BOOK REVIEW: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

For sisters Liz and Jane, coming home to suburban Cincinnati means being paraded at the Lucas family's BBQ, where burgers are served alongside the eligible men. But it's difficult to focus on re-booting their love lives when the family's mock-Tudor house starts to crumble around them. Yet as their mother reminds them, it's not every day that you meet a pair of handsome single doctors...

Publisher: The Borough Press

Pages: 544

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is one of my favourite books and Elizabeth and Mr Darcy are at the top of my most loved characters list so I was intrigued to hear about Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld which is a modern day re-telling of this literary favourite. It in no way measures up to Austen but it is a lot of fun, just imagine Jackie Collins re-telling the story and it will give you some idea. The characters are a little more feisty, there's a lot of sex and there are several shocking twists.
Sittenfeld sets the story in Cincin
nati, Liz and Jane Bennett have returned to the family home for the summer due to their father's failing health. At the Lucas' BBQ they are introduced to Chip Bingley and Fitzwilliam Darcy, both doctors and very eligible and so begins an interesting summer for the entire Bennett family.
I very much enjoyed this book and I loved how the author put a modern twist on all the events from the original. It is a little tongue-in-cheek but on a more serious note it does explore feminism, social standing and racism; I felt that the author is almost questioning whether things have really changed that much since Austen's time?
I would recommend this book to any Pride and Prejudice fan, it is extremely witty and entertaining, a very light-hearted but clever book.