Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star

I imagine that Jane Austen would be astounded at not only the continued popularity of her own Pride and Prejudice but also at the plethora of modern retellings of her perennially popular novel. Rigaud enters that fray here with her updated version positing Darcy as the lead guitarist of a wildly successful rock band called Slurry, with band mates Charles Bingley and Richard Fitzwilliam, and Elizabeth Bennet as the lead guitarist of the up and coming rock band Long Bourne Suffering chosen to tour with Slurry. Of course, sweet Jane Bennet and Charlotte Lucas are Elizabeth's bandmates.

The tale opens with a television interview giving the history of Slurry and their current troubles finding and keeping an opening act. After the interview, show more the story itself starts as Darcy, Charles, and Richard meet with manager Caroline Bingley to preview a new band to whom they plan to offer the opening act on the North American portion of their tour. That band is Long Bourne Suffering and it seems poised on the verge of making it big. Darcy does worry that the women of the band, Lizzy, Jane, and Charlotte, will do anything and everything in their power to get and keep the fame they'll be exposed to on Slurry's tour but he is realistic enough to know that they need an opening band and they need it now. So while he warns Charles away from the women, which Lizzy overhears, he swallows his misgivings and the two bands connect. As they practice and tour together, Jane and Charles fall for each other, Charlotte and Richard can't keep their hands off of each other, and Darcy and Lizzy irritate each other even as the sparks fly between them.

Despite the similarities though, this is no Pride and Prejudice. This is definitely an updating with sex, drugs, and rock and roll running rampant through the novel. I'm not really a Pride and Pejudice purist so this edgier take wouldn't have fazed me in the slightest if I hadn't found so many other problems with it. The framing technique (the story both opens and closes with televised interviews functioning as both prologue and epilogue) did nothing to draw the reader into the story. In fact, it made me want to put the book down again immediately. And while it provides the reader with enough history to jump into the story, there was a real deus ex machina feel to it.

Rigaud re-imagines several of the characters who gave real depth to the original. There is an almost complete absence of Lady Catherine, Caroline Bingley is nice, Anne de Bourgh is snotty, Charlotte Lucas isn't the practical girl who settles, and so on. Given her willingness to change the characters to suit her updated vision, Rigaud hews very closely to the plot points of the original, which turns out to be an awkward stretch. These misunderstandings and situations should not have been considered sacrosanct to the detriment of the current book and unfortunately this is the case.

The characters, including those whose basic characters she didn't change, came off as bland rather than dimensional. Their stilted dialogue (they only use contractions on rare occasions, which frankly draws even more attention to the general lack of them as one would expect in normal dialogue) is hard to read and there is a fair amount of dialogue in this tale. Most of the latter half of the book seems to be one sex scene after another (and it's never good when graphic sex scenes get repetitive and boring) rather than anything that pushes the plot forward, causing the narrative tension to flatline entirely. I was quite disappointed with the novel, even moreso since it came highly recommended and it had such potential. It's a bad sign when I am happy enough to return a copy to the friend to whom it belongs and I reminded her more than once last night to take it home. Not one of the better re-imaginings I've read. show less

I somewhat shamefacedly admit to liking a lot of the P&P sequels, variations, etc. but this was a wall-banger from the get-go. While the idea of Darcy as a rock god, and Elizabeth Bennett as an aspiring rock guitarist, has potential, the execution was amateurish and painful to read. And the sex scenes - oh my god, shoot me now! Even if I did want to read about modern day Elizabeth and Darcy doing it like rabbits (which I don't), I definitely would not want to subject myself to this type of lurid purple prose that is about a sexy as my annual visit to the GYN. The dialogue is laughably flat, and the characterizations are completely absurd (Jane especially is reduced to a simpering piece of porcelain, although Charlotte Lucas as a wild show more good-time girl is actually a nice change of pace). Publishers Weekly called "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star" one of the best romance novels of the year - I blame them for the fact that I wasted my money on this laughable piece of fan fiction. show less

I’d reserved Heather Lynn Rigaud’s Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star from the library a while ago, because of course someone else was reading it and someone else was second on the waitlist. New York is awesome!

This rockstar retelling of the greatest book ever opens when virtuoso guitarist and bad-boy rocker Fitzwilliam Darcy, his cousin Richard Fitzwilliam and college friend Charles Bingley, are looking for an opening act on their tour, and band manager Caroline Bingley suggests an indie girl band Long Borne Suffering (I squeed.), composed of sisters Elizabeth and Jane Bennett, and their friend Charlotte Lucas.

And it just keeps giving opportunities for squeeing. Band manager Caroline Bingley interrupting Darcy’s email to Georgiana. show more Charlotte Lucas smoking behind the tour bus. Wickham as a sleezy music video director. So much to giggle about!

Full review contains spoilers! show less

Okay. Okay okay okay. So you know when you’re looking for some fanfiction, and you stumble across some really bad stuff and then you find something that seems good in comparison to the really bad stuff, and it’s an AU fic, which you’re okay with because you really love these characters and would really love to see them in a totally different environment from where you fell in love with them originally? And you know when, as you start to read it, you realize that there really should have been more editing for the fic, but it’s still so much better than a lot of other fanfic that you’ve read and you still think the concept is really cool? And you know when you suddenly realize that every single female character in the fic is in show more actually a Mary Sue and you really don’t think Charlotte Lucas would really ever act like that, and you start wondering whether you should continue reading this? And you know when you finally realize that with everything that you dislike about this book, you simply CANNOT PUT IT DOWN because it’s gotten to the point where it’s actually so cheesy that it’s become actually rather really extremely wonderful and enjoyable to read?

Yeah. Welcome to Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star.

Cheesy, oh so cheesy. But somewhere along the line it became so cheesy that it was good. I wouldn’t have read this if it wasn’t P&P related. Mind you, if I had read it and it wasn’t P&P related, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. So there’s a bit of a catch 22 for you.

There were some items about the characters in this book (aside from the Mary Sue related characteristics they have) that bothered me – Charlotte Lucas in particular. I was happy, though, that certain things about the P&P story were changed. I had never enjoyed the fact that she ended up stuck with Mr. Collins, so the fact that she actually really fell in love with the person she ended up with in this book was a lot less frustrating to read. That was the biggest change from P&P in this book, however. The rest of the events remained mostly intact – oh wait, except for the whole Mr Wickham ending up with Lydia, thank goodness. Oh gods, his whole dark secret regarding Georgiana seemed a bit more disturbing in this one than it was in P&P. Ick.

Actually, this book reminds me a little bit of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (aside from the P&P adaptation) in the random and insane hijinks that happen. Remember that whole Bridget being falsely accused of smuggling drugs from one country into the other? Oh yes. I do thoroughly love Bridget Jones and so that similarity gave me a bit of a soft spot for this book.

All in all, this ended up being a lot more enjoyable than I had expected from the first few pages. If you do pick it up, make sure you give it a good chance, even though it is rather cheesy. Remember, cheesy can be fun!

The Bottom Line
I wouldn’t have read this if it hadn’t been provided by the publisher. It’s not my favourite Austen adaptation, but it was fun enough. Would recommend to people who are huge chicklit fans. show less

When I first came across this Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Lynn Rigaud I wasn't sure I wanted to read this novel. As some of you know I'm a huge fan of anything Jane Austen but trying to picture Mr. Darcy as a rock star was a little hard. In the end my curiosity won out. Not only did I end up really liking this novel, I would also classify it as a hard to put down novel.

If you're not familiar with Jane Austen's characters from Pride and Prejudice it really doesn't matter for this novel. Heather Lynn Rigaud has put a contemporary spin on this classic book. The story line is about two bands who are on a tour together. Slurry is the name of Darcy's band. His band mates are Charles Bingley and Richard Fitzwilliam. They've been show more around for awhile and are hugely popular. They embark on a lengthy tour with the newbie band Long Borne Suffering which includes, Lizzy, Charlotte Lucas and Jane. I absolutely love the name of their band. I don't think Rigaud could have come up with a better name. It's absolutely brilliant. Both bands start the tour with little complications however as certain members of the band grow closer it starts to get complicated.

I really liked the story line. Riguad took little details from Pride and Prejudice and incorporated them into this modern day retelling. I was a little shocked the first time Lizzy dropped the F bomb. I said out loud "Lizzy, no! You're not suppose to say that!" I had to let go of my preconceived notions of regency Lizzy and embrace the rock star Lizzy. I know that sounds really prudish but I'm so used to proper Lizzy. Once I did that it was all good. The characters in this novel also have quite a few steamy sexy time scenes. I also love that the author gave Charlotte Lucas a little more pizzazz and a very brazen attitude. Riguad managed to give the characters a sort of personality makeover without losing the initial core selves .

Overall this book was really good. I picked up this book to read every chance I had. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes contemporary romance or Jane Austen. I'm so glad that I gave this book a chance. This is one of the best contemporary retellings I've read. It's definitely a 'To Read". show less

love a good fictional band novel, but as Austen pastiche goes, I think the one with zombies was easier to believe

Although Fitzwilliam Darcy Rock Star is an obvious take on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this book really needs to be considered a book that stands on its own. Purists would probably never get through the fast-paced, crazy lifestyle of rock stars on the road, which is just where we find our P&P characters. The pride is definitely there, as would be expected with a big rock star like Darcy is in the novel, who has taken on a young girl group starring Jane, Elizabeth, and Charlotte. The twist is not lost on this reader! On the flip side, Elizabeth is not feeling Darcy's snobbery about these young girls that he seems to think are there to "love them and leave them" to take their money and fame. Elizabeth is there because she's show more passionate about her music. Enough said. However, she can't help but notice that Darcy is pretty hot!

Much of the tension and social misunderstandings are still very present in this remake of the original. I did really like the character development that still retained a lot of the characters I knew and loved. Some characters are dropped from the story or hardly exist, such as the Bennet girls' other sisters and even their parents. Mr. Collins is also a very small part, whereas Richard steps up to play a major character in this modernization.

I really enjoyed this new take. Although the cover gives it this YA feel, I wouldn't say that this is in any way a young adult novel, with its strong "rock star" lifestyle represented through the drugs, alcohol, sex, and even abuse that played out. I'm not a prude, but I'll admit to raising an eyebrow at some of the sex scenes in the book, which are decidedly not the norm for Austen's originals. There is a lot of pheromones flying around in this book!

Although not the norm for Austen novels, this modernization is true to the character stories and pressures of the original. I love the misunderstandings in the original, and there were just as many if not more tense moments built into Rigaud's story. My background doesn't touch on the rock and roll world, but it was kind of fun to escape into that type of story. If you can handle the rock lifestyle, prepare yourself for a spicy, hot read! show less