Pride and Prejudice

I've finally finished Pride and Prejudice and I have to say, it was hard to read. And by hard, I mean it felt like it was taking forever. Not in a, "I hate it, when will it end" kind of way but I usually can gauge how long it will take me to read a book based on the number of pages I have to go. This was not the case with this book. Every page took longer than I would have thought - almost as if I was reading a textbook. I will say this though, about the pages, the typeset seemed to be smaller so it may be that more words were actually on the page than would have been in most books. But that's just speculation on my part.

In any event, I really liked the book. I loved the story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy (did we ever learn his first name? I don't think we did, now that I think of it.) and the way it was told.

I also loved the story of Jane and Mr. Bingley. Jane reminded me of Melanie in Gone with the Wind with her loving, forgiving heart.

And Mr. Bennet, I loved him, even though he was barely mentioned in the book. His fondness for Elizabeth and his dealings with his wife were humorous - well to me, but then I'm easily amused. :-)

I think what I was struck with most though was the fact that I was reading a story that, when written, was a contemporary novel. It wasn't a written "historical" as we know them today. The author didn't attempt to "transport" the reader back in time because that was what was happening at that time. Few of the male characters were addressed, if ever mentioned, by their first names. And when women were married (Charlotte), they were then known/addressed as Mrs. whoever (Mrs. Collins), as would be appropriate for that time. Today's historicals would reflect more of a familiarity between people in that, while they might address each other as Mrs., Mr., Lady or Lord whoever, the reader almost always knows their first names.

Same goes for fashion. Wardrobe was once mentioned when Lydia married and her mother was concerned that she have a "wedding" wardrobe. Aside from that, no particular attention was given to the dress of the time. Today, pictures are painted with the words to show what everyone is wearing, presumably to transport us back in time.

Hair, once, to address that it was more important that Jane's hair be attended to than anyone else's since it was Mr. Bingley visiting.

So bottom line for me is this: I loved the story but I also loved the lesson in history it gave and the differing styles of today's writing vs. that time. It makes you wonder what generations from now will think of our writing.

But now that I've FINALLY read the book, I can finally watch the movie. I can hardly wait. :-)