Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I recently pledged to broaden my reading horizons by reading a few classics. Last week, I read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I admit that I forced myself to begin this book, and I trudged through the opening chapters. It wasn't long, however, before I was caught up in the tale.

This love story is funny, sarcastic, and witty. It is filled with sisterly devotion, disappointment, familial discord, indiscretions, deception, and, of course, pride and prejudice. After reading the book only once, I will not attempt to provide a literary discussion of this fine work, but I will recommend it heartily.

For those of you who shy away from classics, let me share something I learned about myself. As I read, I realized the reason I usually stick with more contemporary works of fiction; I prefer to read quickly. When reading a text in which words such as precipitance, thither, and insipidity are common, I must slow down and give greater attention to the language and its meaning. What I discovered with Pride and Prejudice is that some stories are worth my time and effort! I would encourage anyone who hesitates to read classics for a similar reason to give this novel a try.

This novel is quite quotable, but I will share one I noticed in the the opening chapters of the book.

"Pride," observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, "is a very common failing I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed, that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."

So true! Again, I enjoyed this novel, and I plan to read more by Jane Austen. I highly recommend that you do the same.

Review by Lauren, regular contributor

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