Once upon a time....the beautiful, auburn headed, vivacious teenager Annie Markham had an awful scare. She thought that she was pregnant. And when she shared this bit of news with her teen boyfriend, Jake...he turned an unbecoming shade of puce, yelled out a panicky speech and promptly fainted. Vivacious Annie should have seen this as a prologue for things to come. But when she discovered that she wasn’t really pregnant, she told Jake again. The gallant Jake promptly turned a slimy shade of green, yelled out another heart-ripping speech and promptly disappeared. Annie should have listened to her wise Godmother Susannah’s advice. Men weren’t to be trusted.The End.Once upon a more recent time, Annie Markham is a beautiful young lady. She has a heart of gold, works at a local art gallery, moonlights as a phone Samaritan and seems to be the only sensible duckling in an eccentric self-absorbed family of pretentious swans. But the bouncing curls and witty facade hide an embittered soul. Annie has never really got over Jake’s abrupt departure from her life and he continues to colour all her interactions with the opposite sex.But Annie has more pressing problems. The once-flourishing family business is in danger of folding. Her figure-head (in every sense of the word) of a father is too busy chasing everything in a short-skirt to do anything useful. Her eldest sister, Katherine is single and too busy playing coiffed socialite to contribute anything meaningful. Her middle sister Victoria is too busy being stuck in a dead-end marriage to the lovable yet golf-crazed Charles and lives out the daily drama of playing hapless mother to two energetic tots.Susannah, who now works for Markhams decides to bring in the best Managment-Consultant team to save the company from bankruptcy. Said Management Company is headed by the dynamic Jake Mead. Yep, the very same: turn into the colours of a rainbow ->faint -> run Jake from Annie’s past.Jake, despite being hugely successful and handsome to boot, has never really recovered from what he believes to be Annie’s duplicity. When he learns that Annie is the youngest member of the Markham family, he sees this as a perfect opportunity to seek some long-overdue revenge (or "closure", as his psychiatrist would like to stress). Annie too, is determined to be stoic/sarcastic/condescending when she encounters the big howling ghost from her past.But the best-laid plans of management gurus and curly-topped viragoes can always hit a roadblock. Soon the two find themselves thrown into improbable situations that result in unexpected results.The witty Melissa Nathan strikes yet again. Her writing is cheeky, loaded with quips and generously peppered with realistic insights into the minds of different personalities. The characters may seem like caricatures, but they revel in their predictabilities. Annie is an endearing heroine, Jake has the requisite charm to make you overlook his pigheadedness and the rest of the supporting cast have enough eccentricities to keep you hooked till the last page.R.I.P.
Bon bein voilà, c'est dit, ceci est, sans conteste possible, le livre que j'ai le plus apprécié depuis que j'ai commencé à lire des livres autour de l'oeuvre de Jane Austen. Certes, le fait que Persuasion soit mon roman préféré doit y être pour quelque chose mais tout de même... J'avais déjà beaucoup aimé Acting Up, de Melissa Nathan, un auteur qui écrit bien et nous présente des personnages des plus attachants, dans un anglais que je comprend. Je ne m'attendais d'ailleurs pas à une réecriture en ouvrant ce livre étant donné qu'Acting Up n'en était pas une. Mais ici, après seulement quelques pages, je suis obligée de me rendre à l'évidence, je suis en présence d'une Anne Elliot de mon époque! Et Melissa Nathan en fait une parfaite réecriture en gardant absolument tout ce qu'il faut tout en apportant de nouvelles choses de manière intelligente, comme l'histoire plus approfondie de la soeur d'Anne (ici Annie) et de son mari que j'ai trouvé très touchante. Annie Markham donc, est une jeune fille douce et gentille issue d'une famille londonienne riche et capricieuse. Malheureusement, son père a investi tout son argent dans sa société mais est incapable de la diriger. Susannah, la marraine d'Annie, et l'une des directrices de Markham Entreprise, ne voit qu'une solution pour les sauver de la faillite: engager un consultant pour redresser la situation et envoyer la famille d'Annie a New-York en attendant pour qu'ils n'interfèrent pas. Annie décide de rester à Londres et quelle n'est pas sa surprise quand le consultant arrive et n'est autre que Jake, son amour de jeunesse... C'est un de ces livres que l'on a pas envie d'avoir terminé, on aimerait rester encore un peu avec les personnages. Quand on le pose, ils restent dans notre tête et on pense à eux comme à des amis. D'ailleurs quand on arrive au mot fin, on a pas envie d'en entamer un autre tout de suite, on veut faire durer le plaisir. Et puis, c'est plus fort que moi, je ne peux pas vous expliquer à quel point cette histoire me touche, je suis triste, en colère, amoureuse avec Annie. Le seul reproche que je pourrais faire à ce livre est que le début est un tout petit peu long mais ensuite on voudrait qu'il ne finisse jamais!
What do You think about Persuading Annie (2004)?
I really enjoyed this one. I have to admit that the plot is pretty regular for a chick-lit novel, but what makes it special is Melissa's style of writing. Although we meet loads of characters throughout the novel, Annie has a fabulous and unique personality and Melissa really gets inside her head. Annie is a very witty character and what made me pick this book up every day when I got home from school were the hilarious comments intersperced throughout the plot. Yes, the storyline is pretty average for this genre - and will be even more familiar to the Austen fans out there as this is based on 'Persuasion' - but there are some real characters in this novel and some fantastic quotes. It's also a very quick and easy read, so just what is needed for inbetween serious novels or heavy workloads. Sweet, witty and easy-going - my only complaint is that I only have two more novels by Melissa Nathan left to read! It's so sad that she died at such a young age as - if her writing goes to show anything - she sounds like she was a lovely, fun person.Top Three Quotes from 'Persuading Annie':1. "Just because these men weren't born with priviledge" - she said haughtily - "it doesn't make them sub-human, you know."A rugby player set fire to his fart.Cass raised her perfect eyebrows into perfect arcs."No," she agreed. "I see they're still working their way up the evolutionary ladder to that level." (page 12)2. There was silence. He'd finished. Annie thought about what he'd just said. Now was the time for her to say something that showed insight and intelligence. "Ooh," she said. "Lots of processes." (page 169)3. "TEMPLE!" shrieked Victoria, therby preventing anyone else from guessing. "IT'S A BLOODY TEMPLE!" she screamed. "What do you think these are?" she yelled, poking the perfect Doric columns with her pencil. "SAUSAGES?"Charles took several long, deep breaths."No," he said calmly. "You don't get sausages the size of a PALACE." (page 161)
—Rachel Brand
I love humor. I find myself constantly choosing to view life through its lens which always seems like the better seat and produces a more colorful picture. I guess that's why I'm always surprised by my feelings of disappointment when I read a "funny" book and I don't think it is nearly as funny as it could or should be. Persuading Annie is one of those books. A supposed modern take on Jane Austen's not funny but wonderfully intelligent Persuasion, Melissa Nathan desecrates everything that makes Persuasion great (real consequences, missed opportunities, changed lives and broken trust. Great comedic material, yes?) and minimizes it so that she can concentrate on some not-so-witty one liners and description of clothes and hair. In fact, it's got all the makings of one of those stories that will eventually becomes a romantic comedy with a funny actress playing the lead, like Isla Fisher or Kathryn Hiegl, and you know what? I would probably enjoy the movie. I'm much easier to please on the big screen but in a book? No. You're going to have to do better than that.I just don't understand why the two, humor and good writing, seem so diabolically opposed in fiction. I think it works great in non-fiction, particularly memoirs, but I really want to read a well crafted, character driven, funny book with a realistic plot. Am I asking for the impossible?
—Lucy
Updated; 14 June 2014The first time I read it, I hadn't had a clue Persuading Annie is a retelling of one of Jane Austen's works, Persuasion. Despite completely missing out on the reference, my former self doted on the book. I thought the book was hilarious. Two years later and after had acquainted myself with Austen's Persuasion, while not as overly fond of chick flick as I used to be, the book still holds some of its charm over me. To my intense pleasure, I still found the book to be as hilarious as I remembered it was. All in all, Persuading Annie is a rather good rendition of one of my favourite Austen's books. First read; 23 July 20124 starsI can't remember the last time I laughed so hard over a book. Or maybe because I've been feeding myself with emotionally draining stories more than I should, this one is indeed a welcome change. It has been a while since I last read chick flick. While I don't particularly love chick flick, this one was worth the energy, the time, yadda yadda. You get the drill. If you need to de-stress or read something light for a chance, then read Persuading Annie.One thing that bugged me though -- I feel Annie and Jake are underdeveloped when they are supposed to be the main characters of the story.Instead, the attention unnecessarily goes to Victoria and Charles. I'd like to know more of what happened to Annie and Jake after their break up. By the end of book, I felt rushed and everything fell into place way too quickly. Like Melissa has ran up the pages number and needed to quickly fold the story and hence the ending. But it was good nonetheless. Annie and Cass are so hilarious!
—Nur Ain Z.
