Me and Mr. Darcy

Author: Alexandra Potter
Published: June 12, 2007 (Random House)
Category: Fiction
Rating: 8/10
Quote of Choice: Just imagine being in a world where men didn't steal your cab, cheat on you, or have an addiction to Internet porn, but were chivalrous, devoted, and honorable. And strode across fields in breeches and white shirts clinging to their chests.

This past weekend, my boyfriend asked me to take a walk with him to Barnes & Noble so he could buy some fantasy football magazines so he could prepare for his fantasy football league's draft. I'm already a football widow and fantasy football just makes it worse because he has to watch every game that has his fantasy players. I was about to protest going all that way on a Sunday evening for football magazines when he said, "If you go, I'll buy you a book." And when I got to B&N, I didn't even go downstairs to the romance section as usual. This book jumped at me from the "New in Paperback" section. Of course I dream of having a man like Mr. Darcy, instead of that guy reading an article about our alma mater's football team, and preparing to not speak to me for every weekend (and Monday night) from now until February.

Emily Albright, manager of an independent bookstore in Soho (Ha! Like that's possible today!), has gone on one too many bad dates and has sworn off men. She declines on a girls' trip to Cancun and chooses to go to England for a Jane Austen bus tour instead, winding up as the only young woman in the group. At least there's the prospect for a vacation romance with "Spike" Hargreaves, the handsome journalist going along on the tour, doing research for an article on why women think Mr. Darcy is their dream date. Unfortunately, they get off on the wrong foot with his prejudice of her being American and calling her "average looking." Sound familiar? And just when they start getting along, Ernie, the busdriver, tells her a story about how Spike broke his nose because he wasn't good enough to date Spike's mother.

While Emily is experiencing her own version of Pride and Prejudice, which she is rather ignorant of (surprisingly, as she's a huge fan of P&P), she meets the Mr. Darcy. A hot, well-mannered, well-spoken (with sexy accent) gentleman who happens to go striding about in a damp shirt and breeches. They go on a series of "dates," where Emily realizes that her fantasy Mr. Darcy is better than the real thing. Perhaps having an arrogant, serious, and brooding man for a boyfriend isn't as wonderful as imagined; perhaps a boyfriend who loves you when he's seen you at your worst (passed out from a bump on the head that may or may not be the result of being drunk and stoned) and doesn't mind not-perfect table manners would be preferable to a starched and stuffy fantasy.

So the rehashing of Pride and Prejudice for the telling of a modern story isn't new (see Bridget Jones), but I found this less-slapstick, more serious version rather gripping in that "I read during my lunch hour for an hour and a half" way. Emily's story had its funny moments, like packing more books than clothes, and how a moonlight horseback ride with Mr. Darcy is impractical when you're wearing a ballgown without a proper bra. And at the same time, it was serious, with the truth behind Ernie's story and Spike's grand gesture (like Mr. Darcy's finding Lydia and Wickham and paying for the wedding, etc.) to Emily, helping the woman she befriended on the tour.

Now hold off, Darcy fans! I'm also a lover of Mr. Darcy and confess to rewinding my DVD to watch Matthew MacFayden stride across that field in a cravatless white shirt that gives the viewer a glimpse of his manly chest. You say that Darcy isn't such an arrogant jerk, but Emily encounters him when he's at his most arrogant in terms of the P&P storyline, right after he's convinced Bingley to leave Netherfield, and before he sees Lizzie again at Rosings Park. Perhaps the urgency in Darcy's pursuit of Lizzie is a result of Darcy's dates with an outspoken and ill-mannered American woman.

So yes, it's nice to enjoy the fantasy of this perfect romantic hero in Mr. Darcy, but Me and Mr. Darcy reminds us that fantasy is fantasy and sometimes you have to make do with someone real, and oftentimes, that someone real is better than you could've imagined. In short, this was a lovely application of P&P to a modern story and I had a lovely time.