Being Mary Bennet

January 15, 2022
Told she resembles one of Jane Austen's least likable characters, an aggrieved, self-doubting teen strives to change her ways. Marnie Barnes, 18, a wealthy senior at an upscale San Francisco boarding school, feels pressured. When her older sister Lindy was a senior, her project won the school's prestigious Hunt Prize. Now Marnie's desperate to win it herself--her Stanford ambitions and family's appreciation ride on it. The third of five daughters, Marnie feels slighted by their mother, who comments unfavorably on her weight. Facing the deadline to submit her project proposal (having children read to dogs at an animal shelter), she's neither gracious nor grateful when her roommate, Adhira Fitz, introduces her to friends with animal-shelter contacts. When exasperated Adhira compares her to Elizabeth Bennet's awful sister, Marnie realizes she needs to change, a challenge made easier by Eugene "Whit" Whitlock, the cute boy volunteering at the animal shelter who helps get her project on track. But Marnie's still crushing on hot venture capitalist Hayes Wellesley, Lindy's best friend's fiance.Unlike Austen's Mary, Marnie is redeemable--refreshingly imperfect, her characterization mostly rings true, and it's her struggles that will keep readers invested as the plethora of largely familiar character types move through the unruly plot. Marnie is White; Canadian Adhira, who largely functions as the supportive BFF, has relatives in India; and Whit has a White American father and Japanese mother. A coming-of-age story best appreciated by fans of genre romance. (Fiction. 14-18)

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January 17, 2022
When “accidental roommate and apparent birthday expert” Adhira Fitz refuses to let Marnie Barnes, “academic extraordinaire and solitude expert,” spend her 18th birthday at their school library, it ends in a spat. Marnie, who’s white, knew she was an introvert and a bit of a know-it-all, but it hurts when Indian Canadian Adhira says that she’s not Lizzy Bennet, heroine—instead, she’s Mary Bennet, “the dowdy, lecture-prone sister from Pride and Prejudice” who pales in comparison to her clever, socially adept older sisters. Marnie, whose senior year of high school is also her first at boarding school, resolves to change, but feelings of insecurity keep getting the best of her—both with her family and around a boy she meets while developing the project she hopes will win the school prize for a socially conscious undertaking. Though the Pride and Prejudice parallels don’t add much, and the inclusion of Silicon Valley grudges and the bad behavior of Marnie’s tech bro crush feel heavy-handed, debut author Peterson shows the difficulties of overcoming habitual behavior through relationships rather than a to-do list. Fortunately, unlike Mary, Marnie has a good friend whom she increasingly values and a sister she comes to see as a real person, not an overweening presence that she’ll never live up to. Ages 13–up.

February 1, 2022

Gr 8 Up-Marnie Barnes is the quintessential middle child, outshone by her older sisters and upstaged by her younger ones. Desperate to prove her worth to her family, she designs a program for children to read aloud to shelter dogs, hoping that it will be the key to her winning the Hunt Prize, an elite award presented to only one senior at her high school. But when her roommate calls her out for being a Mary Bennet (the quiet, annoying, and nerdy middle sister in Pride and Prejudice), Marnie becomes determined to turn herself into the heroine of her own story. Can she come out of her bookworm shell and prove herself to everyone around her? Literary references, friendship, family drama, adorable dogs-this book has it all! It is full of realistic characters whom readers will be rooting for. While the plot sometimes feels a bit issue-heavy, Peterson's debut novel deftly balances these issues with lighthearted fun and an incredibly sweet romance. The secondary characters are fully developed, and Marnie's own character growth progresses naturally throughout the story. VERDICT A solid purchase for your teen collection; fans of Jane Austen will eat up this playful contemporary homage to Pride and Prejudice.-Chelsey Masterson

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2022
Grades 8-11 The middle sister of five in a wealthy Silicon Valley family, bookish Marnie decides that she's painfully similar to Mary Bennet, the "sullen, forgotten" sister in Pride and Prejudice. In her senior year at a prestigious girls' boarding school in San Francisco, Marnie works to overcome her faults and become her own person rather than trying to live up to the perfection of her older sisters. Competing for a coveted award brings additional pressure but also introduces a potential love interest. Constantly questioning aspects of herself and those around her, Marnie learns how to make friends and relate to family members while dealing with the sudden, unwanted attentions of an odious older fellow she'd had a crush on on for years. Marnie's first-person narrative begins with reflection and ends with her taking action on several fronts. While her self-deprecating humor is part of the story's appeal, there's also something endearing about watching this earnest character do what has to be done, even if she risks making a fool of herself in the process. A promising first novel.

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