Author: William Codpiece Thackery
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good riding crop must be in want of a pair of bare buttocks to thrash.
This book, as its own title gives away, is a parody. Also a mash-up of two successful, best-selling books: the great Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) and the poorly written but still famous Fifty Shades of Gray (E.L. James).
I say ‘poorly written’ referring to Fifty Shades and I don’t just say it but after starting to read the first book of the trilogy and, having gone through as much pages as I could stand, wondering “why is this a best-seller?”. I read it in English, because people who told me the book was embarrassingly bad had mostly read it translated to Spanish, and I know what translations can do to some books. I thought it was best to have an accurate reading in its original version. I was horrified. It was awfully written, and I didn’t want to spend more time in it.
On the other hand, I love Pride and Prejudice. I have read it enough to recognise some parts that are written literally (or almost, with changes for the sake of the parody) in this book. I love Elizabeth’s wit and independent spirit and I sigh because of Mr Darcy like any average girl. I also see its influence in Bridget Jones’ Diary, to the point of reaching plagiarism. There are also references to Bridget Jones in this parody, which I found pretty amusing, and you might get a little lost in some parts if you haven’t read Fielding’s book or watched the film.
Mother to five virgins! It was a torment almost too great to be borne!
In general, this parody means great laughs. It’s embarrassingly funny, even, because the dirty puns and innuendos are EVERYWHERE and some are quite senseless. Elizabeth is as irritating as Anastasia and Darcy is as annoying as Gray. Jane and Bingley are surprisingly similar to the originals. And the characters I hate the most of P&P here are the ones I found the funniest: Ms Bennet (here a loosening-tongue, sex-obsessed mother whose aim is to get her daughters laid), Lydia (very surprising at the end!), and Mr Wickham, known here as Mr Whackem.
I think I laughed the most at the appearance of Mr Collins, played here by that famous singer (who I must say I also find almost as creepy as the original Austen’s character) who speaks referencing a lot of his songs making me snort very unladylikely —if you read this book you’ll understand this. I couldn’t stop laughing at the thought of Lady Catherine as a dominatrix, too.
For people who are not used to British English I’d recommend to have a dictionary around as it has a lot of Brit terms and expressions.
The use of metaphors, so bad that they make you cry —out of laughter— is clearly a parody of the poor writing style of E.L. James that I mentioned before. I loved this and I would hug the so-called Mr Codpiece (if that’s the real name, it sounds so weird that I’m thinking of a pseudonym) for it.
Elizabeth was astounded, and immediately coloured.
‘Put down those damn crayons and look at me!’ Darcy commanded.
It’s a great book. A masterpiece? No, but nobody expects that from a parody. It’s aimed to make the reader laugh, and that purpose was highly achieved with me. I had to stop reading several times because I was laughing so hard that I nearly choked.
I give:
Four Patricks. I enjoyed it very much.
Also a 8’5/10. I think the author could do it better at some parts, but even so I think it’s better written than more ‘serious’ works.
-E
Reading Is Not Easy With Eyes Closed 