Book Review: Pride and Prejudice

Review on: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Rating:  5/5

Recommended

A beloved classic of all time, with one of the most favorite love stories of all time. Pride and Prejudice, I believe is not done justice by the movies that followed the release of the book. In a time when money and society were considered more important than love and happiness, there lived a woman (Elizabeth Bennet) from a large and not entirely wealthy family who believed that one could not marry without affection. Her pride, wit and intelligence made her an interesting character, though not an entirely favored one since women without fortune or status were not highly looked upon in society. There also came to appear a man (Fitzwilliam Darcy) whose fortune made him bearable by most of the town to talk to, though his pride  and seemingly apathetic nature was the disdain of many.

Wit against wit, pride against prejudice, the continued encounters each grew into something more. It was the belief then that society could not tolerate a relationship such as theirs, and while one (in the beginning) struggled against his feelings, another was entirely ignorant of his affection towards her. It could not be overlooked however when in light of his feelings, his mistakes that caused the sadness of a loved one were shown, and his unjust actions towards an acquaintance were clarified. What appeared to be pride and prejudice on both sides eventually gave way in the story, leading to respect, modesty and even love.

Truly a love story what one would like to believe, still existed in our modern world.

What I loved most about the book is the witty dialogue between the characters, with a detailed relay of events and presentation of characters throughout the entire story, I believe it to be a much more interesting presentation than the movies themselves. One of the best things in the book is that despite the use of somewhat classical English, each sentence in itself is a presentation of the artful language of such a time. It was also a great thing to have to watch how slowly each of the characters evolved within the story, and also how eventually they came either to love, accept, and feel dislike for each other.

A book I wholly recommend, this book is honestly not an easy read and may need more concentration in reading it than other books. Really a wonderful classic. Now I see why many people fell in love with the book, the author and its characters. Definitely a book one must read at least once in their life.