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Jaclyn
read and liked
Kristen's
review of Pride and Prejudice:
" I have a friend who I dearly love who reveres this book. I say that first to apologizee to her and the other intelligent, worthy, funny, expressive women who love this book and who I already know I am going to insult and offend. I apologize in...more
I have a friend who I dearly love who reveres this book. I say that first to apologizee to her and the other intelligent, worthy, funny, expressive women who love this book and who I already know I am going to insult and offend. I apologize in advance. I had never read P&P until this summer, but my whole life I have met women who thought they should be congratualted for every small thing they did, saying things like "I'm just like Lizzie Bennett." I wanted to meet this Lizzie Bennett. Every time a man has been diagreeable, my friends say things like "He's just pulling a Mr. Darcy. He'll come around." I had to meet this Mr. Darcy who apparently resembled so many of the men I dated, except that he came back in the end. So, this summer, I sat down to read "Pride and Prejudice."
Ugh. This was not the book for me, but I wanted it to be. The first few pages between the Bennett parents was charming and funny, and I knew that I had found someone interesting in Mr. Bennett. But it all went downhill when Lizzie entered. Why so many smart, independent women relate to this snippy, shallow, and wholly uninteresting character is beyond me. The other females in the book, stupid, slutty Lydia (or was it Kitty?); educated and endearingly akward Mary; gentle and kind Jane; calcualted and sensible Charlotte, even overlooked and annoying Kitty (or maybe Lydia? Ah, who cares) were all so much more interesting to me than self righteous, clever, Lizzie. Her story held nothing for me, and her character was not enough to keep me tied to her uninspiring tale.
It is hard to really get involed with a girl who's biggest problem is that, even though she's pretty, isn't rich enough to marry the stuffy rich guy who she doesn't even like until the last 30 pages of the book. People complain about the preditability of rom com's, but I say, blame not the rom-com, blame the inspiration for the genre: Pride and Prejudice and other Austen tripe. Halfway through P&P, I began to long for "Jane Eyre" and I wanted Lizzie to meet Jane Eyre. The unattractive, orphaned girl so poor she becomes a governess for a stuffy, mean, older man who himself doesn't have all that much money but does have a terrible secret and a burning love far more passionate than anything Mr. Darcy could muster up. Now Jane Eyre, there's a girl with problems. And a delightful book.(less)
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