Mr. Darcy Came to Dinner

A Pride & Prejudice Farce

By: Jack Caldwell

Narrated by: Michaela James

Length: 11 hrs

Publisher's summary

In this humorous re-imagining of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet's pet cat causes an unfortunate accident to befall the haughty Mr. Darcy, forcing the injured gentleman to reluctantly take up residence at Longbourn - more specifically, in the parlor of Longbourn!

In pain, forbidden to leave by his doctors, Mr. Darcy cannot escape the ridiculous antics of the Bennet clan. And when Georgiana Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh arrive to visit the invalid, chaos, confusion, and hilarity ensue!

Inspired by the classics of comedy, author Jack Caldwell transforms Austen's beloved novel into a tour de force of farce. The Regency will never be the same!

©2013 Jack Caldwell (P)2014 Jack Caldwell

Nice addition to the "Alternate Austen Reality"

This entry into what is becoming its own genre, "Alternate Austen", is charming and sees Mr. Darcy make a profound difference in the entire Bennett family. The narrator is rather annoying, and appears to "ham it up" to an more than is necessary. The story itself is well done and ties up all the loose ends it creates. It calls itself a farce, but the characters' behavior seemed no more unlikely than it might have been in Austen's orIginal setting. The characters possessed the same foibles and eccentricities they had in the original, and with few exceptions, the conventions of early 19th Century British society as revealed to us by Austen, Bronte, and others are maintained. I do have a couple of quibbles with the plot which made the book less satisfying for me, however. ***Spoiler Alert*** I didn't like the fact that the quite nasty Caroline Bingley ended up with the dashing Colonel Fitzwilliam, and that the blameless Charlotte Lucas virtually disappeared from the story after not marrying Mr. Collins. Also, the prolonged courtship of Darcy and Elizabeth seemed unnecessary after all the time they spent together (or spent obsessed with one another) while he was incapacitated. Also, while including the somewhat prolonged courtship and maintaining the trip to Derbyshire with the Gardiners, no delicious details of the courtship were included, and I missed them.****End Spoiler Alert***. All in all, a good, fun take on the P&P saga, but not as satisfying as it might have been, in my humble opinion.

Wonderful

What made the experience of listening to Mr. Darcy Came to Dinner the most enjoyable?

Michael James has a marvelous voice,
and she brings the characters to life, with all her different voices

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mr. Jones as he was supper funny, and I loved Mr. Bennett

Which character – as performed by Michaela James – was your favorite?

Mr Collins I could picture him by the way she did his voice

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

love me or die, funny and romatic

Any additional comments?

Awesome book

Interesting view

This story was very fun, and had a new story element I've never seen in a P&P variation before--the author had the Bennet family actually like Darcy before Elizabeth! Overall, it was well written and developed, and my only complaint is that there are far too few scenes
between Elizabeth and Darcy. Her change of heart has more to do with reports of how he treats her family and staff, rather than personal observation. There are some paragraphs that mention they spend the evening playing games and having lively discussions, but, unfortunately, we don't get any more details. A nice story for all the side characters--just wish it had a little more interaction between the main characters!

Wonderful Rom-Com twist of an Austen tale.

Great story line. Mr. Caldwell has a wonderful wit well suited for this Austen story.

Very enjoyable

Love the humor!

Very special take on ODC's story, and loved the end part with Wickham and Mr. Col!ins comiserating on their "misfortunes." Well written and edited and excellent narration!

Just good fun!

Would you consider the audio edition of Mr. Darcy Came to Dinner to be better than the print version?

Yes because the narrator gave such humor to the characters.

What did you like best about this story?

It brought all my favorite characters together in a cool and funny way.

What does Michaela James bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She made it come alive for me. She has a really neat voice and is very talented with her range of crazy voices and accents.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Are you crazy ? It's 11 hours :)

Any additional comments?

I almost didn't buy it based on the reviews. Just shows there's no accounting for taste. I'm pretty sure that her pronunciations are English. Kinda ok as it is based in England. Don't take the story too seriously, either. It is a farce!!

Very enjoyable

Any additional comments?

A lovely book, half farce, half touching family relationship story. It turned out, that what the Bennet family needed was a dose of Mr. Darcy and Georgiana. Elizabeth was as stubborn and jumping to conclusions as ever, but with her father's help ODC learned their lesson. And I really enjoyed Caroline's HEA, and villains' punishment.

Fun Silly and entertaining.

A very pleasant lighthearted retelling. Thankfully this contains no sexual innuendo and still manages to be intriguing & captivating! I highly recommend.

Decent Story, Horrible Narration

Any additional comments?

I'm not usually one to complain but I had a real problem with the narration for this book. Michaela James is fine as long as she is not giving voice to the characters. When speaking for the characters, her phrasing and inflections made me think that she had no real understanding of the characters. Other than that I found the story entertaining.

Meow

The book was very good at the beginning, but it fell apart in the second half. The cat should have played a bigger part throughout the book. Elizabeth was stubborn, aggravating, rude and obnoxious until the end. If I had been Darcy I would have kicked her to the curb. Elizabeth's sisters were much more likable due to Darcy's efforts. Mr. Bennett was weird. Mrs. Bennett was much more tolerable than usual. Wickham and Collins were put in their place very well and very quickly. Unfortunately they popped up at the end in a strange and unnecessary manner. Should not have happened.