2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This is the discussion thread for Pride and Prejudice Chapters 1-15

I read Chapters 1-15 yesterday and now have gotten up to Chapter 18 today. I love this book--it's been 2 years since I read it.

The things that have popped out at me:

After reading Longbourn, I'm really noticing the servants. When it mentioned the shoe-roses I was like "OMG Sarah went to get them!!!" So that's a cool new way to view the book.

I really relate to Mr. Hughes--all he wants to do is eat and play cards. Same dude same. There was a part where it says like "Mr. Darcy was thinking about Elizabeth's fine eyes, Mr. Hughes was thinking about breakfast" and it made me snicker.

I love how everything foreshadows everything else--when Charlotte's saying it's better not to know your spouse's flaws and Elizabeth's like "you're just saying that to annoy me, you wouldn't really do that." And yet.....

I do relate to Charlotte a lot--I know her culture is different than ours but I'm 26 and still live at home and I do feel a bit like a burden like Charlotte does. So I side with her over Elizabeth. But I'm just glad I don't feel obligated to get married!

Emily, I totally agree about Mr. Hughes! I hardly noticed him the first few times I read the book, but he stood out to me for some reason this time. Maybe it's because I'd recently watched the Keira Knightley movie and he's not in it, so I paid extra attention to him on this read.

When I was younger and read this, I was very unsympathetic to Charlotte and thought she was being so ridiculous, but as I get older, I can see how what she did was a rational choice that she made consciously.

Kara wrote: "Emily, I totally agree about Mr. Hughes! I hardly noticed him the first few times I read the book, but he stood out to me for some reason this time. Maybe it's because I'd recently watched the Keir..."

I think we tend to forget that Charlotte's way was probably the way of a vast majority of women in this time. We're so used to hearing about Jane/Bingley and Elizabeth/Darcy that we assume every marriage in the 1800s was like that, yet it probably was not. Women (in most cases) HAD to get married then, so of course they're going to take what they can get.

Emily wrote: "Kara wrote: "Emily, I totally agree about Mr. Hughes! I hardly noticed him the first few times I read the book, but he stood out to me for some reason this time. Maybe it's because I'd recently wat..."

I was shocked by Mr. Hughes' appearance! But in a good way. I had never read it (sorry it took so long for me to comment, I was catching up so I could see what you were talking about). I've only seen the movie. Some of it was ringing a bell, some of it was new news to me.

What I find so interesting thus far is also how the women had hush conversations back then. Talk about how muddy she is, her walking all that way. While I was reading it I wasn't surprised, but putting if I pictured that conversation for present day is just hilarious to me!

So, question for those of you who have read it more than once..
Does Darcy eventually have an interest in Elizabeth because Elizabeth doesn't have an interest in Darcy? (I dumbed down that qustion a lot but it wasn't making sense to me around chapter 6)

Taylor R wrote: "Emily wrote: "Kara wrote: "Emily, I totally agree about Mr. Hughes! I hardly noticed him the first few times I read the book, but he stood out to me for some reason this time. Maybe it's because I'..."

I never got a feeling that that was why he had an interest in her. They just spent more time together and he got to know her better and he developed and interest in her based more on her character than her looks.

I've never seen any of the movies but always did want to read the book. I got through the first 15 chapters and really am enjoying it so far. So far I do like Elizabeth and find her relatable but now that it was mentioned, I'm looking to find more in Charlotte's character.

Imbunche wrote: "Taylor R wrote: "Emily wrote: "Kara wrote: "Emily, I totally agree about Mr. Hughes! I hardly noticed him the first few times I read the book, but he stood out to me for some reason this time. Mayb..."

Thank you for clearing that up :) I think Austen narrating, the perspective can go so many ways. It's like, does he like her. Oh wait but now she's mad at him, and so forth.

Day-- Awesome! Welcome! :) I've only seen the movie with Keira Knightley. Never in a million years would I think I'd read this book but here I am :)

I've seen and enjoyed both major movies (Keira Knightley's and Colin Firth's), but there's something about Mr. Darcy in the Keira Knightley one that just really appealed to me. That's exactly how I imagined him. Also, I loved the music in that movie. :)

Taylor R wrote: "...What I find so interesting thus far is also how the women had hush conversations back then. Talk about how muddy she is, her walking all that way. While I was reading it I wasn't surprised, but putting if I pictured that conversation for present day is just hilarious to me!

I agree; those conversations are hilarious. That's another way that P&P seems "modern" to me - catty women have always existed and still do. The criticisms are just different. :-)

Taylor R wrote: "...What I find so interesting thus far is also how the women had hush conversations back then. Talk about how muddy she is, her walking all that way. While I was reading it I wasn't surprised, but putting if I pictured that conversation for present day is just hilarious to me!"

That was probably one of my favorite parts of this section! Watching the back-and-forth between the women as Elizabeth leaves and enters the room is so interesting. They are definitely masters of smack-talking -- I guess that's another 'accomplishment' that they can add to their list of skills!

Thank you Taylor! I will watch the movies once I'm done with the book, looking forward to see how it is. I also found it funny how the women gossiped yet tried to remain civil! Really enjoying it so far!

Lora wrote: "Taylor R wrote: "...What I find so interesting thus far is also how the women had hush conversations back then. Talk about how muddy she is, her walking all that way. While I was reading it I wasn'..."

Ha! Yes they can add it! It's my favorite section too.

Day, I hope you like the movie. I watched it a few times. I'm finding the book to be much better, yet the movie is easier to understand.

Lagging a little behind by now. Around 120 pages in. It's really good! I'm not a fast reader and read classics even slower and multiple at a time so I feel like this book might even take me more than a month. It's so good though, enjoying the humour and the integrity of Elizabeth!

I'm just glad I made it this far. I still can't understand it entirely but I get what's going on in the big picture.

Jewel wrote: "I'm just glad I made it this far. I still can't understand it entirely but I get what's going on in the big picture."

If it helps, sometimes Googling the characters and the locations in the story helped me until I got into the swing of the story. I kept mixing up the characters for some reason. And the names of the houses didn't make sense until I looked it up.

Taylor R wrote: "Jewel wrote: "I'm just glad I made it this far. I still can't understand it entirely but I get what's going on in the big picture."

If it helps, sometimes Googling the characters and the locations..."

Something I think makes it easy to switch up characters in her books is the confusing Miss, Mrs etc. We almost don't use afternames and titles here so that made it take some time for me.

Winter wrote: "Taylor R wrote: "Jewel wrote: "I'm just glad I made it this far. I still can't understand it entirely but I get what's going on in the big picture."

If it helps, sometimes Googling the characters ..."

I never thought about last name titles in certain locations. At least here in Indiana, using a last name is usually for a teacher or for professional reasons (like a job interview or something), but even today most teachers don't go by last names any more. Not every where, just some places. For example, my cousins is a 5th grade teacher and she goes by Miss Amanda. And when I was in college I never called someone Instructor Lastname. It was just, Alison or Denis lol.

We don't use Miss Mrs either so it was a little hard to get used to :)