BOOK REVIEW: Pride and Prejudice

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

I’ve been avoiding reading Pride and Prejudice for the longest time, although I’ve consumed nearly every other reproduction of the story. But after reading just 24 pages, I was so enthralled by the wit of the dialogue that I became utterly hooked.

The story is tongue in cheek with cleverly composed conversations between the characters. Page after page I was impressed by the wit and humour. I felt like Jane Austen herself was personally educating me on the possibilities of story writing and dialogue.

I cannot believe I avoided this book for so long. I cannot believe I had anticipated it to be a dull, slow read. My mind is blown. I now understand and can fully appreciate why this is one of Austen’s most beloved stories and why it has been reproduced into so many different productions – from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, to the BBC teleseries adaptation to the Lizzie Bennett Diaries on Youtube.

If you’re intimidated by this novel like I was, knowing it to be a classic and not the usual pace of the modern action-driven story, I’d recommend reading the screenplay The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde first. It’s a taste of the ideals that Pride and Prejudice abides by, but is a quick read – less than two hours.

I most definitely will read this book again. This time, I’m going to attack it with a highlighter and Post-It notes. I’d recommend it to any budding author and anyone who pays attention when they read to what is really going on in a story.

Title: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
Type: Fiction
Category: Romance
Publisher: William Collins
Publication Date: 2010
Edition: Reprint Edition
ISBN: 978-0007350773