At first, I had a hard time believing that this book existed. I cannot imagine anything more lazy (and shrewd, to be honest) than piggybacking your chick lit on the coattails of a popular television show, no matter how much or little your book pays homage to that show. I know this isn't precisely a new phenomenon, but it seems to be reaching new lows. I read The Jane Austen Bookclub, but didn't feel like it was as blatantly a co-opting of the works of Austen.
That said? Later today at Half Price Books, I saw a book where Mr. Darcy is a vampire...and one where Austen herself is a vampire. There's a whole sub-genre dedicated to inserting zombies in classic literature, or turning beloved literary or historical figures into vampire-hunters. Once was clever, but now it just reeks of commercialism and cynicism.
I know the generally accepted wisdom it that there is nothing new under the sun, but couldn't people try just a little bit harder to draft original content for the public's consumption? Are people's tastes really so narrow as this? That they cannot resist a book tie-in that isn't even really a tie-in?
And don't even get me started on this:
This is the back of a "revision" of Pride and Prejudice that adds sex scenes to the original text. In terms of sheer commercialism and cynicism, I cannot imagine anything worse than this. But I am certain the bar is out there, just waiting to be lowered.
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