• PRIDE & PREJUDICE

• by Jane Austen

• [rated by pbs readers as #4 !]
• 368 pages

Well, slap my face and call me Sally.

What?

Perhaps the most delightful surprise yet.

When I read this in high school, I thought it was dippy and like some kind of prehistoric soap opera. And as such, I submit my objection to this and my previous read, Invisible Man, as wholly inappropriate for readers of that age. Nothing in common, but high school readers are still too new to have any basis for either of these directions.

One additional importance to be stressed in having a class read this book is the explanation of just how very few options were open to women of that time, other than marrying well and helping provide for their larger families. If this isn’t properly emphasized, then this would come off as dippy and a prehistoric soap opera.

But you gotta get the scene for me. I had just finished Invisible Man, the last third of which had about a hundred images or phrases per page, describing anguish, indifference, utter futility and ultimately hopelessness. I was ready – I was righteously ready – for a change.

When I drew a group of titles, Pride felt like the biggest change, I could do. And it was certainly that! Probably my best juxtaposition of two books yet!

But much more than that, I found it utterly delightful. I was engrossed in every page, the characters bounced out and grabbed me and the dialogue was timeless. Of particular interest to me throughout the book was her choice in conversations expressed vs unexpressed.

Practically the whole book is conversations. But Austen chooses which ones are going to take place in front of you and which ones are going to be described. And it isn’t a choice of important ones said and unimportant ones implied. Such is her grasp and her joy at writing discourse between two people that she plays with funny and unimportant talks with as much relish as the implied, more important ones.

There was only one time I truly missed a beat and that was her leaving out of Elizabeth’s telling Darcy the truth of her feelings for him. She just implied that one and I was rather itching to hear how she would say it. It was the one time when Austen was personally caught up in Elizabeth’s skin and their combined shyness got the better of them. This is very small in the overall deliciousness of this read. I loved it. I will return to it.

Pride & Prejudice was a cosmic gift to me.