Pride and Prejudice

Paperback, 320 pages

English language

Published Nov. 14, 1960 by Dolphin Books, Doubleday & Company Inc..

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3 stars (2 reviews)

Early nineteenth-century English country society, as seen through the clear and amused eyes of Jane Aus- ten, is not very different from society today. Mothers are determined that their daughters should marry well, daughters are determined to do what they wish, and fathers retire to their studies until the confusion is over and it is time to march down the aisle. Foolishness, pomposity, pride, and prejudice, are as rampant today as they were in 1813 when the book first appeared. But because Miss Austen was witty and wise she turned these foibles, comical and dangerous, into material for a work of art and presented, through the little landscape of the English countryside, the larger landscape of human nature.

233 editions

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4 stars

Pride And Prejudice is a difficult novel for me to review because, although this was my first reading of Austen's work, I have already encountered its essential storyline in televised adaptations and numerous other novels so I felt as though I was revisiting the book rather than coming to it fresh. I enjoyed the humour, especially Austen's partly-veiled observations on the predicament of women rendered useless without a husband and, of course, her wonderful characters. Austen had such a talent for observation and for just exaggerating foibles enough to make people such as Mrs Bennet and Lady Catherine ridiculous, but not unbelievable. Personally I wasn't convinced by Darcy's complete change of behaviour mid-book, but both he and Elizabeth have wonderfully sparkling conversations and spats with the great energy fairly leaping from the page. The repression of their social situation contrasts brilliantly with the obvious strength of their emotional attraction to …

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2 stars