Felicity Barnaby
This is a book that can be read on so many layers, and is always a delight. Jane Austen effortlessly masters the technique of the novel.
Mrs.Pauline Craig
Pride & Prejudice is my most favourite book. I can read it over and over and never tire of it. It is my "desert island" book . It has everything one could ask for in a good book wit, passion,
human weaknesses all acutely observed.
I find it deeply satisfying in every way . It is of its' time and yet timeless.
Jan Bryan
Have justa put a copy of this away for my Granddaugher for Christmas, she fell in love with My copy but I cannot part with it, it always brings pleaseure not matter how many times I read it
Jill Pitkeathley
So entertaining and so wicked. Jane did not like her own mother much and it shows in her fiction. Mrs Bennet is a wonderful creation. Marriage is all to a Jane Austen heroine yet Jane herself turned down a proposal [ after accepting it at first she refused him in the morning] which would have made her mistress of a fine property. Why? Did her sister Cassandra persuade her to refuse? Was she afraid of 'conjugal duties'? She ceratinly feared childbirth. I have been endlessly fascinated by Jane's independent spirit and her ability to be happy as an unmarried woman ever since I first read Pride and Prejudice.
Monica Janssens
Pride and Prejudice is one of the first books in the history of literature to deal with development of character, both male and female. The book actually takes you through the process of trial and error through which Elizabeth, initially blinded by first impressions, through painful experience, reaches a wiser and more mature point of view about human nature. It shows us that we should never judge people on first acquaintance. For those of us still looking for Mr Right, Elizabeth is the epitomy of the strong-principled and lively yet utterly feminine spirit that will not compromise on the big things - kindness, integrity and deep love - when it comes to finding a soulmate. Until she finds him, she lives a life that speaks of who she is.
Didi
My all time favourite - I never tire of it. Its as relevant today as it was then. Jane Austen was brilliant with her characters - they are so clearly drawn. And my favourite characters are Eliza of course, and Mrs Bennet.
Helen Van Greuning
I first read this aged 11, a beautiful leather bound copy from my brother's then girlfriend now ex-wife. it is the book I most return to for comfort, enlightenment, joy tears and laughter at times of stress, readers block or illness. It has been the literary equivalent of a comfort blanket for 40 years and has never failed me. I can now share this joy with my adult daughter and just this week also with her oldest friend.
sonia rudolph
i first read this book when i was thirteen. i remember laughing out loud and being delighted with the wit and humour in it especially Mr Collins! Although i was young and perhaps some of the deeper meanings went over my head at that point, i recognised immediately a role model in Elizabeth Bennet. She was clever, shrewed, good natured, pretty and had a very strong mind of her own, able to stand up to others in her life and never bending her principles to please others. i loved it then and i still love it now. i am reading english at QM college london at the age of 34 and have read lots and lots of books about strong female characters but i have never found one to replace Elizabeth. For me she is and will continue to be my role model. (just wish i could find my own heir to marry- then £500 a year or so would get me a room of my own so i could spend time writing and then support my family by my succuss!
Iris Clapp
In most books where women dominate, their characters are better served when they are in the company of other women. They seem to laugh more, too! This comes across in Little Women, The Red Tent, The Color Purple and Pride and Prejudice.
I love this book. I first read it when I was in my late teens and couldn't get over the humour. Mrs Bennet is a killer! More than that, it opened an interest in the history of women and marriage. While seen as a the ultimate goal in the 18th/19th centuries, marriage was very rarely happy-ever-after. The book which I think shows this to devastating effect is George Eliot's Daniel Deronda. Why isn't that on the list?
betty dell
A book I have read several times and each time I just loved the pace, the humour, the poignancy and most of all the flow of her language. A feminist well ahead of her time, just wonderful.
Anne Barker
When I first tried to read the novel, I was twelve, and too young to appreciate the humour. I wasn't 'made' to read it at school or at university, and didn't come back to it until I began my PhD at St Andrews on Women and Independence in the 19th Century novel. What a difference 12 years made. Suddenly, I thought it was brilliant. Both Elizabeth and Darcy have to come to 'know themselves'; their journeys are parallel in an odd way. A timeless, very funny, quite touching book.
Sarah Finneran
It is a great book because it appears so effortless, as with all Austen novels it is only with re-reading we see how clever it is. Of course, it is laugh out loud funny at times but it also teaches us important things, that we should be a little more generous in our judgments on other people and a lot less generous in our judgments on ourselves.
Kate King
I read this book, along with other Jane Austen novels, at 15 and I liked the fact that she obviously understood people so well and how she created her her leading ladies to be such eloquent, independent thinkers about ordinary things in life it's everyday womens lib. Elizabeth Bennet was a woman I could relate to, self aware and unwilling to conform but ultimately a feminine woman with feelings.
Sumaiya Matin Khan
The novel is indeed the best of all of Jane Austen's creations.I first read it in class seventh,abridged..and finally unabridged, and it left a deep impression on me.It talks about self-attainment of knowledge and how the main characters,Elizabeth and Mr Darcy,acknowledge their mistakes and finally relinquish their dislike for each other.Jane Austen has shown that even her heroines are not totally perfect and have flaws in them,which they can gradually overcome by understanding certain conditions and things around them.
Rachael Earp
This book has inspired me in so many ways and is something that i go back to read and
re-read time and time again! a true masterpeice
Louise McDonald
Even in the days before women could vote, they could still manipulate men to their liking!
Rosemary McDowell
I first read this book as an adult married woman and wished I had read it as a teen. It would have helped me to perhaps think more carefully before getting married at 19. Perhaps the deeper implications of the intricacies of male-female love relationships and the family pressures surrounding these would have been lost on my younger self, but it certainly couldn't have hurt. I would recommend it for young women of the 21st Century, too.
Emma Cottell
There are many great books, but this can be treasured at any age and is always relevant to women. In the Bennet sisters one can chose which one to identify with.
