Posts tagged Jane Austen

Book Four: Pride and Prejudice. Austen, Jane.

Background: Jane Austen was born in 1775, at Steventon Parsonage, Hampshire, England. She was the seventh of eight children in a tight-knit family. Her father and brothers provided her education along with extensive reading. She began her literary career by writing parodies and sketches to amuse her family. Her family moved for her father’s health and again after his death in 1805. Austen lived an uneventful life, but she closely observed what went on around her. Her observations of manners and class were key to her novels. 

Brief Synopsis: Pride and Prejudice… I am going to skip this section. Most people know what the book is about and my last entry was longer than usual.

What did I think?

I had a lot of trouble getting through the first half of the book, hence why I got behind on my reading. My approach was to compare the book to the movie, noting when lines were given to different people and where scenes were combined. There were a lot of characters introduced in the first half of the novel. I almost started a list to keep track of them. It seemed like half of those characters were hardly seen again, or were just in the background regularly, but did not say or do anything.

I loved getting more of Darcy’s side of things, particularly in the last half. I got a better sense of who he is and why he acts the way he does. You get a bit of his motivations in the movie, but mostly when it comes the reasons why Elizabeth won’t marry him. In the book there are points where he is walking with Elizabeth explaining himself to her and answering her questions. There is also a lot more ridiculous blushing.

Would I recommend it to others?

If you like the various movies based on the book, you should read it. If you don’t like them, then you probably wont like the book. I give it 3 stars.