Reading "Pride and Prejudice"

[qos]

I'm risking losing perhaps one-third of my friends list with this post. . .

Motivated entirely by the warm comments made by friends here over the past several years, I finally obtained a copy of Pride and Prejudice on Friday and started to read it. I've just finished reading Darcy's letter to Elizabeth and her reactions, so I'm about halfway through.

I've been reading attentively, open to the virtues expounded upon by so many people whose opinions I respect, wanting to like the story, to like Elizabeth, to like the writing style -- but I simply can not understand the passionate love and loyalty this book and its characters inspire. If it were any other book, I would not have kept reading beyond the first chapter.

If I read one more time about how a person's "amiable conversation" and fine manners obviously mean that he or she is person of good character, I shall choke. And maybe that's part of the point of the book, that Elizabeth and others learn that being a model member of society has little to do with a person's actual worth or quality, but it's not a storytelling journey I feel any need to take. Likewise, the sheer monotony of the characters' lives makes me skim over paragraphs at a time and send up countless prayers of thanksgiving that I do not live in a world where my primary entertainments are visiting and going to balls. What do these women have to talk about besides men, clothing, and marriage prospects?

It feels churlish to write such things about a book and characters that are so deeply beloved by others. . . and I feel like there must be some part of myself that is lacking in discernment since I can't even be engaged by the plot.

What am I missing? Do I need to read through to the end to appreciate the rest of the book? Or should I just give up now and admit myself a hopeless savage, incapable of appreciating the divine Austen?

Comments

[tamnonlinear.livejournal.com]

I love and adore P&P, but I'll entirely understand if it does not work for you. Taste may differ, and as dad says, if everyone in the world wanted the same thing, mom would be a busy woman.

I can tell you what I find in it; I think it's a finely crafted glimpse into a particular world, it's quite often very funny, and the characters are extremely well done and realistic people. Austen excels at miniatures, at telling details, and at having characters who are flawed without being stupid.

I think that's the main thing for me; I detest stories where the main characters are either shallow puppets or idiots (fraught! with! tension! makes me hate people). I can enjoy a story that's just a fun ride, but if there are no additional layers, I'll never go back to it. Every time I go back to P&P, I find more to it, a new way of viewing it, more to catch.

If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work. I've certainly had that experience, and slogged through books or movies that I was told I would love and resented wasting my time on (oh god, some of the books I've made myself read. If only I could target specific brain cells, I'd drink more just to get rid of them).

Austen's books really are character studies. The plot often isn't amazingly engaging in and of itself, it's just a dance floor where you can see how the people move around each other. If it isn't a book for you, then it isn't a book for you.

Feel free to give up on it. It's a great book (IMO) but if it isn't a great book for you, then better to sigh and say Baby, the relationship just isn't working out and you need to start seeing other literature.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Baby, the relationship just isn't working out and you need to start seeing other literature.

Brilliant!

Honestly: I find you a far more witty observer of daily life, miniatures, and telling details than Austen.