Last night I watched Lost in Austen, which I enjoyed, although it surprised me that I did. It’s fairly obviously a clever twist on the Life on Mars idea, someone thrown into an environment that they weren’t expecting.
Basically if you didn’t see it (and there’s bound to be a repeat, or you can catch up on some online player) it’s about a girl who is obsessed with Pride and Prejudice: she reads the book almost constantly and knows it intimately, almost line for line.
It was pretty good – ITV definitely seem to be stealing the crown when it comes to historical drama – the
characters from P&P were pretty close to my imagining of them. I personally liked Darcy in this a lot, he very much fit into my image of him much more than Colin Firth ever did – but then I’m not a Darcy-phile (I’ll probably have my membership of many romance blogs rescinded as I admit this) and the only incarnation I’ve ever really liked was David Rintoul in the 1980 version. (see picture, right) This Darcy is very much like him, so that’s probably why I liked him. I was never convinced by Firth, he was FAR too soppy for my money.
Anyway, I did enjoy it and for the most part the 19th century characters kept in character and fitted the language nicely. There were a couple of slips that I noticed but nothing major. I don’t have the instant “eye” for period fashions so I can’t comment on that. What I majorly objected to though was that the main character, Miss Price, was set up to be the complete P&P geek, knew the book so intimately she says that the words almost spoke themselves when she was reading, and yet when she was thrown into the P&P world she seemed to behave like a complete ignoramus. I don’t mean not knowing how to dance a quadrille, but simply making the sort of blunders that you think she’d never make. Kissing Bingley, showing her pubes to Lydia (probably corrupting Lydia completely) that sort of thing. I realise that this is deliberate and set up for comic effect, but as the writers had tried so hard to convince us that she was the expert on the book it didn’t quite gel. It might have worked better if it was someone just coming to the book for the first time and loving it a great deal.
Anyway – if you didn’t see it, try and get hold of it, because it’s fun, and something interesting on the box for a change. I’m thinking I’ll probably put a post up after each episode to discuss.
And for a finisher: Which book would you love to be Lost In? And which would you really really NOT want to be?
I haven’t seen the show, but I think I know what the producers were going for by having her make such mistakes. It’s easy to memorize a book, but memorization doesn’t imply that you’ve internalized the attitudes in the book. For all of her love of Austen, Miss Price isn’t from the Regency but from our time, and she makes mistakes.
As for what book I’d rather be lost in…that’s a tough question, because most books that are interesting to me involve worlds with a lot of dangers that I probably wouldn’t survive without magical abilities and two good legs. I do know that if I were going to pick any fictional world, I’d be well-advised to pick one where the people spoke English–preferably a version at least somewhat similar to mine.
I can’t believe I missed this! When I saw the advert I made a (mental) note to watch it. Obviously the brains are decaying faster than I’d realised!
Sounds good though; maybe they’ll repeat it on ITV2?
Merry
=^..^=
Which book would I like to be lost in? Oooh. I immediately thought ‘Lord of the Rings’ because that’s one of my all-time favourites, but then I thought, ‘hang on, giant spiders, erupting volcanoes, dragons…’ On second thoughts, maybe something gentler? LOL
Perhaps something like Mary Stewart’s ‘Thorneyhold’ would be nearer the mark. It’s a lovely sweet love story, and it’s full of white magic and the power of nature. Or perhaps the fourteenth century sections of Du Maurier’s ‘House on the Strand’, which always have the power to draw me inside them even from the page.
I finally realized that the show is based on a ‘choose your own adventure’ book. That makes more sense of the character’s lack of insight into the society, I think. She’s an Everyreader rather than a real Janeite.
I’d probably like to be lost in The Left Hand of Darkness. I’d like the chance to be a different gender every month and none at all inbetween
I confess to missing this the other night – I watch “God on Trial” on BBC2 instead – but I did want to add that I thought Matthew Macfadyen made a good Darcy in the Keria Knightly version.
Ahh, Keria Knightly……….. (loses focus – again)
Oh, and I’d love to get lost on the Discworld – it’d be a hoot.
I enjoyed it as well. Though I was wondering were the other Bingley sister and her husband Mr Hurst were. Will they show up yet, were they deleted by the P&P edition Amanda Price reads? Who knows.
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Ha! I love David Rintoul as Mr. Darcy too. He’s my favorite. With all the versions of Pride and Prejudice that one is my favorite. I remember seeing it in a discount video pile and immediately bought it
From what I’m seeing, there is a incongruity between Miss Price being a P&P expert but acting like a complete buffoon. It doesn’t wash for me. I just like the period dramas and, even with its flaws, I’m curious how gets them all back to the intended end.