Longbourn question

Yes, I felt Longbourn was too kind to Mr Collins and rather unkind to Elizabeth and Jane.
However cavalier their attitude to servants, I don't see them behaving as they did in Longbourn.
I don't see how you could miss Mr Collins' ridiculousness in P&P, Jeanne. He was obviously based on someone Austen knew and didn't like at all.

Sad to say, I just read Longbourn at the same time as P&P and didn't note the inconsistencies. Perhaps I was too unhappy with the graphic details of servant life described in Longbourn. Didn't like some of the behavior given to Lizzy and Jane.

All the Benets are bound to dislike Mr Collins he was going to inherit their home, Austen was writing from Elizabeth's point of view why would she make him desirable. I think making the character a bit more 3-dimensional was a good thing. I always felt sorry for him anyway, he as trying to do the right thing by the family, nobody married for love in those days. Lady Catherine was also developed which I enjoyed why wouldn't you be a gibbering wreck with her as your sponsor

I think the difference in the way the characters from P&P are portrayed in Longbourn is absolutely essential to both stories as it shows the true difference in perception based on the perspective of the narrator. Mr. Collins, in particular. I saw him as cringe-worthy and opportunistic in P&P, coming along to pluck whichever Bennett girl he fancied because he couldn't do so elsewhere and knew they were obliged to accept him and even be grateful for the offer. In Longbourn you see a more sympathetic character but, really, the same motivations, I think. He just wasn't trying so hard to impress with the servants like he was with the Bennets so they found him less insufferable. And as someone else pointed out, he was to inherit and had the right to throw them out when time comes so they were inclined to already dislike him.

I found the differences between the portrayals of the P&P characters to be almost exactly inversely proportional to Ms. Austen's and presumed it was the author's design. The tag line regarding Miss Lizzie's petticoats says it all! However clever Elizabeth or genial Jane may have been in Pride and Prejudice, at the end of the day, their agenda did not include the well being of the servants. In terms of plot consistency, I didn't note any departure from Austen and in fact am grateful that Ms. Baker did not insert revisionist 21st century values in a work of historical fiction.

I don't remember Mr. Collins being especially ridiculous in P&P, but very pompous. I'd like to think that with marriage and age, he had matured. If you'd like still another view of Regency England, try the Ratcatcher series by J. McGee.

You did notice however how he was pumping the maid about the size and value of the house, and how nice the other bedrooms were!

I thought that this different take on Mr. Collins' personality was interesting too, and a good reminder that like beauty, ridiculousness (if that's a word), is also in the eye of the beholder.

Something that struck me in Longbourn was that the main characters mirror the relationship between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy---he is proud, and she is prejudiced. Human behavior transcends class boundaries!

I haven't read Longbourn because I read somewhere that in this novel Mr Bennet gets one of the maids (Mrs Hill?) pregnant, whereas Jane Austen wrote specifically that Mr Bennet, though not happily married, was faithful to his wife. So, due to the inconsistency (and some of the poor reviews about how badly some of my fav characters are portrayed) I didn't read it. Don't know if I got this wrong.

Sabina wrote: "I'm reading Longbourn now and feel like there are some small inconsistencies with Pride and Prejudice - wondering if others have noticed anything. thanks!"

When reading Lonbourn I purposely tried to focus on just this book. I don't think it's fair to the author to compare it to Pride and Prejudice or look for flaws or small inconsistencies. I always try to let a book stand on its own. I really enjoyed Longbourn and think the writing is excellent and the characters well described, the plot interesting.

a/ In Pride and Prejudice the Gardiniers did not take their children to Longbourn

b/ In Longbourn, it is Jane's second letter to Elizabeth at Lambton that has the illegible address, not the first, and they are sent on the same day, not three (or four) days apart.

The inconsistencies I noticed were largely in the portrayal of Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet. Mr. Bennet is not at all sarcastic or witty, and Elizabeth acts as I would imagine Jane would. She is shy and rather polite instead of bright and intelligent.

I thought they tried to redeem Mr. Collins too much. I thought they were expressly kind to Mr. Bennet's indiscretions. The book ended ok but I wanted better and more for the characters.

It's been a few years since I last read Pride and Prejudice and I must confess that I missed the inconsistencies.Do you want to share those that you noticed?

One thing that jumped out at me was the portrayal of Mr. Collins. In Longbourn, he is portrayed as rather kind to the main character, and not ridiculous as he is in P&P.