria Grazia said...

Good review and ...lovely blog! I too have LOST IN AUSTEN in my last post for the Everything Austen Challene titled SWAPPING LIVES & TIME TRAVELLING. This challenge has become a great occasion to meet very interesting people in the blogosphere.Cheers!

Anne Brooke said...

Yes, it was sooo fabulous!! I particularly loved the redemption of Mr Wickham - a great character.

:))

Axxx

Vanessa said...

How exciting - I thought this wouldn't be up to much but after your recommendation I will definitely seek it out! Thanks! And thanks also for all the lovely comments on my blog, which I love and appreciate! xx

Lisa said...

Wow am I reading mixed reviews on this one!

I have an award for you at: http://litandlife.blogspot.com/2009/08/ahh-im-blushing.html

Nadia said...

Maria Grazia- Thanks! I just checked out your post on Lost in Austen and thought it was great! And you are so right about meeting some interesting people on the blogosphere - that is why I love these sorts of challenges. Cheers!!

AnneBrooke- I know! Me too! I thought it was great how they redeemed Mr. Wickham's character in the show. I have heard that they are going to make another show like this one. I wonder what they will do this time round.

Vanessa - Thanks! Your blog rocks and that is why I continue to check it out - you can always count on reading some great posts! And definitely check it out when you have some spare time - its worth watching.

Lit and Life - I would wager some of those mixed reviews are from Austen fanatics, I have heard that this show angered them as did P&P&Zombies. Oh well, I loved both! And Thank you for the award - I am so excited!! My first blog award - how cool!!