Pride and Prejudice

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I've been trying to read this book for years, but have never gotten past the first three chapters. It was so boring! But last summer, I decided to give it another try, and I'm glad I did cause I loved it! It became one of my favorites and I'm definitely going to see the movie. Mrs.Bennet and Mr.Colins is absolutely hilarious, and Liz so loveable! The humour and romance is blended just right. I recommend anyone who have given this book several tries to try it again. And of course for everyone who haven't. You don't know what you're missing!

Rating:
Summary: Strikingly Relevant, For A Classic
Review: When I first sat down to read Pride and Prejudice, it confused me - so many characters introduced in so little a time frame. Because of this, I was unable to fully appreciate the book. However, after reading it a second time, I was able to fully grasp the complexities of the novel, and admit that the character interractions and situations of the novel can relate to any period in history. If you are reluctant to commit yourself to the novel, don't be; you WILL be able to relate to the characters and themes of this early nineteenth century text.

Rating:
Summary: Of its time and for all time
Review: It is a truth not universally acknowledged, that "Pride and Prejudice" is probably not Jane Austen's best book. That honor is reserved for "Mansfield Park", a much deeper work. But it's almost everybody's favorite Austen, including mine, as much for the unforgettable characters as for the story. Elizabeth Bennet is the perfect heroine: she's bright, sharp, likeable, perceptive, nobody's fool, infinitely fallible, like all of us; but, unlike most of us, able to see and admit when she is in the wrong. Unlike her wacky mother and her shallow younger sisters, she does not see snaring a husband as her sole object in life, and thus she is supremely capable of putting Mr. Darcy in his place. Darcy's progression from an insufferable snob to an empathetic human being results from the realization that money and an old name are insufficient recommendations to a woman with real class, intelligence and character. Elizabeth's family is also well portrayed. We can understand why Elizabeth is her father's favorite child; he is as sharp and perceptive as she is, totally sensible and down to earth, a perfect foil for the ditzy Mrs. Bennet, who is so ridiculous you wish a chandelier would fall on her head, obsessed with marrying off her five eligible daughters. We know how the book is going to end almost as soon as it begins; Jane will hook Mr. Bingley in spite of the machinations of his nasty sisters, and Elizabeth, of course, will become Mrs. Darcy. "Pride and Prejudice" is very much of it's time, set at the end of the 18th century, but it's been loved by generations of readers for the past two hundred years and looks good for at least another two hundred. It's quintessential Jane Austen.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE was the first Jane Austen novel I read. I'm currently working on SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. P+P is a very emotional, romantic book. I love Austen's sense of romance. However, it is a long book, and the language can be hard to understand, so beware. I definitely recommend it, though.

Rating:
Summary: Austen is timeless
Review: Despite the fact that there are literally hundreds of reviews of this book, I somehow feel it important to share my thoughts. This is one of my favorite books of all time, though I came to it very late in life. During my 5th reading of it, I started musing over why this book had such an incredible impact on me. I finally figured it out. This book and almost of all Austen's other brilliant novels speak to me about the life-altering possibilities of love. This reality was completely integral to the lives of women in the 18th and 19th century. If you were a woman, your fate -- whether you became a wife, a mother, a mistress of a fine home or stayed at home the rest of your days taking care of your parents -- was completely determined by a man choosing you. But this idea, even in our times in which women actually have options and power to change their lives, is highly compelling. These books -- these characters -- capture the feeling that everyone who has every fallen in love has that in one instant their lives, if joined with another, will be changed forever and exponentially and in ways they cannot even imagine. It is that feeling of possibility that Jane Austen has put into words, and why, I believe, her books are still as influencial as they were 2 hundred years ago.

Rating:
Summary: Witty
Review: I thought this book was great. Not only is Elizabeth a strong main character, but the supporting characters make the book very enjoyable. They are so funny; especially the mother. I couldn't put it down. I loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Dreadful
Review: My wife says that this is her favourite novel of all time. I could not disagree more. Turgid. Dull. Truly awful prose. Surely nobody ever spoke like these utterly implausible characters. Literary mogadon. Don't bother.

Rating:
Summary: Heartwarming
Review: Pride and Prejudice is a story that graps you by the heart and does not ever let you go. If you have never read this book, YOU MUST!

Rating:
Summary: Helps you to bed better than sleeping pills
Review: WHen I began to read Pride and Prejudice I was told by my best friend that it would be the best book I have ever read. To my dismay, it was not. I found the book utterly boring, and the only good part was at the end. Over two- hundred pages wasted on useless tasteless writing! I read this book in school, and it was a majority consensus in my senior English class that Pride and Prejudice was awful.

Rating:
Summary: I just don't see it
Review: I have wanted to read this novel for a long time because of all the great reviews. Finally I had the chance to read it and personally I am disgusted. I tried really hard to see what people love about the book. I cannot see it. There is no true love in the book, the characters are shallow and there is absolutely no story. It talks through the entire book of these five sisters marrying. I think that they are al pompous and rather annoying. I do have to say that Elizabeth is my favorite character as she doesn't seem to be as sucked in to the society nearly as much, but I do not see what there is in this book that has given it all the wonderful reviews. Though I do encourage all to reaad it and see for themselves what it is like. From the reviews people either LOVE it or HATE it there are no in-betweens. Good-luck to all I hope you see more than I did.