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A review by tumblyhome_caroline
Pride and Prejudice (Masterpiece Library Edition) by Jane Austen
5.0
I have just reread Pride and Prejudice and I have to reverse my opinion… At the very end of this review is the review given in 1990…
This is the 2024 opinion
‘How earnestly did she then wish that her former opinions had been more reasonable, her expressions more moderate! It would have spared her from explanations and professions which it was exceedingly awkward to give; but they were now necessary….’
THIS… is my favourite sentence in Pride and Prejudice. Because it applies directly to me.
I have not enjoyed Pride and Prejudice before. In fact I have actively disliked it. So this read was quite a hurdle for me. I was determined to try and read it as if for the first time, and to my absolute joy I have utterly enjoyed it. The switch happened with The Letter from Darcy. I went back and read from the start again at that point and it was like a different book to the one I disliked so much before.
Is it reading Shakespeare that has switched my brain? I think it is a bit, though how, I am not sure. Maybe it is following characters like Hamlet, Richard ll, Cleopatra and seeing them change and grow. Certainly lectures and the comments by other readers in the Hardcore Literature book club have helped me let go of my prejudices. It could also be that now was the time for me to see more in the book than just marriage shopping. And there is soooooo much more.
Lady Catherine’s conversation with Lizzie, towards the end is also a favourite part. I love the fun and wit Austen has with this.
I don’t know what Charlotte Bronte particularly wasn’t keen on, but I think Lizzie is a much more interesting person than Brontes Jane Eyre, because Lizzie has a wit, a vibrancy and joy about her. She makes mistakes and has toe curling moments of recognition of those mistakes that I recognise.. being a bit flawed myself.
I loved the conversation Mr Bennet has with Kitty about ten years of being guarded against inappropriate men. I bet anyone with grown up or teenage children would laugh their socks off about that.
Mrs Bennets comments about fashion made me laugh so much particularly after one of her rants.
I am not sure I would persuade anyone to read this because so many people in the past have tried to persuade me by telling me I didn’t get it…and in the end I almost didn’t like it out of contrariness… how silly of me!
I am a convert to Austen
1990 review….
I am gradually adding my life’s reading to goodreads and feel torn about adding this one...because I am one of the few people on earth who just do not like Jane Austin. I have tried most of her books and I have tried most of them numerous times. I even got to the end of Pride and Prejudice and sensé and sensibility....but I just do not like them. I think it is the thing about the Importance of marriage, the romance, the fact that they are about the upper echelons of society, the manners and social propriety...I don’t find the humour...umm ...humorous...the way poor people’s lives are not depicted or if they are they are somehow not as human...ok...this is just my opinion and I see that so many people see things I do not. But it not for want of trying. I put my hand up and say Jane Austin is not my cup of tea ....sorry and all that. Good job she won’t read this and be offended.
This is the 2024 opinion
‘How earnestly did she then wish that her former opinions had been more reasonable, her expressions more moderate! It would have spared her from explanations and professions which it was exceedingly awkward to give; but they were now necessary….’
THIS… is my favourite sentence in Pride and Prejudice. Because it applies directly to me.
I have not enjoyed Pride and Prejudice before. In fact I have actively disliked it. So this read was quite a hurdle for me. I was determined to try and read it as if for the first time, and to my absolute joy I have utterly enjoyed it. The switch happened with The Letter from Darcy. I went back and read from the start again at that point and it was like a different book to the one I disliked so much before.
Is it reading Shakespeare that has switched my brain? I think it is a bit, though how, I am not sure. Maybe it is following characters like Hamlet, Richard ll, Cleopatra and seeing them change and grow. Certainly lectures and the comments by other readers in the Hardcore Literature book club have helped me let go of my prejudices. It could also be that now was the time for me to see more in the book than just marriage shopping. And there is soooooo much more.
Lady Catherine’s conversation with Lizzie, towards the end is also a favourite part. I love the fun and wit Austen has with this.
I don’t know what Charlotte Bronte particularly wasn’t keen on, but I think Lizzie is a much more interesting person than Brontes Jane Eyre, because Lizzie has a wit, a vibrancy and joy about her. She makes mistakes and has toe curling moments of recognition of those mistakes that I recognise.. being a bit flawed myself.
I loved the conversation Mr Bennet has with Kitty about ten years of being guarded against inappropriate men. I bet anyone with grown up or teenage children would laugh their socks off about that.
Mrs Bennets comments about fashion made me laugh so much particularly after one of her rants.
I am not sure I would persuade anyone to read this because so many people in the past have tried to persuade me by telling me I didn’t get it…and in the end I almost didn’t like it out of contrariness… how silly of me!
I am a convert to Austen
1990 review….
I am gradually adding my life’s reading to goodreads and feel torn about adding this one...because I am one of the few people on earth who just do not like Jane Austin. I have tried most of her books and I have tried most of them numerous times. I even got to the end of Pride and Prejudice and sensé and sensibility....but I just do not like them. I think it is the thing about the Importance of marriage, the romance, the fact that they are about the upper echelons of society, the manners and social propriety...I don’t find the humour...umm ...humorous...the way poor people’s lives are not depicted or if they are they are somehow not as human...ok...this is just my opinion and I see that so many people see things I do not. But it not for want of trying. I put my hand up and say Jane Austin is not my cup of tea ....sorry and all that. Good job she won’t read this and be offended.