Dear Mr. Knightley
by Katherine Reay
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
It was well enough. I was definitely entertained throughout the thing. Certainly too heavy on the Jane Austen references. And, she struggled to make the other fiction references interconnected. Might have done better to lighten up on Austen.
And, can I say how annoyed I was that the author didn’t go for the obvious joke at the end? She spent the entire book quoting Jane Austen like a fiend… went so far as to compare her protagonist to Emma, the benefactor to Mr. Knightley, to have their “shared parents” waiting outside the door during the romantic declaration… and then not say, “we are not really so much brother and sister as to make it at all improper”. Argh! Was that intentional? – Was she just trying to share an inside joke with this Austen fan, or did she really just want to tick me off. I mean, the end needed some levity and, I was waiting for it. And then… there were no more pages, and no more words to read. And, now… I’m not sure what to do with myself.
manga hoarder 