Book Synopsis:
Since its immediate success in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.
My Review:
4/5 stars. I really enjoyed the overall story of Pride and Prejudice, but the book itself was kind of hard to get through. This was partly due to the time it was written and the old language, but I also felt that the book could’ve been two thirds the length it was and the main plot would’ve remained unchanged. The plot was very slow at time.
For the next Jane Austen books I read (because I do plan on reading more) I think I'm going to listen to the audiobooks versions. A big thought I had throughout my reading of this book was that it would be a lot easier to follow and notice specific details if I was listening to it. I don't normally think that, but this is the type of book where that would be necessary. I don't know if it was just Jane Austen's style or if all books from the time period were like this, but this book had so many run-on sentences and other small grammatical issues that it was hard to follow.
Along with the grammar, the vocabulary and sentence structure were obviously old-fashioned, to a point where I found myself skimming paragraphs but not really taking everything in. I would read a portion and understand the main point of it, but I wouldn't understand most of what was being said. This happened most often during long chunks of description or exposition. I much preferred when there was dialogue because it was easier to follow.
Another small detail that was confusing to me at times was the fact that the characters were referred to by their last names. I get that that's a period thing and people did that in real life in the early 19th century in England, but it threw me off when there were multiple characters with the same last name. The book would say "Miss Bennet" but I wasn't sure which one it was talking about.
Speaking of the characters, though, I liked the characters in this book and thought they were characterized well. Their personalities were easily shown through their dialogue and their actions/reactions to certain things. Some of them had more unique characteristics than others, but even the flat side characters felt realistic.
Moving on to the romance, I was surprised that the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy didn't seem central to the plot a lot of times. For about half the book, they don't even interact or Mr. Darcy isn't even mentioned. There was a lot of stuff that happened that had nothing to do with their romance.
Early on, for the first half of the book or so, I wasn't compelled by their relationship. I didn't think they had enough moments together for me to be invested in them. I was more invested in the relationship between Jane and Mr. Bingley earlier on than theirs. I noticed that they were both aware of each other's personalities and emotions, though, which was a good way to show their chemistry. I just wish they had more scenes together for the relationship to make more sense.
In the scenes they did have in the first half of the book, I enjoyed their banter. It was playful and teasing, but not outright mean or low. Their personalities clashed but also balanced each other out. They had some good back and forth banter before they actually liked each other.
Mr. Darcy hasn't become my favorite book love interest or anything, but I liked him. A big redeeming characteristic to me was that he had a great relationship with his sister and cared about her so much. A strong relationship with family is a good quality to have.
In the beginning of the book, before they had feelings for each other, I was worried their romantic feelings would come out of nowhere in a way that didn't make sense. I think it was done well, though, and not at all like that. The scene at Pemberly where Elizabeth basically realized her love for Mr. Darcy without knowing what it was was cute.
The biggest thing I loved about their relationship was how much they changed for each other. They both started out with some big faults, and the other person's words made an impact on them and caused them to change for the better. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy made each other better. This was great character development and showed how good they were for each other.
Content Warning:
Despite it being a romance book, very little romance is actually shown. The only kissing is familial. The most that's hinted at is two people "being together before marriage" that comes up in gossip. There's no language and no violence. It's a very clean book.
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