From the Bookshelf of Classics for Beginners…

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

Start date: May 1, 2011

Finish date: July 1, 2011

Discussion: Other Discussions

Why we're reading this: We will be reading Pride and Prejudice along with Emma across May and June.
[close] We will be reading Pride and Prejudice along with Emma across May and June.

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What Members Thought

Mar 25, 2012 Dante rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, imaginative-lit, novel, classics, prose

Dear Miss Austen,

In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love your novel, Pride and Prejudice.

Yours, etc.

I would've sent that note to Jane Austen had I been born in her lifetime.

I first read the book many years ago in Project Gutenberg while at the same time listening to a Librivox recording. I didn't know who Jane Austen was, and I only picked the ebook at random. At first it was a struggle because it w ...more

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Oct 16, 2011 Angie rated it it was amazing

Sometimes I just need some old fashioned writing in my life. When just simple love stories happened. SOMETIMES I have no idea what the characters are saying and have to go back and re-read the paragraph but in a book like this I really don't mind. Austen's writing is not for everyone but I sure do like to read it. I will admit it took about 100 pages to really get into the book and characters but once I did it was great. I am going to now watch the movies so that maybe I can understand the books ...more

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Nov 25, 2011 Sherri Rudnick rated it liked it · review of another edition

Revisiting this book again this time on the audio book through libriVox. So far I still find it hard to understand. I want to relisten to it and then I have a bunch of copies of the movie to watch through both Netflix and in my personal dvd collection. 11/20/14

I didn't find this one as enjoyable a read as some of my other favorite classics. It was difficult jumping between the cliff note interpretations and the actual story. I'm currently watching a few versions of the movies to see how they com ...more

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May 06, 2018 Alisha Marie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own-that-i-ve-read, humor, classics, read-in-2018, three-star-books, this-is-really-a-3-5-star-book

I have tried to read Jane Austen for years. I tried to read her books every single time I watched The Jane Austen Book Club (and that was a lot of times because it's one of my favorite movies). I tried to read her books after I was gifted a Pride and Prejudice sweater from a family member who thought I would love it because I love books and I love cozy things (she's not wrong, I wear that sweater all the time because it's just so warm and comfortable). I tried to read it after I bought Pride and I have tried to read Jane Austen for years. I tried to read her books every single time I watched The Jane Austen Book Club (and that was a lot of times because it's one of my favorite movies). I tried to read her books after I was gifted a Pride and Prejudice sweater from a family member who thought I would love it because I love books and I love cozy things (she's not wrong, I wear that sweater all the time because it's just so warm and comfortable). I tried to read it after I bought Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and thought that I should read the original before I read the parody. I have read the opening page of Emma, of Sense and Sensibility, of Persuasion, and of Pride and Prejudice at one time or another and could never get past it. Last week, I watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, really liked it (yes I know Mr. Darcy is not at all charismatic in that adaptation, but I really love Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet), and decided that come hell or high water I was gonna finish a damn Jane Austen book. And I did. And I'm kinda proud of myself. And I also rated it three stars because I didn't love it.

Classics get the reputation of being stuffy and boring and sometimes that isn't really fair (I mean is Jane Eyre boring? NO!). But I do feel like Pride and Prejudice had some incredibly boring parts that kept me from really loving it. Yes, I know Austen is poking fun at her own life or whatever and some of it was actually really humorous (Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were a riot), but some of it was also kinda boring. Not boring enough to stop reading, but boring in that when I was reading it, I really wanted to skim some parts. I didn't, but again, really wanted to.

It's no surprise that Pride and Prejudice is at its best when it's describing the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. It really is worth all the hype (and I have a fan theory that this is where the enemies to lovers trope originated from) and it really is incredibly amusing and romantic. I also really liked the relationship between Elizabeth and Jane as I'm a sucker for a good sister relationship.

So, I finally read a Jane Austen novel. Didn't love it, but did like some of it. I have some misgivings (like what really was the point of Mary because she does nothing at all in this book), but I do see myself reading this book again in the future and maybe liking it more. If that happens, I'll adjust my rating accordingly. But until then, 3 stars. ...more

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