Book Review 1, A Classic Romance: Pride and Prejudice

Cliché, I'll admit, but having neglected my duty as an avid reader of frequenting the classics, I thought I best begin my reading challenge by catching up on my fellow bookworms.

To start with, Pride and Prejudice by the ever lovely Jane Austen may follow a quite predictable pattern, but one must remember that this isn't just another rom com following the herd. Austen paved the way for all those terrible rom coms we love today, and therefore any claims of the plot being old hat and unoriginal are, in my humble opinion, mistaken. Also, personally, I was still kept at the edge of my seat in certain parts of the novel, even though I called the ending after reading the first chapter (and as usual, I called it correctly).

The plot centres around Elizabeth Bennet, a sensible young lady from a unique family, to say the least. Elizabeth's sisters are a bit off the wall, all apart from Jane. Her mother is a character and a half, who strives to get each and every one of her daughters married off to eligible, wealthy young men as fast as possible, while Mr Bennet is content watching all their schemes unfold. Elizabeth hates Mr Darcy from the first time she encounters him, and finds him arrogant, proud and prejudiced. Darcy's feelings towards Elizabeth are slightly more complex... The real question of the novel is: who is proud and who is prejudiced?

Characters, to me, make or break a book, and I can't fault Austen one bit in her personalities. Elizabeth, as a protagonist is sensible, responsible and warm, and life through her eyes is easy to accept and grow to love. At times I grew frustrated with little Lizzie, but that's the nature of romance, and I suppose it wouldn't all seem so obvious if we weren't passively observing the events unfold. Mr Darcy, was however my favourite character in this novel. Even through Lizzie's hatred I found a fondness for him, and his uniqueness was apparent from the outset. Ever composed, ever superior, Mr Darcy brought a touch of class to a world so full of desperation and coveting.

Along the journey that is this novel, I encountered many more an intriguing character, and although Austen did not succeed in making me "LOL", I did have some silent giggles to myself at Lizzie's cheeky wit, and found myself seriously fangirling over and crushing on highly eligible bachelors at several points in the novel. While the concept of personal gain, greed, envy and ambition taint this tale ever so slightly, there is so much sincere love and warmth at its heart that one can't help but look upon it with tender fond feelings. It's definitely one of the few read-ten-times-over books you encounter in your book-ish travels, and if you haven't read it yet, get with the programme.

Embrace the rom com classic, and find out for yourself where Bridget Jones' Diary stole its plot...