Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I just finished re-reading one of my favorite books of all time, and it was even better the second time around.

I first read "Pride and Prejudice" when I was in high school. It was my second classic; "Jane Eyre" was my first. I was inspired to read it because my experience with the latter was just so wonderful, that I became motivated to read more classics.

"Pride and Prejudice", however, was a totally different breed. First, and most formidable of all, the language was ten times more difficult for me to understand. I was able to zip through "Jane Eyre", but with "P & P", I needed a dictionary by my side at all times. The style was also very different. One of the main charms of "P & P" is its sharp, witty, and hilarious dialogue that just jumps at you from the pages; however, I found that it wasn't as descriptive as other books that I had read. A lot of times, you have to read between the lines to get a better grasp of what is truly going on. I also felt that many scenes were presented quite abruptly. Austen doesn't spoon-feed her readers. She is very sharp and intelligent, and she expects the reader to be just as quick as her.

When I was 16, I had never read a book like this before, and at first I was a bit lost and, quite honestly, bored. I wanted to quickly finish the book so I could watch the much talked about BBC miniseries. After seeing Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy staring and smiling at Elizabeth Bennet from across the room, I suddenly woke up to the true beauty of this story. You see, when I was reading the book, the lack of description made it difficult for me to picture the story and its characters. In order for me to truly enjoy a book, I need to be able to see it visually, and this is exactly what the miniseries (a most faithful adaptation) was able to do for me. As soon as I saw the book come to life via this medium, I began to appreciate it, and slowly but surely, I fell deeply in love.

Now almost 10 years after first picking up the book, I was able to zip through it in just a couple of days. Every page was divine. Obviously, now that I'm much older, my perspective has changed a lot, and I appreciate this book even more, especially for creating such magnificent characters in the persons of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. I am even more in love with it.

5 stars *****