Review: The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick

Title: The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet
Authors: Bernie Su and Kate Rorick
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone
Publish Date: June 24, 2015
Source: Library

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "There is a great deal that goes into making a video blog. Lizzie Bennet should know, having become a YouTube sensation over the course of her year-long video diary project. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries chronicled Lizzie’s life as a 24-year-old grad student, struggling under a mountain of student loans and living at home with her two sisters - beautiful Jane and reckless Lydia. What may have started as her grad student thesis grew into so much more, as the videos came to inform and reflect her life and that of her sisters. When rich, handsome Bing Lee comes to town, along with his stuck-up friend William Darcy, things really start to get interesting for the Bennets - and for Lizzie’s viewers. Suddenly Lizzie - who always considered herself a fairly normal young woman - was a public figure. But not everything happened on-screen. Luckily for us, Lizzie kept a secret diary."

My Two Cents:

"The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet" is a companion book to the popular YouTube series based on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" - a personal fave of mine. I still haven't watched the whole YouTube series and I definitely want to go back and do that at some point because it's very fun! This book is a lot of fun too. Before you read this book, you may want to at least see a couple of the videos so that you're familiar with the characters and their personalities and the basic storyline. This definitely helped me and my enjoyment of the book!

If you haven't seen the videos, the videos are a modern day video diary of what's going on in Lizzie Bennet's life. As you may have guessed, Lizzie is the Elizabeth Bennet of "Pride and Prejudice." All of the beloved characters are there for the most part. What I like about the YouTube series and this book is that it has the potential to introduce a whole new generation of people to the utterly romantic "Pride and Prejudice", which is one of my favorite classics. Retellings are a tricky business but this one definitely keeps with the spirit of the original and breathes new life into it.

This book is a wholly original and is definitely interesting take on the classic story. It's told through various means of digital communication and social media. Purists are probably not going to like this one but those that appreciate the spirit of the story will definitely enjoy this take. Overall, this is definitely a fun book for when you're looking for a light read.