Book 1,059: Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix – Gabe Cole Novoa

When my local yarn store announced they were doing a book club with this AND having a skein of yarn dyed inspired by the cover, there was no question I was going to read it. I already have plans to re-read Austen’s six novels in her 250th birthday year. No guarantees, but maybe I’ll also read one fan-fiction/adaptation/inspired by of each as well!

This book is 100% inspired by and definitely not an adaption of, and if I’m honest it could’ve been a little less inspired by the original work. Novoa, probably could’ve done a better job if they let a few more characters or sub-plots go. Seriously, it could’ve stood on it’s own as an adorable historical queer romance, but the constraints of the adaptation made him wedge too much in giving discredit to some amazing aspects of the orginal and some potential to this remix.

All of this being said, there were moments of complete queer joy and love that gave me so much to smile about. From Charlotte Lucas being a lesbian to the molly house (seriously, set the entire book there and tell me their stories), Novoa kept my attention and made me want to read even faster. This moment in particular, however, was one of the best. Oliver (Novoa’s adaptation of Elizabeth) has just spent time as his true self and is making a list of why he’ll eventually need to come out and what his hopes and dreams are:

Oliver hesitated. The last item he wanted to add felt impossible. But this was a list of aspirations, and if he couldn’t allow himself to even dream for this, then what was the point of this list at all? So, taking a deep breath, he wrote down the impossible with shaking fingers:
—Kiss a boy as a boy. (Loc. 1,384)

And there was this adaptation of one of the most famous passages in the original novel, and it just worked for me:

‘I have struggled for some time, and I won’t allow it any longer. If your feelings are still what they were earlier this month, please tell me so, but I can no longer contain my own. I admire you, Oliver Bennet. Your spirit, your wit, your open honesty—I have thought of nothing else since we first met.’
Tears blurred Oliver’s vision, spilling hot over his cheeks and cooling in the rain.
‘Darcy—’
‘I love you, Oliver,’ Darcy said.
‘Most ardently.’ (Loc. 3,329)

Now, for what didn’t work for me. There were three primary issues, two were plot/character based, and one was the writing, but all three I think were due to self-set or publisher-set constraints and tying it to the source material. In general, the writing was fine, but mediocre. I believe this is due to the book being aimed more towards younger teenagers, but there were moments where a good copy editor or proofreader could’ve helped tighten up things or made it a little less laborious for the reader. Take this line:

The silence that fell over them was so jarring that for a moment it felt like time itself had stopped. Oliver’s stomach swooped, his face hot. (Loc. 1,807)

There’s nothing grammatically wrong with it (I think), but it’s just awkward and clunky and it pulled me out of the moment. And I’m sure it could be assigned to personal preference, but it could just be more concise and still have the same impact, maybe “A jarring silence fell and time stood still(—)Oliver’s stomach swooped, his face hot. He responded . . .” And there were a couple of repetitive turns of phrase that could’ve been flagged, but didn’t bother me too much (unlike some people at the book discussion).

The BIGGER problem by far was the characters and the decisions to 1) shift them to even younger; 2) not give enough time to Mr. and Mrs. Bennet to make their reactions seem realistic; 3) make Wickham/Collins and even Darcy (allegedly) misogynist women haters.

The reduced the Bennet siblings ages by 5-8 years each, which made the fact Jane and Bingley do get engaged by Oliver and Darcy are “dating” just awkward. It also completely removed the Wickham/Lydia storyline because she’s only 13, but the way Novoa approaches it Wickham would totally have been a child predator. The bigger issue though is the overall lack of interaction between Oliver and his parents throughout the book. There are a few, but the way in which both took his coming out in stride was just jarring and I think leans heavily on the 2005 film adaptation to make you think Mr. Bennet would be okay with it and Mrs. Bennet’s response just felt wildly out of left field.

As for Wickham and Collins, it was just confusing the way it was rewritten. I understand why it was done the way to tie up the nice bow around the estate inheritance, but it would’ve been so much better if Darcy and Wickham were still childhood friends and that friendship developed into a situationship, but Wickham decided to blackmail Darcy for money rather than accept and come to terms with his sexuality. Instead there was a lot of hoop jumping and logic leaps to make the last few pages make sense and tie up a story that felt slowly like it was spiraling out of control. These characters in particular, I feel, could’ve been completely removed from the story and it would’ve been better. Either write Wickham out completely and get rid of that unnecessary drama or lean into a childhood romance and have Collins be the background character he was with Charlotte Lucas, keeping the lesbian sub-romance, still marrying him but just have them ride off into the background and that being the end of that story line.

Recommendation: Overall, this was okay. Was it a faithful adaptation? No. Was it inspired by Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Yes. Were there issues? Yes. Were there still moments where I squealed like a lovestruck teenager? Heck yeah. As long as you go into it with an open mind and an understanding it is not a line by line or even close adaptation, you’ll probably enjoy it. The writing for the most part was good, the characters were fine, and the story wasn’t the worst I’ve read. So yeah, middle of the road okay, is about right. I am planning to read the Wuthering Heights remix, What Souls Are Made Of by Tasha Suri, which is also part of this collection.

Opening Line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single boy in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a future wife—unless that boy was Oliver Bennet.”

Closing Line: “But it was real, and nothing and no one could take that away from him.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional quotes from Most Ardently
“It had been the strangest relief to learn that Oliver’s closest friend was breaking convention in her own way. While it wasn’t the same as Oliver’s experience, of course (Charlotte and Lu enjoyed presenting themselves femininely, for one, and Oliver was exclusively attracted to other boys), the honesty between them still made Oliver feel a little less alone.” (Loc. 254)

“It was a special thing, to have one’s reflection in harmony with who they were.” (Loc. 272)

“He. Oliver couldn’t stop smiling. It was such a simple thing, but the rightness of it was a balm. Being recognized for who he was brought him a euphoria like nothing else he had ever experienced. You see me, he thought, and it made him so happy he wanted to laugh out loud.” (Loc. 340)

“‘You should know my name is Oliver. And I’m . . . I’m your son.” Mr. Bennet’s smile grew into a full grin, spreading across his face like a plant turning its leaves to the sun.
‘You most certainly are,’ he said, and then his arms were around Oliver.” (Loc. 949)

“And that was how Oliver was drawn into a lengthy conversation on books about men who fancy men, women who fancy women, people who are neither a man nor a woman, and, to Oliver’s true shock, even a couple books about boys who were mistaken for girls and the other way around.” (Loc. 2,082)

“Even his not handsome enough comment, rude as it was, took on a new meaning. Of course ‘handsome’ was used to refer to men, women, and everyone else alike, but Darcy had been thinking of a man when he’d said it.” (Loc. 2,108)

“Kissing Darcy was like sitting in the sun on a perfectly temperate day, eating a fresh plate of strawberries dipped in sugar. Kissing Darcy was like jumping off a cliff into a pool of refreshingly cool water. Kissing Darcy was like sinking into the warmth of his favorite blanket in front of a fire. Kissing Darcy was like drinking mulled hot apple cider, the steam making his face flush as the hot, spiced liquid warmed him from the inside out. Kissing Darcy was everything.” (Loc. 2,131)

“‘Incompatible!’ Wickham laughed. ‘Nonsense. You have some unrealistic fantasies of the future, certainly, but what young girl doesn’t hold fanciful notions? It is a weakness of your sex to struggle to differentiate between flights of fantasy and reality. All the more reason why you need a strong husband to guide you.'” (Loc. 2,894)

“He knew now there would never be a good time, never be a right time. There would always be a reason to wait, to put it off, to torture himself just a day longer. He could survive today. He could survive tomorrow. But a lifetime of pretending he couldn’t abide.” (Loc. 3,352)

“‘I suppose your vehement distaste for dresses makes all the sense in the world now.’ Oliver couldn’t help it—he laughed.
‘I hope now that you know the truth you won’t require me to wear them.’
Then the strangest thing happened. Mrs. Bennet actually smiled and said, ‘Require my son to wear a dress? Well, that wouldn’t be proper at all.’ (Loc. 3,397)