“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen

My partner started reading me Pride and Prejudice as I had never read the book and he wanted to watch the adaptations with me. I had seen a play that our friend put on that was one of the first adaptations of the work for the stage, so I knew the rough shape of it, but hearing the original work of course had so much more detail. I overall thought it was fun, it still isn’t really my thing, but it is cool to see what the fuss is about for a classical work of literature.

The book follows Elizabeth Bennett, one of several daughters in the Bennett family. There’s a fuss in their town with a rich gentleman moves in, Mr. Bingley, and he quickly develops affection for her sister, Jane. Meanwhile Bingley has this friend, Mr. Darcy, who is standoffish and a little rude. There are high hopes for Bingley and Jane, but Bingley suddenly moves away. Meanwhile Elizabeth is proposed to by her cousin who is a clergyman, she turns him down, and her friend ends up marrying him instead. Elizabeth goes to visit them and is proposed to by Darcy. She turns him down as well, citing that he ruined her sister’s relationship and the prospects of another officer she’s friends with. Elizabeth ends up visiting his manor with her aunt and uncle and running into him, which is when they get the dreadful news that her younger sister just ran off with that officer of the army that Darcy hates, validating his impression of him. Elizabeth hurries home to try and locate her sister and get her married to this officer. Eventually she is, and it is revealed that Darcy stepped in to save her from scandal. Everyone gets married!

In case you haven’t picked up on this, I am not a big romance fan. I do not get the appeal. So this isn’t a book I would have picked up on my own. Yes I know that Austen was revolutionary for writing about women and that her books don’t pass the reverse Bechdel test (as in: the men have very little inner lives) but it just isn’t something I would want to spend time on. Having said that, I did enjoy this experience. I do think Elizabeth is a great character and she and her sisters were delightful. Having said that, I still don’t like care about much of the book. So much emphasis is placed on class and seems ridiculous today, and there’s all sorts of mannerisms that the characters care a lot about and I don’t. Which is partially why I like Elizabeth, she refuses to participate in a number of these herself. But it would be hard for me to keep myself reading if I don’t find what the characters find important.

I know it’s not the most enlightened take, but not my favorite book. I did enjoy being forced to consume it though! Austen’s writing is a lot of fun, you can tell she enjoys her characters as well, and I think the more delightful part of this for me will be comparing different adaptations.