120. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

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Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Penguin Books, 2002 (originally 1813).

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

480 pages.

I am not a self-proclaimed fan of the romance genre, but I admit to really enjoying this classic romance. Jane Austen set the bar high for future romance writers. She builds tension so wonderfully that it even turned me, a nearly verifiable aromantic, into a big gurgling ball of mush. I guess she managed to get me to drop my prejudice regarding romance novels (womp, womp).

I feel like most people know the synopsis of a love story: love interests meet, a romance is kindled, something interferes with the romance to make it seem like "omigosh they will never be together now!" and then said obstacle is resolved and they can prance into the sunset smooching in the back of a carriage or something similar (ok, maybe she hasn't persuaded me to drop all of my prejudice about the genre). There are several love interests in this story which makes it extra tense: Bingley and Jane parallel Darcy and Elizabeth.There is much ado about money, and family status that cause trouble in this courtships and allows the story to follow that standard romance genre plot formula.

What I enjoyed the most reading this book was Austen's prose. She is witty and eloquent. For example, Jane Austen invented the humble brag. Well, maybe she didn't invent it but she was able to describe a humble brag with astute finesse: "'Nothing is more deceitful,' said Darcy, 'than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast'" (Austen, Loc 949). Only Austen could so eloquently and wittily describe what we commoners describe as the humble brag.

Since I read the book on my Kindle, I could easily look up language that was new to me and my vocabulary builder on the Kindle filled with new words I've never heard like: arrear, equipage, postilions, curricle, whist, and panegyric. 

While not life changing in any way, I fully understand why this book is so beloved and classified as a "classic." The story is timeless, entertaining, and thought provoking. I *may* give the romance genre another go having read this--no promises though. 

Recommended for: Pretty much anyone with a good reading proficiency. It's a classic that should be read at least once.

Not Recommend for: Readers who struggle with comprehension. If I had tried to read this in high school, I wouldn't have understood most of it as I wasn't as skilled a reader. Try it and see how it goes. If you're not there yet, just keep reading other things and challenging yourself. You'll get there eventually!

4.5 darts out of 5

119. "The Necklace" by Cheryl Jarvis

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Jarvis, Cheryl. The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experience that Transformed their Lives. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009.

222 pages.

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

I've joined a book club and this was the May 2018 pick. 

The Necklace tells the story of thirteen (mostly) white, upper middle class, middle aged women who buy a $30,000 necklace together. They each get the wear the necklace during their birthday month and have different experiences with it from sky diving, the lending it to a co-worker, to using it for a fundraiser. The group met once a month to hand off the necklace to the next wearer and discuss group business. Often these meetings turned hostile and produced in-fighting. 

That about sums it up. Each chapter of the book is dedicated to one of the thirteen women, none of whom, with *maybe* the exception of Mrs. VanGundy, would I really want to spend time with. I didn't really like these women, and I didn't really like this book. 

I suspect many of my issues with the women stem from the way they were characterized by Jarvis. She glosses over so many problematic issues. Why did certain members leave the group? Why are the women all described as just super fantastic, pretty, slim, gorgeous, and simply THE BEST when there was so much in-fighting in the group and clear political differences? Jarvis could have done SO MUCH MORE to humanize the women to be complex, interesting people instead of making them all sound like middle aged prom queens. 

The book did get me thinking more about the concepts of consumerism and ownership. Again though, Jarvis could have gone into so much more depth with these ideas but these too are merely mentioned and not explored in any thoughtful way.

Ultimately, I thought it was an interesting idea but the writing and composition was shoddily executed. It would have worked just as well as a magazine article than a full book. 

1.5 darts out of 5.

Recommend for: mehhhhhhhh......

Not Recommend for: Readers with a good sense of plot, expository, and characterization. Really, I just don't recommend this in general.