Quotations Weblog

I picked Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange up at Borders. There was an entire shelf of Jane Austen sequels, prequels and rewrites. The secret thoughts of Mr. Darcy opened to me? Yes, of course, I would choose this book.

Sadly, it wasn’t believable at all as a diary. Honestly, the idea of putting a story in diary form is not a very good one. I have written a diary almost every day for over twenty-five years. Looking back, my journals do not tell a good story of my life. Enmeshed in the details of life, a diary rarely talks about the important things. It turns out that most of life happens off-screen.

In Mr. Darcy’s Diary, he quotes people using quotation marks. I have only read my own diary, but it is very rare that I deign to use quotation marks. I can rarely remember what anyone says exactly, so I usually just write something like, “Then Elizabeth Bennet told me that I was too proud.” Instead of quoting her word for word.

This dialog quoting is merely elegant plagiarism. Instead of writing a clever turn on the events as perceived by Mr. Darcy, Amanda Grange chose to quote the original work directly. Sadly, there were no quotations that I was able to glean from this book because everything that was written that was worth quoting came from Austen’s book in the first place. Bad form, Amanda, bad form.

In the end, Mr. Darcy’s Diary is kind of an upscale romantic novel. If you’re a fan of Harlequin Romances, this one will give you an evening of pleasure, but if you’re looking for unique literary perspectives on a beloved novel, keep looking.

Note: Amanda Grange has written many romantic novels, but one of notice is Mr. Knightley’s Diary. It is the story of Emma from the point of view of Mr. Knightley. If you enjoyed Mr. Darcy’s Diary and didn’t have a problem with suspension of disbelief (what kind of person quotes people in their diary?!), then you will probably find enjoyment in Mr. Knightley’s Diary.