Stuck Up & Stupid

Jane Austen’s oeuvre is the gift that keeps on giving. It seems like there are endless variations of her Pride and Prejudice, all of which are perforce entertaining, because the original was so good, and so timeless.

In this retelling, the heroine is 18-year-old Lily, an Australian who lives on Pippi Beach, “Sydney’s best-kept secret." It is a small beach town surrounded by dense bushland, only accessible by boat or a two-hour hike, with no shops, bars, restaurants, cars, or roads.

Over the Christmas vacation (which is summer in Sydney), the settlement is visited by two movie stars: Casey Brandon, a fun-loving and easy-going American, and his friend Dorian Khan, a serious and brooding superstar. Casey’s sister Cecelia and her show more friend Yumi are also part of their entourage.

Lily’s silly younger sister Rosie and their loud, needy, shallow mother Lydia are star-struck and determined to make the acquaintances of Pippi’s visitors. Lily was not so enamored:

“For Lily, the only thing worse than cleaning up after careless celebrities was having to watch the locals - including her own family - try to impress them.”

To Lily’s chagrin, her cousin and BFF Juliet had an instant connection with Casey, so Lily often found herself part of Casey and Dorian's social group, in spite of her reluctance to interact with them. In Lily’s view, Dorian seemed stiff and judgmental (even though, she admitted to herself, given the crass behavior of her mother and sister, his reaction may have been justified). Nevertheless, she thought he was “arrogant, self-centered, entitled, smug, and offensive . . .” She felt vindicated in her thinking after meeting Alex King, an old enemy of Dorian’s who told her awful stories about him (confidentially and reluctantly, of course, or so he claimed).

The plot unfolds just as it did in the original some 200 years earlier, but it is not less entertaining for being anticipated.

Moving between Australia and Los Angeles, this updated version is not the best retelling, but fans of Jane Austen will appreciate yet another new look at a beloved story. show less

This book is every bit as shallow as the title. It takes place both at a secluded beach in Australia and Hollywood California. The premise is that a group of Hollywood bigwigs visit the beach "to fet away from of it all". While there they find a raft of beautiful bikini wearing local women. The hijinks and possible love matches now bloom with checkered results.

Was lent this by a friend and started it reluctantly as the romantic machinations of late teen/early twenties is not really my thing. However I persevered as I knew it was (another) rewrite of Pride and Prejudice and as I read my own prejudice melted away as I enjoyed figuring out who was who, and what incidents had been adapted from the source material (Catherine de Bourgh's Hollywood power broker make-over is particularly good). It's not a straight re-write, which makes it more interesting, and Angourie Rice's knowledge of Hollywood and the movie business shines through, as well as her and her mother and co-writer's love of the laid back Australian beach lifestyle. Whilst the outcomes for each character are distinctly 21st C (as their show more lives are less constrained by societal mores for women) there's a sense that human nature has not changed since Jane Austen's day. OK, it's not "great literature" but it's clever fun. Enjoyable. show less