This week’s book was the classic Pride and Prejudice (literary, 278 pages) by Jane Austen. This is actually the second time I’ve read this book, though the first time was exactly 13 years ago and didn’t leave me with a very positive experience. A link to my previous book review will be at the end of my current thoughts 🙂

“Jane Austen’s witty comedy of manners features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eigtheenth-century drawing-room intrigues.”

This book is definitely a look into the life and society of England in the late 1700s/early 1800s, and I think it’s a world that current me would have found absolutely infuriating. The good news is that current me does not have to live in the world described in this story and it provided me vast amounts of entertainment to think about how current me would interact in this society if I was randomly teleported back in time to this era. I would have started many scandals by simply speaking my mind without having a thousand different social cues that are supposed to mean something (but only if you know and understand them). I would also have worn “men’s clothes” and avoided societal expectations of marriage. I also would have struggled with calling everyone by their last names, or trying to keep up with which “Ms. Bennett” we’re talking about, since gossip was a primary entertainment function.

I would have been even more of a nusance to them and that society than I am today to my own 🙂

With that said, I do see why so many people list this book among their favorites. I very much understand the appeal to the reading tastes of England at that time, where this story would have functioned exactly like the happily ever after and wish fulfillment fantasies I’m sure many women had at that time, and maybe even have today.

You’ve got your “very average” family with too many people and not enough resources to support all of them, so someone needs to get married into a rich household so that you and all your sisters will be supported for the rest of your lives. No matter what era you live in, most people who are starving and on the streets don’t have the resources to live their best lives And part of this average family is an intelligent father with a good enough job and a personal library, a mother who is maybe a little detached from reality, “the perfect daughter” who truly is a very good and positive individual, the wild and crazy “I will happily love ALL men” daughter, the two youngest daughters who emulate the others in their life because they don’t know any differently, and then the protaganist who is intelligent but very judgmental.

And then enters the rich men. We’re introduced to Fitzwilliam Darcy because of his association with Charles Bingley and Fitzwilliam definitely spends a good portion of the book very full of himself. When he “admits his feelings” to Elizabeth, his comments are some of the most pretentious words strung together in paragraphs. He clearly feels superior to literally everyone he interacts with and he basically tells Elizabeth that she’s super inferior but, you know, he totally digs her anyway.

It’s no surprise at all that she tells him to get lost.

I mean. It’s a surprise to him because he’s clearly never been rejected before but to the readers and to Elizabeth, his only positive trait is that he’s rich.

There’s learning and growth for both Elizabeth and for Fitzwilliam and I found that truly admirable that both of them admitted their faults at the very least to themselves if not to others or expressed through massive letters.

I read this book because I’m working on making this a special edition bookbinding project and it seemed like a good idea to familiarize myself with the text in order to provide appropriate artistic insight into the book design.

As much as this book is not something I normally read (there are no dragons, magic systems, aliens, or knights in this book), I did enjoy the cultural aspect of reading this story with the idea of making art out of it. And you know, past me was really prejudiced and full of pride. It’s kind of interesting how much a person can learn and grow in 13 years and how we learn to look at things through different lenses. I can say I appreciate this book a lot more now that I’m older with more life experience. But it’s still not a book that I need to reread so it’s going to stay as a very low two on my rating scale.

My previous book review is here: https://cajacobs.com/2013/01/16/review-pride-and-prejudice-by-jane-austen/

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Random House, Inc., 1996.