Pride and Prejudice, first published on 28 January 1813, is the most famous of Jane Austen's novels and one of the first "romantic comedies" in the history of the novel.
Elizabeth Bennet is the perfect Austen heroine: intelligent, generous, sensible, incapable of jealousy or any other major sin. That makes her sound like an insufferable goody-goody, but the truth is she's a completely hip character, who if provoked is not above skewering her antagonist with a piece of her exceptionally sharp -- but always polite -- 18th century wit. The point is, you spend the whole book absolutely fixated on the critical question: will Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy hook up?
Initial thoughts: In the printed form alone it would've taken me a great deal longer to finish Pride and Prejudice. Alternating between the audiobook and paperback, occasionally even reading and listening concurrently helped a lot. Rosamund Pike was excellent narrator and it's to her great credit that at my second attempt I made it though this classic even when I was incredibly bored. The first half made me continuously want to give up in despair. Once I got to the second half, though, Elizabeth grew on me. A lot more happened beyond the discussions about the importance of marriage as well, which made me feel much less disagreeable.
