Anywhooooo. Pride and Prejudice....boooring. BRIDE and Prejudice -- some song and dance lots of bright colors a strange hero drum solo at the end now that was a good time.
I want to preface this by saying I really enjoy historical fiction and moreover historical romance. I like slow books. I like romances that really just consist of a few key scenes filled with tension and unsaid things. All of those things are wonderful. I just don't get it in Pride and Prejudice. I don't see any of the restrained romantic tension between those characters. (The BBC version with handsome handsome what's his name -- that helped. That was pretty good. But until then -- didn't see it). None. That first proposal of Mr. Darcy's that is supposed to be so funny I didn't even smile at, not even when Keira Knightly was looking so horrified and bony during it in this last years version. I agree the father/daughter scene - quite touching - in all the versions - particularly the sweet Bridget Jones Diary. And I do agree it's hard to beat that first line. Literary and full of voice and character and sets the tone perfectly -- it's a home run of a first line - I just lose interest in chapter 2. That's right -- I haven't even finished the book - because I CAN'T. I'm simply too bored.
I understand the place it holds in the history of novels and particularly novels written by women and I have been beaten over the head repeatedly by friends (Sinead) telling me the importance this tome has in the history of romance. I certainly can admire the way it creates such fervid love and interest even now - for new readers introduced to it. I'm just not one of them. Not without some song and dance and weird drum solo.
2 comments:
Well, you know where I stand on this one, Molly. I can't remember the first time I read Pride and Prejudice, but it was certainly well before I'd seen any movie or TV adaptations and before I'd discovered romance as a genre... And I LOVED it. (but I would argue P&P isn't a romance per se... Very few scenes with them together... I think it's more like modern chick lit... but I digress)
Whatever it is... it's a very funny book and very touching, too. The wit of Elizabeth Bennett is unequaled in fiction -- even in Jane Austen's other novels.
You're right... some of the humour isn't fall down on the floor laughing stuff... But her biting sarcasm and indignation at how she's expected to marry some boob with a quarter of her intelligence and wit, just to survive in her world is priceless...
Now, Snakes on a Plane? I'm with you there.
Zoinks- Maureen fill the deafening silence.
Tired of Dilana. So tired of her. Have a crush on Toby.
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