REVIEW: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE BY JANE AUSTEN

Title: Pride and Prejudice

Author: Jane Austen

Publication Date: 1813

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Format: Paperback

Pages: 367

Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's witty comedy of manners--one of the most popular novels of all time--that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues. Renowned literary critic and historian George Saintsbury in 1894 declared it the "most perfect, the most characteristic, the most eminently quintessential of its author's works," and Eudora Welty in the twntieth century described it as "irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be."

Introduction by Anna Quindlen.

Commentary by Margaret Oliphant, George Saintsbury, Mark Twain, A.C. Bradley, Walter A. Raleigh, and Virginia Woolf.

Anna Quindlen is the winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for commentary and the author of three bestselling novels, most recently Black and Blue, a children's book, Happily Ever After, and an inspirational book, A Short Guide to a Happy Life.

Includes a Modern Library Reading Group Guide

Review:

It’s been a while since I read Pride and Prejudice and my review is certainly late, but I had to take time and fuel myself off that. Then Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick came along and I couldn’t hold my pants, and I took a reading break after reading The Infernal devices because that just asked to be murdered repeatedly, in a straight jacket, against a wall because of it’s amusingness plus dreadfulness (I have mixed feelings. A Love/Hate relationship if you please.) 

So here I am with my IPod beside me, which I used to fuel out my opinions on the book straight after the read at 2 o’clock at night and I know this is going to be a long and tiresome project.

Pacing: It was slow paced. Some parts I felt were totally unnecessary, but I guess that’s what made up the story and the life of Lizzie. Really, half the book is about her travelling. That’s nice and all, but I would like to see some more Darcy and Lizzie scenes.

Characters: Jane Austen really does know how to write her characters! I thought they were EXCELLENT. Her characters are so beautifully sculptured and woven like silk, I would dive fathomlessly into their personalities if I could. I love everyone one of them, even the ones that annoyed me. Miss Bennet, though I wanted to kill her sometimes and strangle her after, made me want to laugh and hit her head against a wall. Mr Collins, oh my gosh, words cannot describe how much I thought he was a complete disaster and respected Austen for creating him. Lydia Bennet, I wanted to do to her what I wanted to do to her damn mother. Lizzie Bennet annoyed me at times, but when do main characters not?

Writing: Pride and Prejudice is so beautifully written, but at times it was hard to grasp the meaning of her sentences. Especially at the beginning as it was my first classic Jane Austen book. Although at times I wish she would describe the tone of dialogue and the expressions on peoples faces when they said it. There is only so much the mind can do.

Romance: I didn’t feel the Romance between Darcy and Lizzie Bennet. It just didn’t feel tangible for my taste. It was like all her life she hated him and despised him then when they decided they didn’t hate each other they decided to get married, because they just merely didn’t hate each other anymore.

 Jane and Bingly’s romance even had more interest than that. The mystery, the longing and the loss was intriguing, but I wanted that from Lizzie! I like the main characters to have what they’ve always wanted. I want them to be superior.

 I understand the fan clubs excessively ponder over Darcy’s affections toward Miss Bennet but I really think it’s all fuelled by the TV shows, the spin off books and other stories that bring that tone out. I watched Lost in Austen after that and felt like I felt more connection between the main character and Darcy.

I know there must be that in underlying tones beneath the words that expressed her love for Darcy, but I didn’t even feel it! It was like she hadn’t even given enough fuel to the fire for it to really shine. I’m not a girl that needs to see a bouquet of flowers from the male lead to know that he must care for her, though I did actually feel Darcy’s affection throughout the book and even in the abrupt moment when he confessed his love for her.

But with all the fan club love over Darcy, I feel like I haven’t read the right book. It was like they grabbed at anything that could lead to love and fluffed it up like a pillow to make it seem bigger and grander.

I would never want to say this, but I do feel like one must watch the movies before reading to feel connection between Darcy and Lizzie.  I really wanted to like this book. It frustrated me.