The Pocket Book Club went classic this month, reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. This was my sneaky choice. I picked it because I wanted to make my mother read a Jane Austen book. Luckily a successful experiment.
Why Pride and Prejudice? I could have chosen another, but last year was 20 years since the BBC mini-series and having just re-watched it, I had a fit of nostalgia and it was the one. My entire reading of the book, these were the faces and voices.
In case you have forgotten, it is all about Darcy emerging from the water. Not an actual scene from the book, but each retelling must appeal to the audience of its time. I don’t think the Darcy of the book would have jumped into the lake.
There is even a statue that is quite creepy.
The irony is that the best-known scene from this ‘book’ is not in the book.
Overall, the Pocket Book Club had a good time with this book. We all already had a relationship with it. We had read it and or seen one of the movies or the above-mentioned series. The book is part of our consciousness.
Pride and Prejudice, and Austen is like slow-cooked pork. You can rush the cooking, but you will not really savour the results. The plot does not drive you to keep reading. If you rush Austen, you miss the words, and the words are the thing here.
Anne had her mother’s copy of Pride and Prejudice – it was not dated, but I wish I had written down the exact words in the book – something like “printed in compliance with wartime restrictions” – we are guessing WWII.
We ate Cherry Cake, but it was a bit like a stink beetle. We all liked P&P, but we were divided over the cake.
What a perfect analogy! Austen and slow cooked pork. Savour them both.
I know right! I am not sure why I keep comparing books to food. Maybe I am obsessed.