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Jane Austen Book Group - Pride and Prejudice


Kell

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I'm within 50 pages of the end of this novel now.

 

I've gone from feelings of complete indifference to this book and avoidance of reading it, to absolutely loving it!

 

I can't wait to finish it now to see how it pans out (even though I'm certain it'll have the requisite happy ending)!

 

:D

There you go, now what did I say!! You should read Emma or Sense and Sensibility now, both equally enjoyable. I have a slight preference for Emma.

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There you go, now what did I say!!

:motz: I bow to your superior knowledge!

 

Oh wow. I can't believe just how my feelings for this book turned round. I went from feeling so indifferent to it at the start that I kept finding excuses not to read ( :D ) to wanting to read it slowly in order to make it last.

 

I wanted to slap some of the female characters hard to start with. My head could tell me that the ladies would have behaved that way in 1813 when the novel was first published, but my heart couldn't stand the way they were so pathetic! However, I soon got over that and warmed to them.

 

I especially loved the characters of Lizzy, Mr Darcy (despite never having seen P&P on the TV, I still pictured Darcy as Colin Firth - which is no bad thing!) and Mr Bennet. Oh, and Jane.

 

I wanted to slap Lydia for being so selfish, and give Mrs Bennet a damn good shake by the shoulders for being such an embarrassment.

 

It had humour in spades. It was sad too. Mr Bennet being trapped in such a loveless marriage was a tragedy considering his lovable and amiable nature.

 

I have quite a few 'favourite bits', but I think the one that stands out for me was where Jane stood up to Lady Catherine when she came to dissuade Elizabeth from having a relationship with Darcy - this bit showed just how strong the character of Lizzy really was.

 

As a ‘modern’ woman, it seems very strange to me how society worked back then. For Charlotte to marry someone after only knowing them for such a short time to secure a future for herself seems very alien!

 

I don't think a book has caused so many different emotions in me for a long, long time. After feelings of total indifference I simply grew to love this book.

 

10/10

 

PS - Ann - I tried Emma last year but couldn't get past the first 40 pages and put it in a charity shop. I will look out for it again. :blush:

Edited by Janet
I keep thinking of more I want to say!
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Janet, you could also try Persuasion. I found that after loving Pride and Prejudice, and being able to identify with Lizzy and her reluctance to be only what the society wanted her to be (see Charlotte), it was weird that I loved Anne in Persuasion so much, as she's very different (and very unlike me). But I did! It's maybe, in my mind, the most beautiful of Austen's books.

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What I really enjoyed about Persuasion, was that the onset is so different. Anne had her chance of happiness, but she blew it, and now she's facing the aftermath, in a way. So it's a very different setting to start, and I remember being very curious as to where the story would go. (Well, it is Austen, so no brainer there, but still...) Besides, Captain Wentworth is still my absolute favourite Austen hero, simply because of the letter! (those who have read it know what I'm talking about, I'm sure.) Actually, now that I think about it, I'll take that with me tomorrow, I need something to entertain me on the plane.

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:blush: I bow to your superior knowledge!

 

I have quite a few 'favourite bits', but I think the one that stands out for me was where Jane stood up to Lady Catherine when she came to dissuade Elizabeth from having a relationship with Darcy - this bit showed just how strong the character of Lizzy really was.

. :D

 

I loved that scene too Janet, but my favourite is Lizzy turning Darcy down. Those 2 scenes jump out of the pages into real life for me. Do try and see the BBC video of this with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. They are absolutely perfect as Darcy and Lizzy. No other version can touch them. My stepson bought it for me for Christmas last year.

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I got two discs of it free with the Daily Mail recently. I'm pretty certain it's a complete and unabridged version. I was going to start watching today but have been too busy. I might start it on Sunday when my hubby and son are at cricket. My daughter will possibly watch with me!

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  • 5 months later...

Hiya - is anybody there? :friends0:

 

I'm currently reading Pride and Prejudice, but would be happy to changeover to any other of Austen's novels another fan may wish to start on.

 

I read all the novels as a teenager/twentysomething - which is quite a while ago! - and decided some time ago to buy the lovely box-set of the collected novels, and get stuck into them, again.

 

Unfortunately, I developed a phobia about them, as when I received them all the gilt edged pages were stuck together in each and every book, into wedges! (It seems I was just unfortunate, as no-one else seems to have had the same problem.) I had to separate each and every page in each and every book .....it was a nightmare! and by the time I'd finished, I couldn't face them for ages.

 

Happily - I've recovered my interest lately, and I chose P & P to start with as it's my favourite film of the books, and I really enjoyed "Lost in Austen" on telly a few months ago. (Actually, that'd make a great sub-subject for us to chat on, wouldn't it - or is there a thread on that somewhere I've missed?)

 

Anyway - this is me calling for anyone else interested in continuing Austen-chats here.

 

Go on - get your bonnet and cloak on - and let's get started! :eek::D

 

Bye for now - Booknutt

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Joining the Group would be a "smooth move" then, Roxi - you'd get an early start on the books! :blush:

 

Along with Lola-Rose, that's three of us interested, then? Which novels will you be reading Roxi? We could ask Kell if we could start-off with one of them, as I've got no preference, and I don't think Lola-Rose has, either.

 

Bye for now - Booknutt

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Well, the idea Kell had was that we just post in these threads, there isn't going to be a seperate group because it would just result in the same thread all over again.

 

I'll probably start with Northanger Abbey, in which case I'll post about it in the Northanger Abbey thread.

 

I started Pride and Prejudice a while back and really enjoyed what I read, but I have too many other books I want to read first. I'm not sure when I'll be getting back to these tbh.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finished my long-postponed re-visit to P & P a few days ago - and on the whole, enjoyed the novel very much.

 

I do find that it takes a bit of time to get re-acquainted with Austen-speak when there's been a "gap" in reading her novels - or one of the great sequels produced by Joan Aiken or Julia Barrett to name but two good 'uns.

 

So - I was some way into the book before I stopped consciously concentrating, and started having fun. This time, too, I understood more about the manners etc., of the time, thanks to my trusty recently-bought Austen "bible" "Jane Austen The World of her novels" by Deirdre Le Faye. I also enjoyed more watching the relationship developing between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth, and the growth each went through before finally coming to accept each other. It also surprised me how I now have some sympathy for the awful Mr Collins, who, as a younger reader, I mocked much as Austen did herself, but for different reasons.

 

Back then, I looked at the Collins-issue as a modern woman would, and was offended for Elizabeth's sake that he should dare to presume that his offer would be welcome to her and her family. But actually - what Collins had in mind was much in keeping with the usual arrangements of that day and age. In fact (horrors!:)) it was actually quite kind of him!

He was aware that when Mr Bennet died, Mrs Bennet, left a widow, would also be required to move out of her home, with only her personal possessions, and find somewhere else to live. He was also aware that the family were not rich and her funds would be limited. In those days it wasn't unusual for single in-laws to live with their married child or sibling and their husband/wife - so in offering marriage to one of the Bennet girls, Mr Collins was actually taking on a future obligation to offer housing to his mother-in-law and any of the girls who were unwed at the time of Mr Bennet's death. Which, we have to agree - may have conveniently brought him a wife, but also extra committments which he was willing to take aboard, too. He wasn't such a bad person, after all.

J.A's mockery of Collins was based I think, largely on his manner. He was actually quite a young man (25) but his pompous ways made him seem older. She mocked his ways, and the fact that he couldn't have chosen a more inappropriate sister to propose to than Elizabeth (when Mary might have been more suitable) but not his actual idea.

 

I'll be back for another visit before very long - for like any other story I find that a re-read brings fresh angles on the characters etc., to light and brings greater depth to my understanding.

 

Onward through Austen again, I go - :)

Edited by Booknutt
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  • 6 months later...

So, I watched the 2005 of Pride & Prejudice like two or three years ago and loved it. Then, last summer when I began to read Jane Austen, I decided to leave this one for the end, as I knew what happened. I just finished it today and really liked it, though I need some more time to "examine" it.

As usual, the writing style carried me through the whole book. And once again, all the characters were greatly portrait, although I think that making Elizabeth's portrait was more difficult for me than of all the other Austen heroines.

I really liked Elizabeth and Darcy, despite their faults, as well as Mr Bennet for his sense of humour. I sympathized Jane, however her naivety irritated me a little. I can't say I felt any sympathy for Mrs Bennet and totally disliked Lydia, due to her unbearable selfishness.

 

I have to say, that at some point I thought about Lizzy:"Oh, please don't tell me that you're going to marry him only from gratitude!", but I think it wasn't like that, and that various circumstances built her love for Darcy.

 

I remember watching the film, and telling my mum when Darcy made his first proposal:"He asked her to marry him without having dated first? Without even been kissed?!"How funny does it seem now!:)

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

I love P&P. I kind of just fell in love with Elizabeth and Mr Darcy. She being the prejudice one and he the pride one. And how they just could not be together until they both learned that about themselves. Some people claim Austen is telling women that "this is how you have to be in order to be a real lady", and that may or may not be the case. But Elizabeth is a modern woman, at least she was when the book was written. She was stubborn, free-willed and went her own ways. She wasn

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Well said, emelee! Elizabeth is definitely what we would cal feisty nowadays, but also clever and determined, and you get the impression that while she does indeed learn about herself as the book goes on, her character grows and matures and she learns about the mistakes other people have made in their choices of marriage partners and how not to go about it, and in the end makes a suitable match for love.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Read P&P years ago and didn't like it. This time round really enjoyed it, the incisive social observation, the use of language and well developed characters. Lizzy was my favourite female character, independent and shrewd, but also willing to learn about herself. Jane I Liked , but she was a little to trusting. The other sisters and mother were just silly, Austen relished the parody I'm sure. Darcy was well developed and grew as much as Lizzy did. Collins was a pompous narrow minded conceited twerp :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

continues...........

 

Shocked by his confession of love, she confronted him with what she knew about Wickham and how he broke up Jane and Bingley. Struck by the passionate confrontation he sat down and wrote her a letter where he told her the true story. At first Elizabeth did not want to believe his side of things, but as all evidence proved him right, she realized her errors and her wrongful accusations.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 11 months later...

Well, I love very much the rythmn and style and elegance of the era and Jane Austen is a master at putting all that forth in her works,oui, she is genious

Me, I have mixed feelings always about Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy if it comes to it. Elizabeth, while totally charming and intelligent is too changeable in my opinion. She is passionate this way, condemming here and justifying there, and then , voila, she changes about face and is the very opposite. She never seems to stick to anything. And there is a scene that has always disturbed me. When aunt and uncle Gardener want her to tour Mr. Darcy's 'home' at first glance she is swept away and there is some conversation about the grandness of the place rendering the owner a little less objectionable and she, Elizabeth agrees. And later when the housekeeper is taking the trio for the grande tour she murmurs that she could have been mistress of all this. I know absolutely that those days were rather mercenary ones, one needed the best 'situation ' one could obtain to be 'happy' and to make one's family happy, but Elizabeth to me, seems to throw out the window some of her principles in this. Although Jane seems a little less 'feisty' I like her steadiness more, and Mr. Bingly too. But really I respect the annoying Mary, who believes what she believes and goes for it even though she can clear a room in seconds! And I am a little amazed by Charlotte Lucas who can say she is not romantic,and then take Mr. Collins and somehow carry on with a measure of quiet happiness. Me, I could not! But I do love the story . A family member bought me years ago a second edition copy and then the complete series in tape. And this year for Christmas he bought me the dvd set and the complete written works of Jane Austen. I am overwhelmed. :friends3:

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