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Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Prep (a darn good book) is out with Eligible – a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice.  From the cover blurb – equal parts homage to Jane Austen and bold literary experiment, Eligible is a brilliant, playful, and delicious saga for the twenty-first century.

I hear screams from Jane Austen fans, and I understand. Pride and Prejudice is a treasure. It’s the one. It can’t be duplicated.  I agree.

However, this is a clever interpretation with lively characters running amok in the twenty first century. Cell phone etiquette and first impressions, dating, and marriage, health and wealth. A lot of life doesn’t really change nor do goals of Mrs. Bennet. Unfortunately she can’t always get her daughters to do what she wants- i.e. get married.   And Chip Bingley is shallow. Fitzwilliam Darcy does not give a good first impression. And Liz Bennet is independent and shows pluck.

Eligible is a breezy read. It’s funny and tackles gender, class, courtship, and family issues.  I enjoyed the book, and it made me want to re-read Pride and Prejudice. Nothing wrong with that.

Curtis Sittenfield hit the world with Prep, American Wife, and Eligible. Now her short story collection brings to life modern day characters with interesting flaws.

Cover blurb – Throughout the ten stories in You Think It, I’ll Say It, Sittenfield upends assumptions about class, relationships, and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided. In “The World Has Many Butterflies” married acquaintances play a strangely intimate game with devastating consequences. In “Vox Clamantis in Deserto” a shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate’s seemingly enviable life. And in the “Prairie Wife” a suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie.

I enjoy Curtis Sittenfield’s writing and she is quite deft in striking to the heart of an issue, stroking it with finesse, and completing the full story with grace. Her dialogue is current. Her characters are well developed. From the promise that was Prep, this author has emerged as a strong American writer who commands her art with wit and depth.