Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
How many stars do you rate the book? ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ (5 out of five)
How many stars do you rate the author? ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ (5 out of five)
What is your favorite quote? Oh, too many.
“In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
"Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."
(When Darcy was asked when he began to love Elizabeth) "I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that it had begun."
Do you like the ending? What would you change about it? The ending is as all Austen endings are -- perfectly wrapped up, with all ends tucked away, everything neat and tidy. Beautiful, of course. I'd change nothing.
Any life lessons learned? Life lessons, perhaps not. But history lessons? Of course.
Final thoughts? Austen is an excellent storyteller, quite adept at building up her work into a beautiful ending. No part of the novel is useless -- as the reader continues, each piece begins to fall into place and the story truly does "unfold".
One thing I love about Jane Austen is that she never takes herself too seriously, yet she clearly loves her characters, even when they are behaving idiotically. She seems to have had a great eye for the ridiculous in people and society, but not a bitter, hateful one. Her work is very "tell it like it is" -- or in her case, was. Austen clearly saw the desperation and despair of the social position of the women of her time: Unable to work, or even to inherit, they had to marry, and marry well, or live in poverty.
Anyone who reads and enjoy Austen would do well, I think, to take the next step into the world of literary criticism and come to understand the underpinnings of her work. This book may seem dry to the modern reader who does not have a feel for the period in which it was written -- because in many ways, understanding why something is funny, just how scandalous a situation was, and what a carriage ride is a metaphor for can greatly enrich the experience of Austen's work.
I have written entire essays on her work, so I'll not endeavour to do so right now. You're lucky I'm not reviewing Persuasion right now, is all I'm saying. :D
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