Point
Featuring: Charles Bingley; Lizzie Bennet; Will Darcy
288 pages ISBN: 0545240778 EAN: 9780545240772 Kindle: B004HD4UHA Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
In this clever re-investigation of Jane Austen's Pride and
Prejudice, the young ladies of Longbourn Academy are
getting excited about the prom. The trappings of wealth and
status matter little to scholarship student Lizzie Bennet,
but her best friend, Jane, is particularly excited now that
the eligible Charles Bingley has returned from London.
Lizzie is happy for Jane, but she resents the snobbery she
detects in Charles' friend Will Darcy's attitude. In the
first week when Lizzie arrived at the school, she had to
deal with a lot of bullying because of her middle-class
origins, and she sees Darcy as representative of everything
she detests. However, perhaps her viewpoint is prejudiced
by those experiences, something she wonders when comparing
his perspective to the rumors spread by Wick, who says
Darcy always hides behind his dad's money. While dodging
unwanted invites to the prom and trying to provide
emotional support to her friends, particularly to Jane,
whose sister Lydia can't behave herself in public and is
constantly humiliating her family, Lizzie keeps getting
thrown in situations with Darcy. Will she ever look at him
differently? Will they attend prom together? Even more
important: what would Jane Austen think?
This hysterical rendition of Pride and Prejudice would
probably thrill Ms. Austen with its excellent updating and
modern language.
After winter break, the girls at the very prestigious
Longbourn Academy become obsessed with the prom. Lizzie
Bennet, who attends Longbourn on a scholarship, isn’t
interested in designer dresses and expensive shoes, but her
best friend, Jane, might be — especially now that Charles
Bingley is back from a semester in London.
Lizzie
is happy about her friend’s burgeoning romance but less than
impressed by Charles’s friend, Will Darcy, who’s snobby and
pretentious. Darcy doesn’t seem to like Lizzie either, but
she assumes it’s because her family doesn’t have money.
Clearly, Will Darcy is a pompous jerk — so why does Lizzie
find herself drawn to him anyway?
Will Lizzie’s
pride and Will’s prejudice keep them apart? Or are they a
prom couple in the making? Whatever the result, Elizabeth
Eulberg, author of The Lonely Hearts Club, has concocted a
very funny, completely stylish delight for any season — prom
or otherwise.
Excerpt
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single girl
of high standing at Longbourn Academy must be in want of a
prom date.
While the same can probably be said of countless other
schools across the country, prom at Longbourn isn’t just a
rite of passage – it’s considered by many (at least those
who matter) to be the social event for future
members of high society. Longbourn girls don’t go to the
mall to get their dresses. No, they boast couture from
designers whose names adorn their speed dial.
Just look at the glossy six-page spread dedicated to more
than a century of prom history in Longbourn’s recruitment
brochure. Or the yearly coverage in The New York
Times Sunday Style section… or Vanity Fair… or
Vogue. Fashion reporters and photographers flock to
the Connecticut campus to scope out the fashion, the excess,
the glamour of it all. It is Fashion Week for the silver
spoon set.
The tradition started in 1895, the first year Longbourn
opened up its doors. Originally set up as a finishing
school for proper ladies, the founders realized they needed
to have an event to usher their students into the elite
world. And while girls nowadays don’t really need to be
formally “welcomed” into society, nobody wants to give up a
weekend-long excuse to dress up and attempt to outshine one
another. Friday night is the reception where the couples
(consisting of Longbourn girls and, for the most part, boys
from the neighboring Pemberley Academy) are introduced.
Saturday night is the main event and Sunday afternoon is a
brunch where reporters interview the students about the
previous evening.
Students become fixated on prom from the day they get
accepted. To not attend, or have the proper date, would be
a scandal from which a young girl would never be able to
recover.
Imagine the chaos that erupted a few years ago, when a
scholarship student not only snagged the most sought-after
boy at Pemberley, but showed up in a dress from Macy’s (the
horror!) and caught the eye of the New York Times
reporter, who ended up putting her, and her story, on the
cover of the Style section.
Up to that point, most students tolerated the two
scholarship students in each class. But this was too much.
The following year, hazing began. Most scholarship students
couldn’t last more than two years. The program only
continued because the Board of Trustees was adamant about
diversifying the student body (and by diversify, they meant
having students whose parents didn’t earn seven-figure
yearly bonuses). Plus, the scholarship students, often
called “charity cases,” helped boost the academic record and
music program.
Given the opportunities, education-wise, the scholarship
students try to put up with the behavior. After all, this
kind of experience couldn’t have happened at home. So there
was a price to pay for the best teachers, resources and
connections. That price– condescension, taunts, pranks –
got old pretty quickly.
It’s not easy, though. It only took the new scholarship
girl in the junior class two days before she broke down into
tears. Fortunately, she was alone in her room and nobody
saw her. But it happened.
I should know. Because that was my room, and my tears.
I was a scholarship student. A charity case.
One of them.
There was a giant target on my back.
And I had to do everything possible to avoid getting hit.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy