Where I Saw More Than I Ever Knew I Missed

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think I read this twice in college--one time each at two different universities--and at least one or two times since, but it's still been quite awhile. I seldom read books twice, so whether it's 3 or 4 or 5 times, it's a personal record. (Not counting books I taught in high school. Some of those I read 30-40 times, mostly reading out loud. My Like Water for Chocolate readings got pretty good reviews at one time....) And here's the point--I still really liked it, but I was surprised to find that I liked it better this time.

[On the other hand, I once liked Mansfield Park the best out of Austen's novels, and after a reread changed my mind on that. Young, preachy, churchy me at one time approved of the prudishness of the characters more than old, heretical, morally gray me does now. I still like it okay, but I like the Crawfords more than I should and am more sympathetic to them than I'm probably meant to be.]

Anyway--Reasons I liked it better this time:

Mostly, I'm an improved reader, which I am both relieved and disturbed to discover. Relieved, because aging isn't entirely about things getting better, but disturbed because I was meant to be an actual expert in the topic long ago and maybe shouldn't have had so much room still to grow... But a lot of that difference is relating to knowledge about the world more than words on the page. Not only have I learned quite a bit on random topics in 40 years (like how 19th century English society worked, a subject I knew NOTHING about in my teens and 20s) which helped contribute to deeper comprehension, but more significantly, I've gotten better at paying attention and entering into the narration. I think younger me, even as an adult but especially at college, let a lot of fuzzy, half-comprehended stuff go by without stopping or slowing to figure it out or trying to commit anything (like the names and relationships between characters) to memory. I think that was good-student pride, preventing me from trying too hard because I shouldn't have to. I had always succeeded by just reading stuff--no effort required. Getting into the flow of reading and flying through texts it has its benefits, but pausing to think about things, taking time to get an inch or two below the surface of mere comprehension, even when reading for pleasure, has different payoffs.

My early readings of Austen were handicapped by many kinds of ignorance, including my inability to recognize whose behavior was approved and whose disapproved, either in their time or in ours. Sure, Mr. Collins is ridiculous, and Lady Catherine is a blowhard and a bully, but how irresponsible was Mr. Bennet toward his daughters? And how lazy? I didn't see that back then. Darcy is reserved and judgmental, obviously, but how reasonable (and how rude) was Elizabeth's behavior toward him? I assumed she was exactly right to do as she did, but even she changed her mind about that. Bingley was a nice guy, apparently blameless in everything, but how significant a flaw was his willingness to give way to everyone else? Charlotte seems like she's selling herself short, and it's easy to think she was foolish--but did she not, after all, take the likeliest route available to her in that society for at least a small share of happiness? Did she have any other options at that age if she said no to Mr. Collins?

All things that young dumb me didn't understand or didn't know to think about.

The biggest change I noticed during this reading was how much of the tone came through, and especially how it made me laugh more than any time before. I'm sure that awareness is a result of long experience with the many adaptations as well as from rereading the other novels, but it also comes from being in less of a hurry. Things I didn't notice before, or things that seemed like mere detail at first, now stand out to me in a new way. I get it--Mary's sermonizing and staid pronouncements (made with "a countenance of grave reflection") are meant to be ridiculous. Mr. Bennet is absolutely laughing at Mr. Collins all the time. At his wife, too. Then there's Lady Catherine boasting about things she has never done. Or offering Elizabeth the piano where she will be in "no one's way." Mr. Collins trying so very hard to please her. Darcy messing with Miss Bingley as she tries to distract him from his letters. Mrs. Bennet's petty, selfish, childish reactions to everything, like a grown-up Lydia. Even Jane's inability to see the harm in anyone. All this is more intentional than I ever saw. Old Man me can hear the author's voice so much clearer now.

Not that I'm claiming to have it all sorted, necessarily; but I engage with the text with a lot more sophistication than I could muster 40 years ago. Or even 10 years ago, TBH. I'm picking up a lot more flavors than I once did.

Makes me wonder how differently I might see it ten or twenty years from now--or any novel, for that matter. Not sure what I'm hoping for.

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Where Bingley Loses His Damn Mind

Mistaken by Jessie Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Pride and Prejudice variation. I listened to it as an audiobook.

This novel is well done, and I enjoyed it a great deal. It's the first audiobook I've listened to in about 30 years (for random reasons), and it's definitely a different experience having someone narrate and dramatize the story. For one, it's more engrossing and entertaining than when I read silently; and two, it's much slower. The narrator, Arthur Rowan, was very good, and once I got into the rhythm of a narrated book I thought it was great and was happy to find little blocks of time when I could put it on.

Diverging from the original Pride and Prejudice just after Darcy's first proposal, this version veers credibly into a different plot altogether. It includes a number of additional complications and difficulties as well as some new laugh-out-loud scenes--but nothing forced. One of the complications is

SPOILER
[Bingley grows to like Elizabeth too much, and when he returns to court Jane a second time (as in the original) he almost decides to propose to Elizabeth instead of Jane. His coolness toward Jane and then jealousy of Darcy drives most of the novel.]

I liked this story a lot, and I recommend it, although I have one caution:

SPOILER
[Bingley and Jane become quite unsympathetic. Jane has a falling-out with Elizabeth over Bingley, and Bingley abandons Jane. I didn't love that about this variation, though I still mostly enjoyed it. But some people may have trouble seeing Bingley as practically a villain, and if that's the case this story may not suit you.]

There is a kind of HEA for everybody, though Bingley and Darcy remain estranged at the end. However, Elizabeth and Darcy, IMO, are well drawn and remain entirely faithful to the original.

I won this in a drawing, which was unusually fortunate for me, and I enjoyed it. Recommended for most Austen fans.

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Mary Bennet's Story--The Austening

The Unexpected Miss Bennet by Patrice Sarath
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I recall with fondness the time one of my ESL students--now an English teacher herself!--smiled through her tears at the end of a rather romantic teen movie I showed in class. "That was a pretty movie, Mister," she told me as she exited, still wiping her eyes. :) It was a pretty movie. (Mary Stuart Masterson and Eric Stoltz in Some Kind of Wonderful? "You look good wearing my future." Anyone? C'mon! Classic.)

Well, this is a pretty book, and I hope the author will forgive me for saying so. There is some badassery here, but for the most part the novel is low-key and sweet, and I thought it was great.

It is the quiet story of Elizabeth Bennet's younger sister. No, not the one that ran away. Not the other one that was too much like her, either. And no, not Jane--she's older. Right, the other one. The one at the piano. Mary. There you go!

Lydia and Kitty are here. And Jane, sort of. And quite a bit of Lizzy and Darcy and Georgiana. And Lady frickin' Catherine de Bourgh with her wan and unfortunate and over-protected daughter. And Mr. Collins, paying his elegant little compliments and warning young ladies that they must be humble and they won't go far wrong. And Mrs. Bennet with her nerves.

It is all nicely done, beautifully following up on the characters and character dynamics as they existed at the end of Pride and Prejudice. The author has allowed the characters to grow and to show more than they did in the original Jane Austen novel, but she has not fundamentally altered anyone. Time has passed; the characters are living new lives; they have new preoccupations. And in this new present, everyone wonders what to do with artless, somewhat embarrassing Mary, a young woman who is too serious, too fond of quoting aphorisms, too plain, too poor, and too socially awkward to have much of a future.

The author allows Mary to learn a little from her mistakes and embarrassments as well as from her reading and reflection. She lets her put her foot down, a little, and learn to show a little spirit and wit. Not jarring developments; this is growth, and it is reasonable. Throughout the course of her story, I found Mary easy to root for, to care about, to see as a hero in her own light. It is something of a revelation to discover that the mousy, nerdy girl has thoughts and feelings and hopes that matter as much as anyone else's. When, because of circumstances, she starts attracting the attention of men, you feel both her pleasure and her apprehension, and when she (spoiler? maybe a little...) puts her foot down some, you want to high five her. Or something.

This novel is a lot like an Austen novel, obviously, but it isn't trying to be a copy. The story is an original, and comparatively scaled down. The plot is (intentionally) narrower, more to the point, with a smaller cast of characters inhabiting fewer scenes. I like how that scale works. The tone and diction also only approximate Austen's prose, incorporating enough of that period's cadences and peculiarities to put the reader in the Regency mindset without, in my opinion, drawing too much attention away from Mary's story. The characters are the point, along with their growth and change and development, and the language is just part of what gets you there.

Without summarizing the plot, I'll just say I enjoyed it, and I liked the ending. I liked Mary, too, and I'm glad to discover that. Well done.

So, yes, it's a pretty book. :) And any Austen-type people who haven't read it already should get on it.

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