Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen > Reviews > Do you have a prejudice against the classics

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?	Absolutely
Story	Outstanding
Characters	Outstanding
Listenability	Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!
How does it compare to similar audio books?	Excellent
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?	Excellent

Advantages:	Mr Darcy and Elizabeth
Disadvantages:	Is perfection a disadvantage ?

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

If the answer to the above question is yes then read this book and be prepared to read a lto more classic fiction. Pride and Prejudice is one of the best classic novels around. It has at its heart a traditional story of love overcoming the odds, but despite this cliché Austen still manages to craft an original an very amusing novel.

The plot is not as simple as it may at first seem. For a start there is not one love story here, but several. Some are tales of thwarted love, for example Mrs Bingley's pursuit of Mr Darcy, others are tales of happy and fulfilled love, such as Jane's for Mr Bingley. All these little stories weave in and out of each other, connected by the Bennett sisters and framed by the main romance between Elizabeth and Darcy.

The plot goes something along these lines. Mrs Bennett is anxious to marry of her daughters to suitable (rich) gentlemen. When Mr Bingley comes to town, bringing his haughty friend Mr Darcy, she is pleased to see him becoming attached to her eldest daughter Jane. Meanwhile, the Militia has some new recruits. One of them is George Wickham, who claims an acquaintance with Mr Darcy. Wickham becomes friendly with Elizabeth and tells her that Darcy dishonoured his fathers will, by refusing to give Wickham a living as a parson that was named in the will. Wickham is also busy seducing Lydia the youngest of the Bennett sisters.

Darcy takes Bingley to London, in order to convince him that Jane does not care for him. At the same time Mr Collins (a distant relation) comes to visit. Mr Collins proposes to Elizabeth, who refuses him (he is a very boring vicar), he then proposes to Charlotte a friend of the family, who accepts him.

Elizabeth goes to see Charlotte after the marriage, and she finds that Mr Collins lives near Darcy's aunt. By coincidence Darcy is staying at his aunt's and comes to see her. Eventually he proposes and is rejected, due to his actions against her sister and Wickham. Darcy then writes her a letter saying that what he did with Bingley was done for the best and that Wickham is a liar. Darcy claims that Wickham seduced his sister after being given a large amount of money to study law. Elizabeth begins to realise that she may have mis-judged both Wickham and Darcy.

Time passes and the militia leaves town for Brighton. Lydia goes with them having made a friend of the Majors wife. Elizabeth goes on a tour with her aunt and uncle and they end up at Pemberly, Mr Darcy's house. Surprisingly they run into Mr Darcy who's returned early from a stay in London. He invites them to dinner, and introduces his sister to Elizabeth. Elizabeth then gets a letter saying that Lydia has eloped with Wickham, this forces her to return home. Her father goes to London to see if he can find them, but fails. Then her uncle informs them that not only has he found Lydia and Wickham but that he has persuaded them to be married, thus making the match a little less dishonourable.

Bingley and Darcy then reappear in the neighbourhood. It doesn't take Bingley long to propose to Jane and Elizabeth learns from a letter to her aunt, that it was Mr Darcy who found Wickham and forced him to marry Lydia. Eventually Darcy also proposes and Elizabeth realises that he also told Bingley that Jane loved him. Everyone (except Darcy's aunt) is happy.

Needless to say there are other parts to this plot. The rivalry between Kitty and Lydia the two youngest sisters and the on going baiting of Mrs Bennett by Mr Bennett are two examples. But the above summary should show how complicated the plot really is. There are not a huge number of characters, but the short length of the novel makes each page seem full of action. There's a lot going on, and Austen uses this to create sections that pulse with energy, followed by sections made up of the characters reflections on their situations. Indeed some of the best pieces of the novel are the long conversations between characters. Darcy's proposal is a superb example, both of the novels humour, and of how good the dialogue is. Indeed the dialogue is one of the best pieces of the novel. Elizabeths tart tongue, which says almost always what she means, is guaranteed to liven up any scene. Other characters like Mrs Bennett, prattle away, while Darcy speaks with clipped self-assured tones and Bingley is always gushing. The styles of speech convey the characters personalities and give the novel atmosphere.

Also part of the atmosphere are the descriptions of balls and of country life and town life. Austen had a great eye for detail and observations like the type of lace on a hem and the rent of a property bring the past setting of the novel to life. Money is foremost in most of the character considerations and so there are all sorts of hints at income and situation dotted throughout the box. In many ways the difference of the relative value of money can make it hard to understand why the characters get so excited about an income of ten thousand a year. But it isn't too hard to understand that Bingley is richer than the Bennetts and Darcy is richer than Bingley.

The major problem with the book is its age. Although there have been enough TV adaptations of books of the period to give most people a handle on life as it was back then many people still feel a little lost. Austen is very accessible due to her themes, but you do still need to know a little about marriage and convention in the regency period. Most of it can be picked up as you read the book, and I'd certainly advise this haphazard approach to history. If you really feel you need to know more to understand the book, then try a short children's history of the period, just to give you background detail. You don't have to be a historian or an English lit. student to enjoy this book. If you did it wouldn't be a great classic read.

Overall I'd recommend Pride and Prejudice to anyone. It is a great girlie read, but that shouldn't put the lads off. This is a great book, well deserving of its classic tag, and a must read to anyone who wants to call themselves well read.