There are wholly unnecessary racialized interactions here. If her mother says something blatantly racist, the narration is sure to give Liz internal monologue that basically says, 'I know better, though. Sittenfeld only seeks to offset all these instances of bias and gross offense by having Liz use Google to quickly 'learn' about trans identity and calls herself 'newly enlightened' after doing so. His comments are rendered as good-natured ribbing and it's just as grating.

Bennet is also prejudiced to a less blatant/vocal degree.

Bennet's prejudices, coming up with truly appalling 'explanations' of what it means to be trans (Darcy tells her it's a birth defect, no different than a cleft palate. Characters go out of their way to enable and accommodate Mrs. Both traits are tra rated as some folksy quirk attributable to age and life as a Midwesterner. Bennet, described by the author throughout the book as 'a racist,' is also transphobic. The trans character is drawn as duplicitous and Mrs. It's just, 'Gasp! The Bennet girls are in interracial/transgender relationships in 2016! Is that progressive?!' The book uses black and transgender identity in an attempt to shore up its 'modern' edginess and does zero work at treating the black or trans characters as three-dimensional human beings. I read this ostensible retelling of Pride and Prejudice with steadily increasing hate. And yet, first impressions can be deceiving. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip's friend, neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy, reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane's fortieth birthday fast approaches.Įnter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master's degree and barely leaves her room, except for those mysterious Tuesday-night outings she won't discuss. Youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia are too busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to get jobs.

When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray. Darcy is one that you have and haven't met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. This version of the Bennet family and Mr.

Eligible by curtis sittenfeld