I finished this several days ago and I'm still thinking about it!
I am not actually a huge fan of Pride and Prejudice; in general, I just think it's overrated and not worth the hype. But a mlm featuring a trans character version of it? I ate it up. I found Oliver extremely sympathetic, and I was surprised by how much I liked Darcy. (One of the overrated aspects of the original is definitely Darcy as a male love interest; he is just so pompous and unlikable.) I loved how in this retelling he was this reserved bookworm who just wanted to support Oliver. I thought his aversion to women made sense in this story, whereas in the original he's just an exceptional misogynist. Beyond their individual characters, I felt they had chemistry together and I was definitely rooting for Oliver to finally come out to Darcy and for them to get together.
One thing that's tricky with a retelling is that the author doesn't really get to take credit for the plot since its bones will always be related to a previous work. Depending on the context of the retelling, the plot might get more or less attributed to the author. This book had a particular challenge because the time, place, and central progression of the story were all the same as the original. Hence, the author has a burden of making this book exceptional through the writing, atmosphere, and characterization. I felt this retelling, though having a similar plot to the original story, far exceeded its predecessor in terms of writing style and the development of the story. Just like in the original, Wickham and Collins were extremely hateable and the conflict was logical and effective; both of these aspects translated well from the original story to this concept. This story just lends itself really well to Elizabeth (in the original) actually being a trans character because to me Oliver's fear of being a wife made perfect sense in a way I didn't really get with Elizabeth in the original.
It's strange to ponder the vibe of this book because to me it had such a cozy, uplifting feeling to it even though Oliver spends much of the book afraid and/or misidentified. Part of me knew this would have a happy ending, both regarding the romance and Oliver's coming out to his family, so I think that allowed me to feel like it's cozy instead of being stressed out while reading. That being said, I loved how accepting everyone ended up being. The characterization of Mrs. Bennett was perfect because she was still as insufferable as she was in the original story; however, her arc of accepting Oliver by the end of the novel was somewhat redeeming for her and I enjoyed it. I feel like people might question the historical plausibility of this total acceptance, but I'm able to suspend my disbelief because this is the story I want and how I wish it would go in any time period.
Final verdict: This is a brilliant retelling of Pride and Prejudice, improving upon what is lacking in the original; plus, it's gay!
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