Compulsively Mr. Darcy

“Modernizing the character’s attributes works fine and is all in good fun; however, they merely skim the surface of Ms. Austen’s engrossing creations. Missing are the complexity and intensity of Darcy and Elizabeth’s conflicted attraction. The rapier wit of their dialogue and the razor-sharp observation of social interactions are also absent. If the reader approaches the novel as a light, fizzy romantic comedy whose characters just happen to share names with Jane Austen’s, Compulsively Mr. Darcy offers plenty of entertainment.”

Jane Austen fan fiction has become a popular subgenre these days. Most authors in the field wisely choose not to compete directly with Ms. Austen’s elegant prose and brilliant portrayal of the society of her time by relocating the familiar characters from her classic Pride and Prejudice to contemporary times and to countries other than England.

Following in that tradition, Compulsively Mr. Darcy opens in present-day Vietnam and then globe hops to the U.S. Ms. Benneton also adds some new twists to the characters themselves. Fitzwilliam Darcy is afflicted with obsessive tendencies and faints at the sight of blood. Elizabeth Bennet is a specialist in infectious diseases. Clearly they were not meant for each other.

In fact, they meet in Elizabeth’s clinic in Da Nang as she is preparing to treat Darcy’s best friend Charles Bingley’s injured leg. Darcy promptly faints and the misunderstandings begin. Elizabeth thinks Darcy and Bingley are a gay couple who have come to adopt a child from her sister Jane’s orphanage. She also thinks Darcy is an arrogant British prick.

Darcy is fascinated by the green-eyed doctor, but he is horrified by the germs and fluids she works with on a daily basis. He returns to his luxury hotel to take three showers before he goes to bed in the sheets he always carries with him when he travels. More misunderstandings ensue as Darcy and Elizabeth become closer and travel to Darcy’s headquarters in New York and Elizabeth’s family home in California.

As a light romp, Compulsively Mr. Darcy is pure fun. The book zips along while conflicts and hijinks fly by like the scenery along an interstate highway. Elizabeth thinks Darcy is unemployed and treks to New York to get a job so he won’t end up in the poor house. Darcy’s aunt Lady Catherine De Bourgh drives a wedge between the couple by telling Elizabeth about Darcy’s mirror-ceilinged penthouse. Darcy’s cousin Richard Fitzwilliam gets flipped on his back and pounded by Elizabeth’s sister Mary, a martial arts expert. Elizabeth even works her medical specialty into a love scene with Darcy in a truly unique way.

Yet the point of fan fiction is to spend more time in a familiar world with characters the reader already knows and loves. While this novel’s characters share the names of Ms. Austen’s beloved cast—and Ms. Benneton includes virtually the whole crew—they don’t behave like Austen characters except on a very rudimentary level. Darcy runs the family corporation so he’s very rich. Wickham seduces Georgiana into joining a cult so he’s very wicked.

Modernizing the character’s attributes works fine and is all in good fun; however, they merely skim the surface of Ms. Austen’s engrossing creations. Missing are the complexity and intensity of Darcy and Elizabeth’s conflicted attraction. The rapier wit of their dialogue and the razor-sharp observation of social interactions are also absent.

If the reader approaches the novel as a light, fizzy romantic comedy whose characters just happen to share names with Jane Austen’s, Compulsively Mr. Darcy offers plenty of entertainment.