ELIGIBLE For Book Clubs
Retellings of well-known books make good reading club fare. This month, Slate Audio book club reconvened to discuss Eligible (PRH/Random House; BOT; OverDrive Sample), Curtis Sittenfeld’s “modernization” of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, part of the ongoing Jane Austen Project (a similar project, that reimagines Shakespeare, recently launched with Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl).
Reviews for Eligible were mixed, but it was a #1 LibraryReads pick for April and it debuted on the NYT Hardcover Best Seller List at #5. The Slate panel calls it “pure pleasure” and “keenly observed half-satire/half-wish fulfillment” that provides a wonderful way to reconnect to Jane Austen and appreciate Sittenfeld’s earlier novels, American Wife and Prep.
They particularly appreciate the re-creation of Elizabeth Bennet as a modern character and the author’s “feats of re-soulment” in translating an 18th century character to the modern age, cleverly incorporating reality TV as the modern equivalent of social climbing.
Dismissing critics who did not respond positively to the book, they say the NYT ‘s Michiko Kakutani “missed the point” and was just “mean” (as we our reported, Kakutani’s NYT Book Review colleague presented a much different opinion).