Pride and Prejudice

This classic novel by Jane Austen is highly recommended. I somehow made it through high school without reading it. Suddenly, several different people were mentioning it as a great book (not Cody, however, since he remembers hating it in high school), so I picked it up last weekend. The language is somewhat old fashioned and complicated. That makes it hard to get into at first. I can see how that would throw off some high school readers. But, the meat of the story is worth the extra effort. There were several times I laughed outloud at the wit of her writing. Much of what she wrote is still funny and relevant today. The types of characters are still around today- the overbearing meddling mother, the selfish immature youngest sister, the responsible eldest sister, the ones that marry for economic position, the ones that will only marry for true love, the ones that grieve over broken relationships, etc. I found each character believable and interesting. Now I am told that I must rent the A & E movie version which is about 6 hours in length. I can't wait to see it. I've also been told that the movie Bridgette Jones's Diary is based on this classic novel. Maybe I'll watch it sometime as well.

My favorite line of the book is the mother's feelings about the almost-fiance of her eldest daughter leaving and suddenly breaking the relationship when she had thought it would certainly end in marriage. She says (more or less), "My only consolation is that Jane will die of a broken heart, and then he will regret what he did to her."