Review - Pride and Prejudice
Jun. 18th, 2009 04:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wilderthanI tried to read Pride and Prejudice once before, but stalled out on it. I was determined to read it this summer, though -- we're often told at my university that to really join in the 'conversation' that is the study of English Literature, we've got to be familiar with Jane Austen. I'll have to look up what the other requirements are, but I'm steadily plodding onward with Jane! This time, I actually enjoyed Pride and Prejudice rather more -- to the point where my mother, who has no affection for Austen, wondered if I was sick. I read it in ebook format, three or four pages at a time, and got it finished very quickly.
I'm still not sure it's so utterly vital, or the pinnacle of wit or writing talent, but I do confess to enjoying it. Given how famous and influential it is, if you are in the position I adopted before, do give it a try. I don't blame you if you don't find it interesting. I obviously eventually got into it. The characters were really what got me, with their little quirks and flaws. Even Mrs Bennet, who is irritatingly hysterical, is kind of endearing -- heck, even Lydia and Wickham are kind of endearing in their lack of repentence and their silliness. I know a lot of girls swoon over Darcy, and maybe this is the fact that I haven't seen any tv/movie adaptation, but I didn't at all: I was rather of Lizzy's opinion to begin with. Still, he became more likable later on, and I enjoyed that. Lizzy herself -- well, she jumps to conclusions, but she has a mind of her own and isn't afraid to snub and refuse a man. I imagine that would have taken some guts, in that period.
I have to say, I still found the plot fairly boring. If I didn't kind of want to see how the characters reacted and eventually got together, I probably wouldn't have stuck with it. It's not that the pacing is bad or anything, not when you consider the novel in context, but I'm just not really one for books in which the main object is everyone getting together at the end. Especially when the supposed love and affection between the characters falls relatively flat for me.
I swear I'm not a pod person. And I still defend people's right to utterly loathe and detest Austen.
I'm still not sure it's so utterly vital, or the pinnacle of wit or writing talent, but I do confess to enjoying it. Given how famous and influential it is, if you are in the position I adopted before, do give it a try. I don't blame you if you don't find it interesting. I obviously eventually got into it. The characters were really what got me, with their little quirks and flaws. Even Mrs Bennet, who is irritatingly hysterical, is kind of endearing -- heck, even Lydia and Wickham are kind of endearing in their lack of repentence and their silliness. I know a lot of girls swoon over Darcy, and maybe this is the fact that I haven't seen any tv/movie adaptation, but I didn't at all: I was rather of Lizzy's opinion to begin with. Still, he became more likable later on, and I enjoyed that. Lizzy herself -- well, she jumps to conclusions, but she has a mind of her own and isn't afraid to snub and refuse a man. I imagine that would have taken some guts, in that period.
I have to say, I still found the plot fairly boring. If I didn't kind of want to see how the characters reacted and eventually got together, I probably wouldn't have stuck with it. It's not that the pacing is bad or anything, not when you consider the novel in context, but I'm just not really one for books in which the main object is everyone getting together at the end. Especially when the supposed love and affection between the characters falls relatively flat for me.
I swear I'm not a pod person. And I still defend people's right to utterly loathe and detest Austen.
