The Darcy Myth

Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love

By: Rachel Feder

Narrated by: Deanna Anthony

What if we’ve been reading Jane Austen and romantic classics all wrong? A funny, brainy, eye-opening take on how our contemporary love stories are actually pretty terrifying.

Covering cultural touchstones ranging from Twilight to Taylor Swift and from Lord Byron to The Bachelor, The Darcy Myth is a book for anyone who loves thinking deeply about literature and culture—whether they love Jane Austen or not.

You already know Mr. Darcy—at least you think you do! The brooding, rude, standoffish romantic hero of Pride and Prejudice, Darcy initially insults and ignores the witty heroine but eventually succumbs to her charms. It’s a classic enemies-to-lovers plot and one that has profoundly influenced our cultural ideas about courtship. But what if this classic isn’t just a grand romance but a horror novel about how scary love and marriage can be for women?

In The Darcy Myth, literature scholar Rachel Feder unpacks Austen’s Gothic influences and how they have led us to a romantic ideal that is halfway to being a monster story. Why is our culture so obsessed with cruel, indifferent romantic heroes, and sometimes heroines? How much of that is Darcy’s fault? And, now that we know, what do we do about it?

©2023 Rachel Feder (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

It’s dumb self-pity rambling

This was torture and this is my second time writing this as I accidentally deleted my previous review.

I couldn’t bare to read this physically and had to switch to an audiobook after she rambled about Mary Shelley and how her mother —-renowned enlightenment thinker—- Mary Wollstonecraft breastfed a puppy. What does that have to do with Darcy? What does this after to do with anything?


Why god why did people think this book is good? It has contaminated my eyes and ears so now I have to gouge out my eyes and cut off my ears. This book was my personal hell, it felt like a random strange that doesn’t understand small talk rambling to me at 8 am on the subway.

I am a big pride and prejudice fan and agree that people shouldn’t be taking dating tips from Darcy but this book felt more annoying then listening to Collins droning on about how I would be a perfect cousin/wife and making decisions on my future.

To clarify my hatred for this book if I was the guy in hunger games with the Nike beard and saw this book on the table, I would ask for the berries. I would beg for the berries actually.

This took forever to get through because of the disgusting amount of dumb points made in this book I had to pause the audiobook and sigh and sit for a minute to rest my head before listening to a woman blame her bad choices of men on Darcy.

The mist annoying part of the book was the “Darcy of our lives” where she drones on about girls that made bad choices. One was even shocked that their bf cheated on her after he cheated WITH her not even a week before. Or when someone almost cheated on their husband because they liked their coworkers. How does this relate to Darcy. A made up man. A man from 1813 that doesn’t even know dinosaurs exist be the root to your problems.

Your problems are you.

That therapists also needs to realize this or lose her license. How can she —-with professional knowledge—- think it’s occur to just blame a book character for their patients want to cheat.

This book is just justification and self-victimization. For all the women she mentioned in this book not one of them needed to take responsibility for their choices all of them actually are innocent to their times. Women being a victim of their times can clearly happen but that doesn’t mean every woman of that time is a victim.

For example, she always brings up poor little Lydia, yes she was a victim of grooming and child marriage but look at her at the end of pride and prejudice. She still holds herself as above her sisters and praises Wickham above everyone else. And how can we blame Darcy for her running away with wickham he didn’t speak a word to her before her runaway.

He warned Lizzy who in turn should’ve warned Lydia but she didn’t and it’s not Darcy’s fault.

And wickham running away with lydia wasn’t part of Darcy’s master plan to win Lizzy to marry him.

This book was 218 pages of boohoo my life is dreadful because everything is inspired off of the same material.

And what was her point of continuously bringing up vampires or the bachelorette or beauty and the beast or gossip girl or community. NONE OF IT WAS WORTH IT. Each thing was just over explained rambling even going as far as comparing Carrie Bradshaw to wickham as she claimed they are both rakes. One person is making their own money legally and sleeping with people with consent (I assume I haven’t watched this show) and the other is a man that groomed a 15 year old girl and is in gambling debt.