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Eligible

By: Curtis Sittenfeld
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
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Publisher's Summary

From the best-selling author of Prep, American Wife and Sisterland comes this brilliant retelling of Pride & Prejudice, set in modern-day Cincinnati.

The Bennet sisters have been summoned from New York City. Liz and Jane are good daughters. They've come home to suburban Cincinnati to get their mother to stop feeding their father steak as he recovers from heart surgery, to tidy up the crumbling Tudor-style family home and to wrench their three sisters from their various states of arrested development.

Once they are under the same roof, old patterns return fast. Soon enough they are being berated for their single status, their only respite the early morning runs they escape on together. For two successful women in their late 30s, it really is too much to bear. That is, until the Lucas family's BBQ throws them in the way of some eligible single men....

Chip Bingley is not only a charming doctor, he's a reality TV star, too. But Chip's friend, haughty neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy, can barely stomach Cincinnati or its inhabitants. Jane is entranced by Chip; Liz, sceptical of Darcy. As Liz is consumed by her father's mounting medical bills, her wayward sisters, and Cousin Willie trying to stick his tongue down her throat, it isn't only the local chili that will leave a bad aftertaste.

But where there are hearts that beat and mothers who push, the mysterious course of love will resolve itself in the most entertaining and unlikely of ways. And from the hand of Curtis Sittenfeld, Pride & Prejudice is catapulted into our modern world singing out with hilarity and truth.

©2016 Curtis Sittenfeld (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic Reviews

Praise for Curtis Sittenfeld: "Novelists get called master storytellers all the time, but Sittenfeld really is one." (Maggie Shipstead)
"Sittenfeld has an astonishing gift for creating characters that take up in residence in readers' heads." ( Washington Post)
"When it comes to tearing apart contemporary American family life, Sittenfeld is up there in a class of her own." ( Guardian)
"Curtis Sittenfeld has a knack for capturing characters so vividly it's uncanny." ( Daily Mail)
"Like Kate Akinson with Life After Life, Sittenfeld is a reliably realistic (if slightly dreamy) novelist who has here tackled a somewhat far-fetched concept outside her normal range and displayed impressive comfort in doing so." ( Sunday Times)
"Curtis Sittenfeld shares with Salinger a knack of capturing, in effortless prose, a teenager mindset.... It feels important.... Most vitally of all, it feels like adolescence." ( The Times)
"Sittenfeld is a pin-sharp observer." ( Independent on Sunday)
"The summer's most delicious read." ( Entertainment Weekly)
"Casts an unshakable spell and has plenty to say about class, sex and character.... One of the 10 best books of 2005." ( The New York Times)

What listeners say about Eligible

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Massive disappointment

This book obviously has an expensive publicist as I had read a review in the weekend paper which said it was a fabulous modern day pride and prejudice. It was awful, tacky, lacking humor, engaging plot or good writing. If you want a great modern day pride and prejudice do yourself a favour and re-read Bridget jones.

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Clever idea not fully executed

This book was recommended by a friend and intrigued by the premise - a modern adaptation of Pride & Prejudice - I purchased. Although it started well and the characters were initially amusing, there were too many plot holes and inconsistencies to make this anything other than a lightweight distraction, and certainly nothing equal to the original in terms of writing quality. Also although I can’t remember what attitudes were like in 2013, in 2023 the approach to race and transgender issues was fairly appalling and using these as comic fodder, especially Mrs Bennett’s musings, was highly inappropriate, There was also the odd arrangement of the chapters into tiny bites which meant a constant stop to the flow as the reader read out the chapter numbers. Speaking of which the performance let the material down too in places, with odd inflections that made the text sound sound even more arch, plus some wacky accents. Overall it wasn’t awful and I did persevere to the end, but it all felt undercooked.

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Loved it

Very clever adaptation, I loved the transition of well loved characters to our time and place.

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It's OK but pretty lightweight.

There were quite a few implausible plot developments, (eg Darcy on reality TV) and some awful attempts to make Austens masterful plot contemporary. Suggesting a transgender partner for Lydia was the equivalent to Lydia's, profligate and morally bankrupt behaviour in P and P is distasteful. I found this plot line hard to stomach. The characterization of Mary was interesting. The Darcy, Liz and Caroline triangle was unconvincing because Caroline was so awful, Darcy could not possibly have chosen her over Liz. On the other hand, the Bingley Jane relationship worked well and Mr and Mrs Bennett were true to form.

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Hilarious 21st century Pride & Prejudice

I'm sure Jane Austen would give her approval to this very clever, very witty and laugh-out-loud updating of her 1813 novel. I'm a big Jane Austen fan: her wit, language, and sentence construction are marvellous; Curtis Sittenfeld does her justice and keeps the characters true to their original author's intentions. I've read many "updated" Pride & Prejudices and they fail miserably unlike this clever jewel crafted by a terrific writer.

Cassandra Campbell does a great job narrating. I've not heard her before, but I will look for some of her narrations.

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Jane Austen's worst nightmare

As an avid Jane Austen and in particular P&P fan, this adaptation grated on every nerve in my body. The author appears to have made a list of all modern aspects of life in the 21st century, then ticked them off as he forced them into the story. The ending with Mary was just ridiculous. Shame on you Sittenfeld.

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Modern, Funny & Clever adaptation

This is a clever modernisation that takes enough liberties with the narrative to become unique whilst still remaining true to the original text. Good fun and well read.

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