Reviews

My New Year’s Resolution was to read through all of my hero, Jane Austen’s works. And this is the first one of the year. That I finished on April 23rd. At this rate I will need an entire second year. Or three. I’m not entirely sure, math ain’t my strong suit.

One of the most famous lines in literary history: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife, instantly sets off the tone of this book as satire. If you were to read any of these actions and characters at face value, you would not be able to enjoy the story as much. But there is also so much truth in this line. This is how mothers and society feel about men.

I would not say that this book is anything but a feminist text, but I do believe that this opening addresses the issue that there are even limitations and expectations on men in this society. Darcy, Bingley, and even Mr. Bennett absolutely do have expectations on them, that they may or may not handle well in all points of the book, but I will get to this later.

As Austen is our primordial romance author, I feel that I do not need to focus too much on the introductions, but I do want it mentioned that she invented the major tropes that we use today, so this one is her enemies to lovers book.

And, my god are Elizabeth and Darcy enemies, or what? The original title of this book is First Impressions and wow do these two have some of the worst first impressions of one another. Elizabeth could think highly of Darcy until he opens his big fat mouth and that sets her off. And then does she let him know exactly how she feels about him.

So much so that she makes her entire family, and then the entire town know what a complete ass Mr. Darcy really is. And if he really was an asshole, this would be fine, but when Lizzy finds out more information and falls in love with him, and wants to accept his marriage proposal she has lots and lots of explaining to do to many many people.

One of which is Mrs. Bennett. I have been thinking a lot about Mrs. Bennett lately when watching the movies and especially now on this re-read. I would love to get to write a whole thesis on her and how she is really misunderstood and made to be foolish, but the protagonist does not understand the lengths that this mother goes to protect her daughters and their future. She is also ride or die for each and every one of them. When Lydia runs off with Mr. Wickham, Mrs. Bennett is worried about her welfare, but then she is also happy WITH Lydia for her eventual marriage. Because Lydia is happy about it. It think it is very clear that she channels her concerns and her fears for Lydia into guaranteeing that Lydia has a full wardrobe for her wedding, and the connection between the foolishness of Mrs. Bennett’s clothing concerns and the knowledge of how Lydia was in real danger is not clear to Lizzy, our protagonist.

Mrs. Bennett is also highly overprotective of Lizzy. When Lizzy decides Mr. Darcy is the worst man on earth and shouldn’t be touched with a ten foot pole, Mrs. Bennett makes sure that his character is known to the whole town. She is horrified, even more so than Lizzy, that Charlotte Lucas basically manipulated situations and betrayed Lizzy’s trust in order to meet and marry Mr. Collins. She is more than supportive of Bingley and Jane and how she found an advantageous match with someone she loves. She allows Kitty to have fun at the balls, and even Mary to do whatever it is Mary wants.

There were a couple of things that stand out to me as not liking, though I definitely realize this novel is of a certain style and of a certain time, and these things are 100% because of that. The first is how wordy everything is, despite so little action. This is absolutely true of the romanticism style of literature, which is also from the 1800’s, and emblematic of the time and writer. And I get it, I really do. This was the one activity. Austen’s family was forced to listen to her stories as this was the activity of each evening. But as a modern reader, I need it to be more cut to the chase. I found myself zoning out, especially at the beginning of the book, that I needed to re-read certain parts. Towards the end, things did pick up much more. And they got a lot more interesting, from when Lizzy goes away with her aunt and uncle, through to Darcy and Lizzy agreeing to marry.

The other thing is that Lizzy and Darcy still have so little interaction. Despite the fact that they have both fallen in love, without want to. Without trying to. This was so beautiful and sweet, especially the conversation where Lizzy asks when he realized he was falling in love with her, and he replied something like, he didn’t realize until he was already halfway in love with her, and she supposed it was probably because she was not like other girls, and wasn’t saying nice things to him. It was so sweet. But what would also have been so nice was if we saw one of the moments where one of them said or did something awful to one another and it turned the heat up on these two. Like heated glances, or somewhat like the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie with the hand flex. Or a carriage ride where they jostle near one another. Like some physical contact would have turned this book up to a five star.

And finally, to leave this on a good note, I love love love the ending. When Darcy and Lizzy are on the walk and she thanks him for what he did to help Lydia, and he asks if her feelings for him are unchanged, and the book says something like Lizzy responded something rash and honest. And they continued their walk happily. Nothing more comes of it until the next day, and readers like me are just squealing at the slow burn for the marriage. Then Darcy follows Mr. Bennett into the drawing room, and he emerges and whispers happily at Lizzy’s side that her father would like to speak to her. This whole two scenes were just so perfect and sweet and I really wanted a few more of these moments in the rest of the book. But I loved every minute of it.

Overall, I have learned so much from Austen’s writing and characterization work and plotting and I can’t wait to read the next one. Which Austen should I hit up next?

egrullon12's review against another edition

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5.0

I cannot believe it took me this long to read this book. It is so funny and has such a wonderful ending! The writing is such that you feel like you know all the characters with their witty banter and faults. So many favorite characters, I couldn't pick one. <3

_brooklynn's review against another edition

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5.0

i learned quite a few things while reading this. one is that i would gladly shoot caroline bingley without a second thought. the next is that darcy is and will always be a million times better that bingley.

csimona's review against another edition

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5.0

Emozionante. Travolgente. Incantevole. Ironico.
Sono tanti gli aggettivi con cui si potrebbe descrivere questo libro eppure non sembrano essere mai sufficienti.
L'ho letto a 12 anni per la prima volta: portavo ancora l'apparecchio, degli occhiali dalla dubbia decente e mi stavo appena affacciando ai classici della letteratura (con in sottofondo le critiche di tutti che mi dicevano essere troppo piccola).
Uscivo da un mondo fatto di magie, incantesimi, stranezze e favole incantate.
Da JK Rowling e Collodi, o ancora Roal Dahl mi ritrovai in un mondo fatto di balli, parole altisonanti e etichette.
Inutile dire che lessi il libro in una settimana, conquistata e rapita dalla scrittura della Austen.
Per anni ho cercato un libro che potesse sostituirlo o, quanto meno eguagliarlo, invano.
E per anni ho evitato di rileggere anche solo una frase per paura che di far svanire l`incantesimo.
A 17 anni mi sono decisa: avrei riletto Orgoglio e Pregiudizio.
Con un pizzico di titubanza e paura ho aperto la prima pagina e improvvisamente eccomi catapultata nuovamente in quel mondo, fatto di orli, pizzi, proposte e tanto amore. Ma anche indipendenza e rispetto.
Infinito, ecco come definirei questo libro.
Infinito ed eterno nella sua intramontabile bellezza.

Inutile dire che è diventato il mio libro preferito a 12 anni e adesso, a distanza di anni, conserva ancora il suo posto d'onore.

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