Pride and Prejudice

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It's a hit!

Pride and Prejudice is a great read if you can sit through the double negatives and indirect prose which... maddeningly! sometimes seems to pervade... (show more)

Pride and Prejudice is a great read if you can sit through the double negatives and indirect prose which... maddeningly! sometimes seems to pervade every page. Many people like that form of writing, and I think I'm coming to appreciate it (on my 4th re-read), but it was a bit of a slog. I recommend you read it out loud... it helps, but at the cost of making you sound uppity.

Because it's woth the slog!

It's fiilled with enduring characters, dry humour and blink-and-you'll miss it satire and for female fans (and certain male fans) the very gentlemanly, very perfect, honourable and most excellent Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy! *swoons* (That said, Elizabeth Bennet is an equally fine woman and I'm surprised she doesn't have her own legion of adoring male fans! Lead by me of course!) anyways.. I'll get on with the review...

What really won me over was how believeable Austen's narrative was. Although I profess I'm not an expert in 19th century british history or social interaction (gah! I read pride and prejudice for goodness sakes! I must be socially retarded!), but the book seemed to sparkle with a liveliness and believeability.

It's as if I was staring into someone else's life, sharing in their joys and tribulations and that's what makes it wonderful. It's what I love about Austen.. how she can write about the everyday!

It's for that reason that I couldn't give the book 5 stars (It came awfully close though... and it's one of my favourite books of all time! BUT!!). To put it simply, for all of its exploration of the foibles of human behaviour, of pride and prejudice... there wasn't anything particularly enlightening about the book. It's not a DEEP novel and I feel that is what the role of a 5-star narrative should be. That said, it is an awesome book. I gasped audibly in some parts (and yes I had to readjust my corsage afterwards) and it was deeply moving and satisfying. Anyways I'll end the review here, at risk of further emasculation! Twilight is a Mills and Boon novel, you want real romance? Read Pride and Prejudice. (show less)

 

 

by Facebook-gebruiker

No, it's a flop!

Give me Wuthering Heights 10 times. Getting through Pride and Prejudice was a bit of a torture. I even saw the movie some time afterwards, the rece... (show more)

Give me Wuthering Heights 10 times. Getting through Pride and Prejudice was a bit of a torture. I even saw the movie some time afterwards, the recent one with Keira Knightley. It felt exactly the same way: A long, boring Pre-victorian era- set soap opera.

I simply dont find the story as captivating as seemingly 90 % of readers have done so through decades.
OK, so they are both proud, and they are both prejudiced. Good. It's actually a nice premise on the deceitfulness of first impressions. It's nice to see that assumptions tricked Regency/Victorian era people as much as they trick us today. We humans dont change much.

Austen used a very stylized and carefully adorned prose, proper to illustrate the period.
But to me it didn't even feel like a joyful immersion into the early British 19th century. It was a mere drag.

I found Elizabeth to be irritating sometimes but never so much as her sisters and her silly mother! It got more tolerable when Darcy came into the picture. But as soon as he left, anyone else and their inane chatty chats would bore me to death.

Since people compare them so much for being from the 19th century, then I repeat, give me 'Wuthering Heights', which I actually valued so much more on my second re-read (the first time it just shocked me, which is also a good sign), give me 'Jane Eyre' whose main character I love and admire.

I dont mind the complexity of the language in any of these novels, as long as the story enthralls and intrigues me, and makes me want to know more about the characters, why they react in certain ways, etc.
Pride and Prejudice did none of that for me.

Then, I dont know, I guess I'm more of a Bronte sisters fan.

If 'Pride' was Austen's best novel, there's no way I'll even consider the others. I did see Sense and Sensibility, the Emma Thompson movie, and I enjoyed it. Maybe I'll try that one novel someday, but not in any near future! (show less)

 

 

by Facebook-gebruiker

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  This was a wonderful book. I understood it better after seeing the movie and putting faces to the different characters.

   

   

  by Anonymous User on Feb 14, 2008 at 03:17PM

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  To make a comparison, I found this novel to resemble an old-fashioned soap opera – but one that I would actually watch. The skillful narrative, with an amazingly realistic array of character personalities and interactions, is immediately attention-grabbing. It is not easy to put the book down when you have already been engrossed by its fascinating story and light-hearted humor. Not only are the personalities well-crafted, but the playful jesting and conversations between them grants even more... (show more)

  To make a comparison, I found this novel to resemble an old-fashioned soap opera – but one that I would actually watch. The skillful narrative, with an amazingly realistic array of character personalities and interactions, is immediately attention-grabbing. It is not easy to put the book down when you have already been engrossed by its fascinating story and light-hearted humor. Not only are the personalities well-crafted, but the playful jesting and conversations between them grants even more credibility to their existence.
  But beneath the light surface, the so-called comedy of manners, lies a more serious exploration of human nature. The reader despairs as the pride and ignorance of first one character, then the other, lead them off on a bad footing for their personal goals, or twists the plot in an unexpected way. This allows the reader to ponder once in a while, and keeps his/her attention by adding an element of surprise.
  However, this same natural human nature that adds excitement also takes some away. In this case, the plot is predictable at times, and at some only certain occurring events distract the story from progressing as you expect it to. Further, a happy ending seems almost unavoidable, and while in the style of the rest of the novel, is slightly disappointing. A final twist wouldn't have been misplaced.
  Overall, the heart of the gracefulness of this novel lies in the fact that the settings, character interactions as well as their outcomes seem extremely realistic. A worthy read indeed. (show less)

   

   

  by Justas Medeisis on Sep 13, 2009 at 06:33AM

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