Old Boots: A Pride & Prejudice Variation

De: Grace Gibson

Narrado por: Neil Mcfarlane

Some form of devilry has come over Mr. Darcy.

Since his father’s death, Fitzwilliam Darcy has endeavored to be reliable, responsible, and restrained. But upon visiting Netherfield Park in Hertfordshire, he finds himself weary of the struggle to be so damnably well regulated and delights in a revival of the carefree mischief that characterized his younger days.

What brings on this sudden reversal? Perhaps it is a shocking incident that takes place upon his first entering the neighborhood when he rescues Miss Elizabeth Bennet from the raging current of a rain-swollen stream. The so-called “lady” does not prefer to be rescued, and Darcy’s subsequent dunking, rather than resulting in the gratitude that is his due, is met with her confounding resentment of his interference.

This tale of Darcy’s entanglement with the mysteriously grief-stricken Bennet family is interwoven with a love story - a most delicious exchange of looks, barbs, pranks, and innuendos as Miss Elizabeth, the “lightning bolt of Longbourn”, regularly singes, frustrates, and humbles the man from Derbyshire.

©2021 Grace Gibson (P)2023 Grace Gibson

The perfect voice for Mr. Darcy!

Neil Roy McFarlane does an excellent job narrating this lovely book by Grace Gibson. I have enjoyed the Fitzwilliam Darcy POV that Gibson has brought to life in several books, and McFarlane is the perfect voice for Darcy! He also does a commendable job on voicing all the characters...male and female alike! Gibson and McFarlane are an unbeatable pairing of talent.

A favorite P&P variation

This is a favorite variation of P&P for me. Though, I admit to being guilty of NOT missing Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins, Wickham at all. Or to the absence of Lydia for much of the story.

It's an interesting story told exclusively from Darcy's viewpoint. I think the author made some good choices on the fates of so many beloved characters and all are entirely believable, though there are some departures from canon.

It's a sweet tale with little angst, and (minor spoiler to follow)...

I loved Mr. Darcy's mild torment of Caroline Bingley. I also love how she is a small part of the story, but isn't a harpy constantly at Darcy's shoulder dripping with jealousy for Elizabeth. She just quietly disappears from the story with no real comment on what becomes of her because for ODC in this version it isn't really important. As a bonus, we don't get any moralizing about whether Bingley can "control" his sister which is a trope that bugs me because it so SO overdone in JAFF.

Mostly i enjoyed that we see a friendship emerge between Mr. Bennet and Darcy. Though, tbh, I felt this story is actually more about that relationship than a romance between Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam.

It is a fun little story to spend an afternoon listening to.

Excellent

Grace Gibson has quickly become a favorite author of mine. I love her wit and humor. And I thank her for introducing me to Neil Roy Mcfarlane who has likewise become one of my favorite narrators. Can't recommend them both enough.

I love Gibson’s humorous P&P variations.

She such a great writer, I love the fact that she threads laughter throughout the story right along side the deeper sadder themes. Her writing is just as witty and intelligent as we’ve always been told Elizabeth Bennet was.

A very enjoyable narrator too. Highly recommended.

Repeating Chapters confused otherwise great listen

This book is a fantastic listen and McFarlane does a wonderful job with both the story and the voices for the different characters, conveying the emotion and atmosphere of the setting into the narrative.

The only real complaint I have is with the editing of the audiobook which has two of the chapters repeating themselves in the middle of the book, causing momentary confusion and unfortunately yanking you out of the narrative after a fairly serious moment each time.

If the audio edit could be corrected to remove the excess chapter errors, then this would be a truly 5 star across the board experience.

Delightful JAFF story

I loved this book! I have 2 complaints - the first is that the book is too short, I wanted this story to last for 12 hours, I only purchased it because Silver Buckles was SO GOOD I wanted more of GG's amazing writing. The second is, this needs to be re-edited, there are 2 chapters that repeat themselves in the middle - so not only is the book short, instead of 5.5 hours of story, you actually probably only get about 4 3/4 hours?

GG writes some of my absolute favorite dialogue and has an amazing turn of phrase. Her use of language is very, very clever which makes for an entertaining listen, I loved the story surrounding the dog in this book (I'm a dog lover and I easily recognize some of the behaviors she writes about in my 2 retrievers, especially when they were young!) some of the scenarios are seriously laugh out loud funny!

I also loved how the story was built around the friendship between FWD and Mr Bennet, the daughters, although a huge part of the story, are a bit secondary. She kept all the characters pretty true to the basic character traits from the original which is nice. She also mixed up some of the relationships in a fun and interesting way.

Overall, I HIGHLY recommend this book, even if it is very short. The narrator did a good job, especially on the male voices (duh) the female voices were not as lively as they could have been, all the females came across as a bit flat and whispery.

A Narrator not to be missed

Low angst and lots of interaction/conversation with ODC. The story is through Darcy's POV, and Mr. McFarlane is simply superb.

Delightful!

I like to listen to Audible for a bit when I am trying to relax and sleep, do this low-angst story and the narrator's soothing voice are perfect. I love how Darcy gradually recognizes how his status and pride have kept him from enjoying life to the fullest. Mr. Bennett is very likeable in this version, as is Darcy himself. I love the author's other book, Silver Buckles, as well, and look forward to reading more from her.

Great narration

Loved reading the book, so I had to hear the audiobook. Neil Mcfarlane was perfect for a story written from Darcy’s perspective. Just enough cheekiness in a lovely deep voice to be a perfect Darcy.

Great story

I just reread this book. It is good Jaff. Mr Darcy meets Elizabeth while she is out with the family dog. Mr Darcy rescues the dog from drowning. Great Jaff