Jane Austen

In early nineteenth-century England, a spirited young woman copes with the suit of a snobbish gentleman, and the romantic entanglements of her four sisters.

Pride and Prejudice

Celina Hoang Vo ♥︎

I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only Smiles,I laugh. 

You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased." 

"If you will thank me," he replied, "let it be for yourself alone. That the wish of giving happiness to you might add force to the other inducements which led me on, I shall not attempt to deny. But your family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe I thought only of you." 

My mother means well; but she does not know n0. one can know, how much I suffer from what she savs. 

"Oh, Jane, had we been less secret, had we told what we knew of him, this could not have happened!" "Perhaps it would have been better" replied her sister. “But to expose the former faults of any person without knowing what their present feelings were, seemed unjustifiable. We acted with the best intentions" 

There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me"

Kitty and Lydia take his defection much more to heart than I do. They are young in the ways of the world, and not yet open to the mortifying conviction that handsome young men must have somnething to live on as well as the plain."

 But I will endeavour to banish every painful thought, and think only of what will make me happy 

You are too sensible a girl, Lizzy, to fall in love merely because you are warned against it; 

It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us. Women fancy admiration means more than it does"

Duška

You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.

I still have no clue what that 'design' would be? Like they have been talking about a possible 'worst case scenario' for at least a chapter now and I still have no idea what it would entail??? I don't know if I've read over it, or if it has not explicitly been stated but it is expected that the reader knows, or whether it is not supposed to be known to the reader

Julia Rutgers

It appears to me so very unlikely, that any young man should form such a design against a girl who is by no means unprotected or friendless

This is rather ironic, as Elizabeth is blinded by Wickham and Sees him only as he chooses to be seen. 

Tija

The world is blinded by his fortune and Consequence, or frightened by his high and imnposing manners, and sees him to only as he chooses to be seen.  

She read, with an eagerness which hardly left her power of comprehension, and from impatience of knowing what the next sentence might bring, was incapable of attending to the sense of the one before her eyes

It’s ok to have a big ego, if you have the skillzz to support it. 

" Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride - where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation." 

"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if l have not an excellent library," 

 "Oh! I am not afraid of her dying. People do not die of little trifling colds. She will be taken good care of. As long as she stays there, it is all very well. 

All is fair in love and war, including incredibly transparent tricks. 

"Can I have the carriage?" said Jane. "No, my dear, you had better go on horseback, because it seems lia to rain and then you must stay all night.

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. 

To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love, 

 She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion of her." 

IT IS A TRUTH UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED that a single man in possessIon of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. 

I'll have to agree with Elizabeth on this

Martha Thompson

"you have bewitched me, body, and soul, and I love... I love... I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on"

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH The Vintage Classics Austen series is designed by the writer and illustrator Leanne Shapton and introduced by some of our finest contemporary writers and Austen fans: Alexander McCall Smith, Lynne Truss, Amanda Vickery, Francesca Segal, P.D. James and Andrew Motion. 'The best-loved book by our best-loved novelist' Independent Elizabeth Bennet is young, clever and attractive, but her mother is a nightmare and she and her four sisters are in dire need of financial security and escape in the shape of husbands. The arrival of the affable Mr Bingley and arrogant Mr Darcy in the neighbourhoos, both single and in possession of large fortunes, turns all their lives upside down in this witty drama of friendship, rivalry, enmity and love.

ivan

this reads like old timey chesmis and i'm here for it. it was a fun ride (a bit challenging bc of the length of paragraphs and the jargon) but i get it.

Gavin

I somehow managed to read this right through without grasping an absolutely basic point - which stops it being the tittering romantic comedy it is mistaken for:

The reason everyone in this is obsessed with frilly things like suitors and débuts and balls is that marriage was the most important decision in a woman's whole life, one of the few she had power over.* You only got one shot. The result determined whether your life was an abusive wreck, or hey pretty ok. 

(At the time, to get a divorce you needed 1) to put up with it for three years, 2) to then blow the annual salary of 5 people (£200 then, ~£100,000 in today's money) bringing a fucking private Act of Parliament; 3) to publicly and credibly state your husband's "incest, sodomy, bigamy, or desertion" (not his adultery) and maybe also deal with MPs leering at your sex life. 

Oh, and no remarriage ever, i.e. no socially acceptable relationships ever again.)

All this makes the book about something important, rather than important (or readable) itself. And Austen hardly covers this grimdark aspect. But I will probably have to read it again.

---

* You might say that the primary-relationship-hunt is still the most important decision in modern people's lives. I think that's right for some people, but it's still less important than it was: now it's not the only decision in your life, and now you get to try again if you are unlucky or unwise.

First published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular and beloved British novels of all-time, maintaining its allure for contemporary readers everywhere and selling millions of copies worldwide! Jane Austen’s novel tells the story of the five unmarried Bennet sisters, daughters of a humble country squire, as they deal with the issues of marriage, manners, and upbringing in English country life. Now available as part of the Word Cloud Classics series, Pride and Prejudice is a must-have addition to the libraries of all classic literature lovers.
Source: http://www.thunderbaybooks.com/product/Pride-and-Prejudice,304.aspx

Lacy W

Okay, so this book took me about 2 months to finish. It's not that it wasn't a good book, it was just difficult to read. I have not read many classics so the writing of this book really threw me. I really had to sit down and commit to this book and to what it says. 

For the first 50 pages or so, the book was actually kind of boring. Nothing really seemed to happen so that made it kind of difficult to get into. Luckily, it started to pick up. Yes, I know that a lot of books have a boring beginning but something about this one just made it incredibly slow. 

I loved Elizabeth. I loved how sassy she was and she basically gave no fs. She just did her thing. I loved the last interaction between her and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. I had a smile on my face the whole time I read that part because Lizzy was just so damn sassy! It was easily my favorite part. 

At first, I didn't care for Mr. Darcy. He was seriously so snobbish and rude. I couldn't stand him! But as he realized his feelings for Lizzy, he toned it down and actually became a much better character for me. I'm glad that him and Lizzy ended up together. I didn't appreciate waiting until literally the last 15 pages to find this out. 

As for the rest of the characters, they were okay. Jane was a sweetheart. Lydia made me want to punch a wall along with Wickham. Mrs. Bennet was annoying with her obsession to get her daughters married. I have mixed feelings about Bingley. Hopefully he proves to be a decent husband. The other characters didn't really stand out for me as much. 

As for the book in itself, it was a good book. I had to take a star off simply because it was just so damn tricky to try and read it without knowing some of what was going on. The sentence structure and the way people talked just really got me. I think I will re-read this book at a later time and see if things work out better for me. It's definitely a good classic, that is for sure.

Took awhile to finish this for the way it was written but this book made me burst into laughter several times. The Bennet family dynamic is refreshing. Pride and Prejudices indeed, for how views on people can be changed entirely once more light were shed on certain matters. 

Koh Shi Qi

Beatrix Haase

4.5/5
This book was so cute and wonderful. A great read. This was my first Jane Austen book and I absolutely loved it. I think that this book really had great character development and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

xoxo,
Bebe

I really enjoyed the book. It’s one of the first classics that I couldn’t put down. 

Meghan Navoy

I've seen the Kiera Knightley movie and the Colin Firth PBS mini series countless times and finally read the book. It was truly a delight and I enjoyed every single page and I'm sure I was smiling as I read it. I love this story and the characters SO much. I can see myself reading it again and again. It's truly amazing how relevant this story still is in 2021 America than when it was written in 18th century England. 

Elizabeth Bennett really cracks me up and I can imagine being friends with her today. I also like to imagine the Velvet Underground wrote the song Sweet Jane about the very very sweet Jane Bennett. One thing that really struck me about the difference in daily life from the book vs today is the extreme immediacy we have now. Imagine having such juicy news and having to wait days or weeks or months to tell your best friend!! I also love that a normal length visit to a friend is 2 months at their home and a 10 day visit from Lydia and Wickham is extremely brief - what a change that is from today! I love the long contemplative walks in nature they're always enjoying and collecting their thoughts. Elizabeth went to her room to lie down and regroup for a half hour after meeting with Mr Darcy before rejoining the party. It's just interesting to me how time is treated so differently now. Things would probably be better in the world if we all had more time to relax and think!!!

Abdullah

3.5 stars 

ok, so. i found the characters and the writing to be superb. the conversations were 10/10. i'll definitely read more of Austen's books in the future. 

the more i read the more i kept wondering how the plot is the basic plot of almost every pakistani serial nowadays.

The first book of Jane Austin that I read and one that i always come back to. It hooks you from the start. It's simply a masterpiece. I believe i have read it over 10 times now and will probably read it again. 

Tijana

— lae

i can reread this so often. gorgeous gorgeous book

The real romance here is Elizabeth and solitary walks

Klára Kováčiková 

sarah

Addie 🌻

mercy

call me uncultured but nothing would ever compare to the feelings that pride & prejudice (2005), dir. joe wright, gave me

Enjoy Jane Austen's mastery of irony, dialogue and realism in the unforgettable love story Pride and Prejudice, then share this classic piece of literature with a new generation.

When headstrong and independent Elizabeth Bennet is required to find a wealthy husband, her encounter with the arrogant Mr. Darcy leads to one of the most entertaining and satisfying courtships ever imagined. Beyond the romance, Pride and Prejudice is a book full of humor and wit that is also a commentary on upper-class social manners at the turn of the nineteenth century.

Even though it is concerned with love and marriage, the novel is a rejection of Romanticism, a popular way of imagining the world at that time. Austen preferred to highlight the rational abilities of her characters and not portray them as completely controlled by their emotions. Pride and Prejudice's characters aren't robots, though. Austen shows universal situations in a perfectly clear light--embarrassment when someone is foolish, the nervous feeling of falling in love, and the chagrin caused by making a big mistake.

Austen's mastery of irony, dialogue, and realism support character development and make Pride and Prejudice a pure pleasure to read. Complete and unabridged, this elegantly designed, clothbound edition features an elastic closure and a new introduction by Deborah Lutz.

Source: https://www.quartoknows.com/books/9781631060694/Pride-and-Prejudice.html

Jamieson

I hope Jane Austen is somewhere up there and that, even in death, she knows that Elizabeth Bennett is still That Bitch in 2019. 


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


Pride and Prejudice is one of those books that comes with the "everyone who has a literature degree should have read this" stamps and I am, in fact, doing a literature degree. The sheer amount of times this has been referenced in the course of my degree definitely made me think I should read it. The good news is, everyone seems to love this book. Even people who don't really like classics. And guess what? The hype was right because I kinda love it too

Pride and Prejudice is an excellent social commentary delving into the tenuous economic positions women in the 19th century held. Mrs Bennett's desperate scramble to marry off her daughters, particularly Jane and Elizabeth, as soon as the eligible bachelors Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy wander into town provides for an entertaining and often hilarious tale but it's also dire in that throughout the novel you are well aware that the sisters face potential poverty and homelessness should they not find good marriages sometime before their fathers death. And for me, one of the real strengths of this book is how well it balances out the romance and the satirical humour of the situation with the real reality of the situation. While this book did make me laugh, I really have to sympathise with Mrs Bennett and what she's trying to do here. It's also really interesting when you consider that there is an element of Jane Austen's own life reflected in the situation the girls find themselves in. 


  “We are all fools in love” 



I think what I loved about this is the pure drama of it all, but it's all so serious in it's frivolity. Even though we're talking about getting sick to hang out at your mans house longer, and buying ugly bonnets and running off with your new soldier boyfriend, the drama is compelling. I think that a real strength of this book is that it is so insightful. All the drama is perfectly positioned to make a Point, and all of it is deadly serious. Even though it's kind of funny Mrs Bennett is going to force her daughter to catch a cold just so she can (maybe) hang out with Bingley a bit longer, there is also a element of understanding and truth that rings in it - these girls really DO need to go to all lengths to get married. The satire is so well placed, and the story is so thoughtful. 

Elizabeth Bennett is also such a compelling and fun main character. She IS that bitch!! I loved how rebellious and independent she was, and her relationship with Jane was so beautiful. I really loved the focus on the girls strong bond and the prioritisation of the girls relationships with eachother over anything else. Elizabeth is also ICONIC. The bit when she verbally beat the shit out of Mr Darcy? I truly have decided to stan forever. 

Speaking of Mr Darcy - I have to say he's not in it as much I expected?? Everyone RAVES ABOUT HIM and I get it because, yeah there is something really appealing about him being The Hot Rich Bachelor Who is Really Into You But He's Too Awkward To Show It but he honestly doesn't feel like he appears that much? For me it felt like the Bennett sisters and Elizabeth's struggle to reconcile her situation and her happiness were much more interesting and pertinent themes and relationships than the romance. THAT SAID, I do still love the romance. God, the slow burn, angsty beauty of it all. Are we talking about That Scene in Permberly? I'm talking about it. When he comes across the fields and they catch awkward eyes and it's like okay they're in love PHEW love that. Also, when Elizabeth is at dinner half hoping half dreading he will turn up. SISTER why is that so relatable when this is a 200 year old book ??


  “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”


There is something remarkable to me that in all the time since the publication of this book, so much of it stays relevant and loveable. I genuinely thought reading this it reads in some ways like a modern book. I loved that about reading this - even though it is obviously a classic it was so easy to read and get really invested in. It makes the reading experience so much better, since classics can be so hit and miss sometimes. Austen is funny and frank and insightful and thoughtful, and her characters are well developed and compelling. That Pride and Prejudice is so far from our everyday, and yet remains so relatable, and so beautiful, and that romance still stands is truly powerful in itself, and goes to show just what a GOOD book this is. 

I really really enjoyed this, and I plan on working through Austen's other works in the future. (Sense & Sensibility is most likely next). I will say this, literature world - I get the hype.

rain

words aren't enough to explain how i feel about this book

Ronda Isaacson

reading this in daily calendar form this year, but have read it many times before and love it!

Danbee Kim

sometimes i read classics and i just don’t understand why they are a classic. BUT pride and prejudiced does NOT DISAPPOINT. one of the BEST books written of all time and i am so in love with mr darcy!

Cameron Gleeson 

chiyoko

Steph Lodico

I definitely don’t tend to read older classics like this—why is everyone so petty! is just one kiss really too scandalous to include? and please stop speaking in riddles!—I have to hand it to Jane Austen. It was a bit of a chore to get through Volume I, but Volumes II and III were more or less page turners and made me laugh a lot. A lot of the characters were insufferable, but the ones Austen meant for us to like handled them so fantastically that this read kept me amused and on my toes the whole time.

Pride and Prejudice.

the first enemies to lovers in history. the only enemies to lovers 

. i love them. i love this book. austen’s writing is timeless and i will be rereading it again. for the fourth time. i usually hate classics but…. this is an exception. a lovely&sweet read! must read now!!! so much wit and intelligence and sarcasm and humour and UGH. perfect bro

side note: pride and prejudice 2005 movie ver. is amazing and i also cherish that w my heart. 

kyli ^^

jane austen! my love!!!!

the first enemies to lovers in history. the only enemies to lovers ever. i love them. i love this book. austen’s writing is timeless and i will be rereading it again. for the fourth time. i usually hate classics but…. this is an exception. a lovely&sweet read! must read now!!! so much wit and intelligence and sarcasm and humour and UGH. perfect bro

side note: pride and prejudice 2005 movie ver. is amazing and i also cherish that w my heart. 

DER AUSTEN-KLASSIKER NEU VERFILMT 
Familie Bennet hat fünf Töchter. Eine Heirat mit einem begüterten Mann ist die einzige Karriere, die ihnen das Leben zu bieten hat. Es gibt also jede Menge Aufregung, als zwei junge Männer von Vermögen in die Gegend ziehen. Schon bald macht der standesbewußte Mr. Darcy der geistvollen Elizabeth einen Heiratsantrag, den sie jedoch spontan ablehnt. 

Der berühmte Roman von Jane Austen neu verfilmt von Joe Wright. Mit Donald Sutherland, Judi Dench, Keira Knightley u. v. a. 

Source: back cover

Stolz und Vorurteil

I don't usually read books with content from such a distant age but it was definitely an experience worth having.

Emilie 

Omg. This book. I dont even know how to express my feelings for this book. All im going to say is:
-i cried at the end because it was so cute 
-i loved Lizzy even with all her flaws 
-Mr.Darcy (do i even have to say more)
It took me quite some time to get into the book, but in the end i adored every single page.

Pride and Prejudice

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