I realize it’s been an extremely long time since I read a Nancy Drew mystery. I’m not lamenting missing that style of writing but more so the passing of the years. =S
So I was quite compelled when I saw there was a parody, in the form of Chelsea Cain’s Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody. Okay, I was very compelled by the $4.99 sticker price and wanted to relive my youth of devouring each Nancy Drew mystery (the white covers) as they came out.
Oh but I was quite wrong and disappointed.
First of all, the voice doesn’t sit right with me. She does have the fire that is fitting for someone as talented as she is but the sarcasm wasn’t pure and tended to ruin my reading experience. That’s what you get when you are reading a parody and not a supposed prequel or sequel. Then, there was one technologically implausible story involving advanced aircrafts and robots. Finally, the licenses taken to elaborate on the lives of Nancy Drew’s friends were taken too far, in my opinion.
Was I simply naive about what a parody entailed? Perhaps. But I did read Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen – good God, I hope I got that on sale – and it was not so shocking because the writing style attempted to imitate that of Miss Austen’s. Am I a prude who doesn’t want to see my classics tainted? Yeah, I think so.
I really enjoyed Scarlett: The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind” that I picked up over a decade ago now (!!). It was perhaps because the writing style was not too far off what I loved of the first novel and its writing was carefully commissioned. Likewise, I’m looking forward to receiving the Anne of Green Gables prequel, Before Green Gables!
Price: $4.99
Vendor: Chapters.ca
