Mr Darcy Came to Dinner by Jack Caldwell - fun similarities to the movie! 5 Stars

Mr. Darcy Came to Dinner by Jack Caldwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my most favorite fan fiction variations of Pride and Prejudice. A 1942 film entitled The Man Who Came to Dinner starring Bette Davis and Monty Woolley is one of my all time favorite films, and it obviously is the inspiration for this variation.

In the film, a very famous NY theater critic is in town to give a talk to a ladies group, has dinner with the Stanley family, whom he disdains, slips on ice outside of the house and breaks his hip. He and his entourage take over the house indefinitely causing all kinds of chaos. The critic, Sheridan Whiteside, is crabby, nasty and manipulative, and becomes a little tyrant, but we soon discover he has a soft heart underneath it all. Take this, replace the household with the Bennets and the unwanted house guest with Mr. Darcy and you have Mr. Darcy Came to Dinner.

Darcy falls off his horse when he and the horse startle Miss Elizabeth Bennet and the family cat, Cassandra outside Longbourn prior to a dinner party. The horse is startled, in turn, by the cat, and Mr. Darcy is thrown. He has broken a leg and both the apothecary and Mr. Darcy's personal physician believe his leg and life would be threatened were he to be moved. His valet sets up the Bennet parlor as Mr. Darcy's bedroom.

Mr. Bennet is highly amused and sits back to take in the action, leaving an un-amused Mr. Darcy to take charge in place of the ineffective master. This sets up an antagonism between the two men. Of course, we know Elizabeth dislikes Mr. Darcy, but he finds out only through an overheard conversation. However, Darcy is kind to the servants, takes Elizabeth's side in defending against Mr. Collins advances, arranges to have Mr. Bennet take credit for alerting the community to Mr. Wickham's faults, etc. thus causing Elizabeth to begin to reevaluate her feelings about the man.

In the meantime, Darcy, believing he needs to win Elizabeth's heart, begins to get to know the rest of the family. He finds ways to help out Mary with her music, Kitty with her drawing and Lydia with her heart's desire. Mrs. Bennet becomes charmed and sets out to feed him all of his favorites, to Mr. Bennet's consternation. Colonel Fitzwilliam chides him for his need to "fix the world" and his manipulative ways. But all in the family are beginning to see the warm, sweet and kind man behind the mask. Will Elizabeth?

I love so many aspects of this story. Darcy is seriously a kind man. As he speaks to each sister, he listens to them and appreciates what each needs to develop their own accomplishments. He encourages them and helps them to improve themselves and their confidence. Georgiana joins him and becomes just one of the sisters. We see the best of each family member being brought out through their interactions with the Darcys. The author takes the words of Austen and has them reutilized by other characters, making for some very amusing conversations. Colonel Fitzwilliam can't help himself from jumping into the world fixing process himself. There is just such a lot here to amuse the reader of JAFF. And, I think, if you were familiar with the film, there is just that extra little twist of fun as you see the similarities. Finally, the scenes of Darcy with the enamored cat Cassandra are just too cute for words. We all know the purring cat is the best judge.

I have read the book several times, but this last time I listened to the audio version. I will leave my rating of 5 stars for the book, but there are some issues with the reader for the audio version. First off, there are several mispronounced words that drive me crazy. De Bourgh is not pronounced De Burr, and this starts to drive me mad. Then, reading the book with an English accent, but then not pronouncing valet, lieutenant, phaeton, etc. with an English pronunciation sounds very grating to my ears. However, the character voices, and the ability to tell the story are excellent.

I love this variation and I know I will go back and read it over and over. If you have a chance, see the movie The Man Who Came to Dinner. It just adds to the fun. Highly, highly recommended. I love Jack Caldwell's writing and humor.









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