Meet the Benedettos

Hits enough Pride and Prejudice beats to be good but not predictable.

Needs an epilogue or one more scene to stick the landing.

CW: Discussion of previous suicide attempt and subsequent hospitalization3.5 stars for this clever [b:Pride and Prejudice 1885 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320399351l/1885.SY75.jpg 3060926] update. Jane Austen's Bennetts were family of modest means with an embarrassing fortune-hunting mother; Cotugno's Benedettos are former stars of a Kardashian-like television show whose every action is still gossip-worthy. Will Darcy, a Broadway actor starring in his first movie, is horrified when he learns that Lilly Benedetto, whom he just kissed, is a “reality show trash bag.” For her part, Lilly considers Will; his friend and action movie megastar Charlie Bingley; and his no-strings fuck buddy/agent Caroline Bingley, to be snobby “horrifying garbage monsters.” Will and Lilly alternately banter and glower at each other, as the rest of the familiar story unfolds. June/Jane doesn't catch a cold in this version; she faints doing burpees at Netherfield Place due to an undisclosed eating disorder. Mr. Collins is a self-centered screenwriter who unctuously fawns over his director, Caitriona de Bourgh. And so on. The updates are inspired, the satire of social media fame is on target, and the scenes between Lilly and Will sizzle with a combination of hate-fuck energy and finding-your-soulmate sweetness.Unfortunately, however, the book is a little too ambitious for its scale. The narrative is multiple first person POV, so we learn more about Will Darcy's interior life. Scenes recalling his abrupt exodus from New York to Hollywood after a short-term hospitalization for a suicidal attempt, and detailing his troubled relationship with his sister Georgia are well-written. But they crowd out most of the June and Charlie subplot and rush the Olivia (Lydia) and Nick (Wickham) episode. An unexpected Girl Power twist involving a secondary character solves the Bendettos' financial problems, but the abrupt ending, with a vaguely HFN for Lilly and Will, left me with a “wait, what?” feeling of frustration.