Pride and Prejudice and Fetishes

Pride and Prejudice:Hidden Lusts is the newest rewrite of a classic, from the pen of Mitzi Szereto. While other re-imaginings walk the line between genres and audiences, this book does not. It may seem obvious to some, but I want it to be understood at the forefront: this is erotica. It's a book more suited to between the bed sheets than between Tolstoy and Bradbury. Allow me to illustrate:

"A lively and sociable young woman, she had no trouble in keeping them all amused, often taking them three at a time, since she saw no point in possessing three openings if they could not all be applied to at once. Wearing only her short stays, she took to the bed with a trio of gentleman, one lying beneath her, another on top, and still another positioned at her face, their eager members conveniently located within their opening of choice."

As illustrated by the excerpt, this is not the soft-core porn that one would expect to be associated with Austen. There’s anal sex, S&M, a range of fetishes and a whole lot of blow jobs. Which is fine if that’s your thing. But I think this book is appealing to the wrong crowd without knowing it. Instead of a demure, loosely bound woman on the cover there should be a girl bending over baring her ass with a Regency era gown on. That would set the correct expectation.

There. Now diehard fans of the classic Austen work will know what to expect and perhaps arrive at the page better prepared. And here is where the kernel of discontent is found. The great divide between readers on whether this is the brilliant retelling of a classic or full-on explicit abuse of well-loved characters. It is my personal opinion that Austen would not be rolling over in her grave over Szereto's novel. In fact, she might laugh a little.

Szereto fleshed out her character's sexual proclivities in a manner which complimented their appearance in the original work. But it is there the similarities between the works end. While the original touches on societal, educational and feminist issues in a way that is very tongue-in-cheek, this version is mostly tongue-in-ass.

My advice: if you are a regular reader of erotica, you will love the dirty, witty jaunt through a classic. If you are a lover of classics, read some hard-core erotica as homework first or brace yourself. If you don't want to watch Austen's characters get sodomized (and like it) than don't pick up Pride and Prejudice:Hidden Lusts. This book is meant for the more adventurous spirit.