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dearemma's review
4.0
This book was a delightful read. Nice and simple. There is nothing groundbreaking about it, there are free fanfictions that might give you more pleasure than this one (tho, perhaps, not for northanger abbey, fanfictions writers really ignore everything except p&p, don't they?).
But, if you are a Northanger Abbey fan who has read pretty much all of the fanfics out there, and you want something to enjoy for a few days, this book is perfect.
Though, I must say, can authors stop trying to write text speak? You guys really have no idea how teenagers communicate.
But, if you are a Northanger Abbey fan who has read pretty much all of the fanfics out there, and you want something to enjoy for a few days, this book is perfect.
Though, I must say, can authors stop trying to write text speak? You guys really have no idea how teenagers communicate.
balletbookworm's review
3.0
Underwhelmed, I must say. Having read through a few Carol Jordan/Tony Hill thrillers I was looking forward to seeing Val McDermid's take on Jane Austen's Gothic parody.
And it was boring, even cliched at times. It walked in lock-step with the original plot - even to giving Cat a weird obsession with thinking Vampires are real. Um, no. And Bella's slang felt put on, as though it were teen dialogue imagined by a pokey adult thinking about what he/she might say were he/she a teen.
And Cat is too young. 17. And Henry Tilney seems to have been "devilling" for several years making him 25-ish. I don't know too many law students/lawyers who decide they want to date a high school student. :/
And it was boring, even cliched at times. It walked in lock-step with the original plot - even to giving Cat a weird obsession with thinking Vampires are real. Um, no. And Bella's slang felt put on, as though it were teen dialogue imagined by a pokey adult thinking about what he/she might say were he/she a teen.
And Cat is too young. 17. And Henry Tilney seems to have been "devilling" for several years making him 25-ish. I don't know too many law students/lawyers who decide they want to date a high school student. :/
emilymorgan02's review
3.0
I don't know how to rate this. Northanger Abbey is hard to translate into a modern world and at times I still wasn't convinced we were in the modern world. A lot of these adaptations end up creating caricatures of characters, rather than a believable plot with believable people. I enjoyed it enough to finish it but didn't love it.
bookhoarding's review
3.0
If you haven't been keeping up with The Austen Project then allow me to debrief you (dirty). The series is spearheaded by popular authors and features re-imaginings of Austen's originals. I was lucky enough to get a chance to read Val McDermid's interpretation of Northanger Abbey via Netgalley.
In this modern interpretation Cat Morland gets a modern makeover. The tomboy with her head-in-the-clouds gets whisked off to the Edinburgh Book Festival and runs into a "wolfish" Henry Tilney. Instead of the gothic romance fantasy of the original, Cat begins convincing herself that Henry is a vampire, relying on the paranormal romance novels she loves to read as evidence. Along the way she gets immersed in the festival community by Bella Thorpe, who we learn is out for money from her very first conversation with Cat.
I'm on the fence about this interpretation. I think it made perfect sense to use paranormal romance as the modern gothic romance, but I felt that that overall plotline fell short. I know that Cat is a teenager enthralled with fantasy and therefore a little more apt to believing the unnatural is natural, but the vampiric nods didn't seem consistent or convincing. I think it serves as a great device to show Cat's growth and awakening to her own immaturity, but it doesn't take center stage until later on and therefore felt a little lacking and hurried.
I enjoyed the drama and intrigue around the festival and the incorporation of modern apps and gadgets into character interactions. Cat looks up Henry's profile on Facebook and Bella posts photos of her fabulous excursions constantly. Johnny Thorpe likes fast cars and Henry is a lawyer-in-training who has aspirations for a much different career path.
As a novel interpretation (ha) this is creative and fantastical. As satire this doesn't quite make it.
In this modern interpretation Cat Morland gets a modern makeover. The tomboy with her head-in-the-clouds gets whisked off to the Edinburgh Book Festival and runs into a "wolfish" Henry Tilney. Instead of the gothic romance fantasy of the original, Cat begins convincing herself that Henry is a vampire, relying on the paranormal romance novels she loves to read as evidence. Along the way she gets immersed in the festival community by Bella Thorpe, who we learn is out for money from her very first conversation with Cat.
I'm on the fence about this interpretation. I think it made perfect sense to use paranormal romance as the modern gothic romance, but I felt that that overall plotline fell short. I know that Cat is a teenager enthralled with fantasy and therefore a little more apt to believing the unnatural is natural, but the vampiric nods didn't seem consistent or convincing. I think it serves as a great device to show Cat's growth and awakening to her own immaturity, but it doesn't take center stage until later on and therefore felt a little lacking and hurried.
I enjoyed the drama and intrigue around the festival and the incorporation of modern apps and gadgets into character interactions. Cat looks up Henry's profile on Facebook and Bella posts photos of her fabulous excursions constantly. Johnny Thorpe likes fast cars and Henry is a lawyer-in-training who has aspirations for a much different career path.
As a novel interpretation (ha) this is creative and fantastical. As satire this doesn't quite make it.
tickledlemonade's review
2.0
I feel more mislead by this book's description than Austen's characters must have felt in being pruned into the 21st century.
zarco_j's review against another edition
2.0
I tried, I really really tried to enjoy this but I couldn't bear to read more than half way. I've read others in the Austen Project but this one didn't work. The trouble is I can't put my finger on why, there was just something missing. Vague, I know, but it's the truth.