I avoided reading classic literature in the past for two reasons. One reason is that I was afraid to be disappointed. "This book is supposed to be good?" The second reason is that I get attached to fictional characters, and when the book is over I miss them. This makes me feel sad and weird. I have a tendency to read non-fiction for that reason. I don't want to feel sad when the character is gone.
In reading this book, neither problem arose. I didn't get attached to the characters, so when they were gone, it was nothing to me. And, I was not disappointed with the book.
This book had a lot of dialogue. It was mostly overhearing people talking the whole time. It felt like you were eaves dropping on the characters. I get the impression that people talked back then more than we do now. It seems that no one in this book had a job or a TV. They just talked and sat and walked, and entertained. I wish it was explained what people actually "did." Did they have a job?
I knew what was going to happen from watching 2 movies based on the book, but despite that, I was full of suspense to see the unfolding of the possible romances and marriages. When any hint of breakthrough in Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship would take place, I would become very excited.
I take this book to be like a baseball game. To me, baseball is boring, but I may watch it to find out who will win. I was full of suspense and anticipation while reading this book, but page by page, it could be dull with dragging conversations that took care to relate things you already knew, or assumed. Sometimes the dialogue carried on as if Jane Austin thought her reader must be dumb so lets make it REALLY clear.
My two complaints about the book are, Jane Austin didn't describe what anything looked like. I felt like I was a blind man who could only hear conversations. That bugged me a lot. Ok. I don't want to be bogged down with a lot of details, but just a few would have been nice. I suffered from sensory deprivation while reading this book.
Another problem I have is that the characters didn't seem real to me. For all their talking you think that they would. But I didn't miss them, like I do when I read most books. I think it's because they seemed to much like "characters" to me.
