Book review: Darcy Swipes Left by Courtney Carbone & Jane Austen

Darcy Swipes Left is part of the OMG Classics series by Courtney Carbone, who restructures classic works of literature into online/texting conversations and social media status updates with plenty of emojis. I found it at the dollar store, and since I collect Jane Austen adaptations, I decided to buy it.

I did not really care for this book. The use of emojis to replace words, often to confusing effect, was rather corny. There is a glossary in the back to explain the text speech/acronyms, for anyone older than 45, and what the emojis meant. Per usual, I did not realize this until I finished the book, so I had to guess what each emoji stood for, which was not always immediately obvious (flirting is the winky face + blowing a kiss w/ a heart emoji). The emotions of the book don't really come through when they're transmitted via text. I was kind of secondhand embarrassed throughout, tbh. I don't think this will be the kind of book that ages gracefully. Gen Z doesn't use Facebook, for instance, and I think people have stopped checking into places online.

Ok, here are some positive things about this book: most of the humor shines through, and you still get to see Lizzy dunk on Darcy. My favorite part is when Lydia goes to stay with her married friend, and she uploads a 150-picture album entitled "Selfies with Soldiers" to Facebook.

I haven't given it away (yet), but idk if I will end up keeping it after all. Probably not, as I'm already running out of space on my Jane Austen Shelf.

Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: January 16
From: dollar store
Format: hardcover
Status: tentatively keeping