Review for "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

"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."



Rating: 4 stars

Okay, so I finally read a Jane Austen novel! My best friend is obsessed with Jane Austen and especially Pride and Prejudice, so naturally I didn't tell her I was reading it until I finished or else she would have be badgering me the entire time...
I give this book four stars. The thing is, I did not enjoy it to a four-star level. I enjoyed it to a two- or three-star level. BUT. I recognize that since this is a classic, I couldn't have related to the characters as much as was intended. I also have to mention that the writing really is beautiful; there are some wonderful quotes and the omniscient narration is well-developed.
I think the problems I had with this book are a result of the time period difference. I couldn't relate to the characters the way I was supposed to because their situations and drama are so different than my own. When Lydia is caught living with Wickham before marriage I was like "okay, that's cool", and then everyone started flipping out... Oops.
This also contributed to some of my dislike for the characters. I know that Elizabeth is written to be viewed as a strong independent woman, and my absolute favorite parts of the novel are the chapters when she rejects Collins and Darcy. Golden. But I still found her whiny. And considering she is one of the more level headed characters, that's saying a lot (don't get me started on the cringe I endured every time Mrs. Bennet opened her mouth--which I know is the intended reaction to her character).
Most of the things I've already mentioned didn't contribute to the one lost star in my rating because I recognize, as I mentioned before, the differences between now and the time that this was written. I only gave this book four stars because honestly, I just didn't really get the point.

"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."

This quote makes the book seem really important, like it has a good moral to the story that makes it all worth it. False. What is the point of the novel? The entire time I was reading, I just kept thinking "this is just a tea time gossip session." There isn't a directional plot. It's just a snippet of the lives of one family in England. There isn't a rising action, a climax, or a conflict. I suppose I could see the Elizabeth-Darcy romance as being somewhat climactic and conflicting, but it was so minimized by the background noise of everything else in the story that I couldn't even be engaged in it. Why did we need that much background on Darcy/Bingley's penmanship?? Why did we need everything to be explained exclusively through letters? I didn't understand how such a lackluster plot with characters that hardly make up for it can be considered a great classic novel. I'll disclaim this by saying that I am a very plot-driven reader, and I mostly love fantasy novels with lots of action, so my interpretation of the story is not surprising. 
Four stars for writing and narration, and for the lack of plot direction and constant background noise.