Book Review - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

  PRIDE AND PREJUDICE * * * * *

 Jane Austen

This might easily be called my all-time favorite book.  When my mothr first suggested I read it, I thought it the dumbest thing I'd ever read.  Only a few chapters into it, I actually threw it across the room and vowed never to touch it again.  I was a freshman in high school at the time.  

Later, after I married, I checked it out of a library to give it another chance.  I loved it.  No, the book hadn't changed, but I had.  I re-read it a few years later, and soon formed the habit of reading it once a year.

I have no idea how many times it's been, but "Pride and Prejudice" stays just as interesting, or more so, as I read it for my annual treat.  I suspect it’s well over fifty times by now.  I wish I’d kept track.

The plot doesn’t change, nor the words, but they’re every bit as charming.  Elizabeth is still enchanting, but prejudiced, Darcy proud and unbending.  They're the only ones who actually change. Jane is always  beautiful and quietly optimistic, Bingly outgoing and cheerful, and, of course, Mrs. Bennett and her three youngest daughters are as silly as ever. Mr. Bennett still teases and takes the easy way out. Lady Catherine as well as Mr. Collins remain almost insufferable, despite his marriage to the very practical Charlotte. The Gardiners are always exemplary. Lydia remains untamed and Wickham unprincipled.  

The last few pages of tying up all the loose ends felt more like an anticlimax this year, but satisfying.  The beautiful part is realizing how Jane Austen seems to love all her characters—good points, faults, and all--so I love them, too.  And another thing keeps bringing me back; her irony is priceless.

Good reading from a good friend

ILLUMINATIONS OF THE HEART

            Joyce DiPastena   * * * * *

Joyce’s second historical romance novel, set in 1179, uses characters who played secondary roles in Loyalty’s Web to carry the plot forward into new dimensions.  Siri de Calendri arrives from Italy where her dying brother had liquidized their entire estate and sent her to the trusted friend he had made while on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. She brings a sealed document making her Triston’s ward.  The complicating factor is that Siri looks amazingly identical to Triston’s dead wife, Clothilde. 

DePastena weaves a thrilling tale of swashbuckling sword fights, sweet love scenes, and political intrigue.  An understanding that could have been a satisfying ending occurs a hundred or more pages before Triston and Siri finally battle their way through several challenging complications to more complete fruition.  

DiPastena's  ability to sketch realistic backdrops as grounding to depict strong yet tender emotions, shows with enchanting clarity. For instance, she has Triston idly pick a ripe peach in the garden as he converses with Siri.  He first caresses the fruit, then grasps it, increases the pressure until he finally hurls it to smash against the garden wall, a realistic barometer to his rising emotions.

I look forward to hearing more of Triston's frustrating, yet charming, young cousin who aspires to be a knight and seems to be readying for a leading role in a third novel.

This is a very good read, to which I give my highest praise of five stars.