Prongs - Seventh Review - Pride and Prejudice

Dear loyal, patient, and probably annoyed readers-
Padfoot and Prongs here apologizing once again for our general lack of updates. When we started this blog our original intent was only to put up reviews to build our writing portfolios, and build ideas for our company. It has since turned into pretty much our first born child with all of the attention and spoils that we give it, and lately we have been pretty horrendous parents. We do however hope that in the near future we will be back to our attentive selves and give this blog all of the time and affection that it deserves. Until then, please bear with us and our pathetic amount of updates.

"Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all."
Pride and Prejudice
By Jane Austen

As a rule, I try not to read books more than two times (unless it is Harry Potter or Ayn Rand of course) because I do not like to spoil the magic that I felt after the first read. Sometimes quotes that you fashioned to be groundbreaking at first glance, are not as captivating as you remembered the second time around. However, upon my 5th reading of Pride and Prejudice, I can safely say that this book shatters all of my preconceived notions of that idea. Every time I venture down the road to Pemberly, I feel more attached and indebted to the characters as I was the previous read. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen has taken the best of the world that she knows, and given you a story in the best way she knows how. The beauty of Jane Austen's writing is that she was able to compose a story that spreads through time, gender, race, and age; something that most novelists can only dream to come near.

Since most people (more or less) know the overall plot of Pride and Prejudice, I won't focus to long on the story line. Just in case you need a refresher, the general idea is: girl meets boy. Boy and girl do not like each other. Boy and girl realize their initial impressions were wrong. Boy and girl fall in love. Pretty simple. Except that it's not. This novel is full of intricate details and passionate characters that shape the entire outcome into one of the most compelling and intellectually-satisfactory endings in literary history. As the novel suggests, the pride and the prejudice of the characters is the axis in which this novel orbits, it is the source of all conflict, and all resolution. Between mother's who just don't know when to shut up, and the open rejection of all things middle class, this story is rife with enough insults and conflict to consider itself a victorian-day-Jerry Springer. The plot alone is enough to throw this book into the top of the literary charts.

"From the very beginning— from the first moment, I may almost say— of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry." - Ouch.

What truly makes this book, in this blogger's opinion, worthy of true literary worship, is the style in which Jane Austen works in her own social commentary and view of life as she knew it, into the voice and narration of the book. The narrator is honest and judgmental but with specific intent. She helps guide you down the complicated and rule-based lives which she, along with the characters, were forced to face at that time. In a world that was comprised of marriages based on money, Jane Austen dared to believe that a happy marriage, could be based on love.

Austen's characters are dripping with flaws and limitations that could have easily been the cop-out needed to show that a marriage for money
was at the time, a resonable option for the illusion of happiness. However, Austen proves to us through her timeless narration, that happiness in itself is timeless, and can only be reached through the love of a rational and intellectual equal, which a marriage demands. Austen writes with confidance and integrity, using intellectual virtue and reason as her main guide posts. Her lessons and morals could not ring any more true today, than they did 100 years ago.

" How Wickam and Lydia were to be supported in tolerable independence, she could not imagine. But how little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brough together because their passions were stroner than their virtue, she could easily conjecture.

While I can rant and rave about how fantastic this book is all day, there is no need to take my word on it. When a classical novel has reached such an eternal status, that someone is comfortable with making it into a Zombie-filled satire, you know that you truly have a literary masterpiece on your hands. For those of you who might not be into the somewhat complex prose of Austen's original work, be sure to check out this new soon to be best seller that has been released by Quirk Classics. It has all the charm of the original, paralled with all the hilarity of Zombies.

If you have never tackled this classic before don't be embarassed. Biblioaddict recently put up a post with a letter of apology to Ms. Austen for having neglected her in the past. If you are a first timer, or (like me) are on your 5th read, if you are a fan of ever-lasting love, embarassing mothers, or classic-zombie novels, Jane Austen has a little something for everone at any age, at any time. Be sure to check this classic off sometime in the near future.

-mischief managed-