There is simply no way to talk about this book without first explaining the youtube series that started it all. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was a clever and accurate retelling of Pride and Prejudice in the twenty-first century. The show starred Lizzie Bennet, a twenty-five year old grad student living at home and trying to find a way to pay off a mountain of student loans while being constantly put on the spot for her relationship status by her mother and her sister Lydia.
I was introduced to this series while they had aired about half of the story online. It was a brilliant and inspirational story platform. Lizzie not only had a tumblr and facebook alongside her youtube channel, but many of the other main characters had twitters, youtube videos and facebook pages. You felt like you were a part of the story. You could ask the characters questions, and follow their conversations via social media. It was a new way to tell stories, and it inspired me.
I grew up with Lizzie, the same age and a very similar attitude. Lizzie was a confident, clever and caring person who was just trying to find her way in the world, but she did judge others very quickly and was not afraid to share her opinion, even it it was wrong. The videos were in her bias, but she also brought in other perspectives through her family and friends. The show aired two days a week, and it was something I looked forward to.
This book chronicles both the videos, and what happened behind the scenes. Once again, it is told in Lizzie's point of view, but it's more detailed, because she's not performing to an audience, and the events on tumblr, twitter and facebook are explained in a way they couldn't be on screen or online.
From the first page of this novel to the last, I didn't want it to end. There's something about reading a story that you feel connected with. This story describes the world of my generation, and to me, Lizzie is a kindred spirit, with many of the same goals and aspirations that I have. Her main focus is her career, and she's not one to jump into a relationship just because everyone wants her to. She's out to discover where she belongs in the world, and along the way she learns many lessons about how to treat others, and how to stay true to who she is.
While Lizzie seemed so confident and comfortable with her life on camera, her diary says otherwise. She was more nervous and uncertain of her life than she appeared to be in the series, and her opinons were not watered down by anyone else's perspective.
The number one topic that really altered throughout the book was, of course, Lizzie's opinon of Darcy, and his social awkwardness. Darcy and Lizzie are both interesting characters, stubborn to a fault and not typical twenty-somethings who follow the crowd.
Another topic that was drastically altered was Lizzie's opinion of Lydia, her youngest sister, from their fight over Lydia's behavior to the life lessons they learned together about trust and love. They grow up and without even realizing it, they move forward, closer to their life goals than they had expected to be.
The book does a great job of showing Lizzie's perspective, but not convincing the reader to believe it. This may be because all the videos are complete, or possibly because the story arc of Pride and Prejudice is well known. It would be interesting if someone read the book without watching the series, or maybe read the story without any knowledge of Pride and Prejudice. But the book seems to be written as a companion to the series, and the ebook even has links to the videos in the diary entries that were filmed before or after the events Lizzie reflects on.
In the opinon of a reader who watched the series, and read the classic novel, I thouroghly enjoyed this book, and I give it five out of five cups of tea. The story was . . . illuminating :)
