Though I have heard much praise of Jane Austen, this is the first time I've actually sat down and read one of her books. I was impressed. Though the plot would seem shallow now (it centers around marriages); then that was central to most women's hopes and desires. Besides the plot, the characters are amusing and Elizabeth is finely drawn. She is very self-confidant and will not allow others to look down on her for her ill upbringing. I don't believe men would enjoy this book, because the male figure is not drawn very realistically. I seriously doubt that all men thought or talked about were marriage and love. Walter Raleigh phrased it correctly by saying that "Austen's men wouldn't be allowed in any club in England!". I didn't find it to be at all boring, rather, a page-turner to see how everything was going to turn out (though in the end it became predictable). The formal language is confusing at times, but provides a bit more color with it's detail. Though many parts of the book are obviously contrived, and I feel as if Austen is trying a little too hard to invoke emotion within me, in many ways the book is ahead of it's time, and for that, it is commendable to be certain.

I have always loved the style and social politics of the Regency period (the time of Jane Austen.) But when I read "Sense and Sensibility" in 7th grade I found the first few chapters lifeless, dull and hard to read. Two years later I was encouraged by a friend to give "Pride and Prejudice" a try. I did and have since become a complete Janeite. I am now able to peruse joyfully through "Sense and Sensibility" with a new understanding and appreciation of Jane Austen. The reason? "Pride and Prejudice" is fresh, witty and is a great introduction to Jane Austen's writing style without the formality of some of her other novels (unlike S&S and Persuasion Austen does not give us a 10 page history of each family and their fortune.) If you have never read Jane Austen or have read her other novels and found them boring, read Pride and Prejudice. The characters, and the situations Austen presents to them, are hysterical and reveal a lot about Regency society and morality. This book perfectly compliments a great writer like Jane Austen and is essential to every reader's library. The Penguin Edition of the book is stellar and I personally recommend it not only for the in-depth and indispensable footnotes, but also for the cover that is non-suggestive of any of the characters' appearances. In summary "Pride and Prejudice" is a great book for beginner Austen readers and seasoned fans, and Penguin Classics is a great edition for fully enjoying and understanding the book.

I always have trouble reviewing my very favorite books on Amazon. It always seems as if nothing I can write does the book justice. Pride and Prejudice is one of those novels. I don't remember a time when I've enjoyed a read so much (and I read a lot).

It's a well known story. Of course, it's that Jane Austen world (which Austen pokes endlessly at) with the social artifaces, the endless gossiping, and clever schemes on how to get married, particularly to someone rich. Here, it is the Bennet sisters trying to get themselves hitched, and the central character is the spirited Elizabeth who clashes with (sometimes) arrogant, stuffy Darcy.

Pride and Prejudice is so entertaining on different levels. It is so funny! The characters (especially Mr. and Mrs. Bennet) are so eccentrically funny, and some of the situations Elizabeth gets into are hilarious. Austen's little asides about the local society are subtly cutting, too. Then, there are all of the brilliant characterizations and their changing relationships. Also, I'm always drawn to Austen's little theme of love's ability to break through the mess of a shallow society. I truly love everything about this little novel. It'll certainly alway keep a special place on my bookshelf (or by my bed).

It was a book my Grandmother told me I should read. I just decided to buy it on impulse really, not knowing what I was getting myself into. I opened the book and was immedeately swept into Jane Eyre's world. My mind played out all of the scenes as I read, only a truly masterful piece of work could create images so strongly right from the start. Charlotte Bronte creates a masterful work of art on the pages of this book.

When the book begins, you are taken into Jane's childhood, and given a sense of what it's like to have no love, and no hope of the future. You can actually see the pain on Jane's face. Then at Lowood, you learn with her, and grow with her. Finally, on the night she arrives at Thornfield Hall you are overcome with anticipation for Jane. What is this life going to be like? Then when Edward Rochester appears, you hate him. You can't believe that he talks to her that way. After a while though, things soften, and Miss Bronte introduces a new feeling. Love. The painting seems complete when Jane and Mr. Rochester confess their feelings, and you wonder, what could possibly be better than this? The ending,(which I won't give away)is absolutely breathtaking. I cried for a half an hour when I read it. It was at four in the morning mind you,(the book was so good I could not put it down.)

The characters in the novel are whole, they seem like real people. Charlotte Bronte uses her pen to paint a wonderful picture, one can not help but be engulfed in the color. The book has lasted almost 200 years, I see no reason why it could not last forever. If you ever want to read a classic love story that defines the power of women in literature, then Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is it. I'm 16 years old, and if a teenager can be moved to tears while reading, it must be quite a piece of literature. I walked away feeling like I had taken an amazing journey, and found a new friend in Jane Eyre.

Just imagine. You're reading along, you come to a place in the bok that captures your attention. You're completely engulfed by the story, you're not reading it, you're living it! The "real" world is gone. You hear neither phone nor voice. You feel neither hunger nor thirst. You feel only what the author's pen tells you to feel. You are eager to read on. Your eyes cannot read the enthralling story fast enough. In your frenzied haste to know more, you grip the book tighter and bend it back, cracking the binding.
Years later when you pick the very same book up again, you can tell the scary, happy, or sad parts of the book by the location of the creases. Jane Eyre is such a book. It is one of three or four books who contentend for the multiple-crack champion.

I was assigned to read this book for an AP English class. Although I love to read, class-assigned books had a dubious history with me. Most, I felt, were boring or too pessimistic to find favor with me. I had heard many people talk about the book favorably after having read it in middle school. I put my hope in their past experiences and began to read. Although the first pages did not entirely confirm the praises the book had recieved, the book so far surrpassed my expectations that I finished the book in only a few days time! I would have read non-stop if it had been within my means to do so. When I did get the chance to read, I read as much as I could to the exclusion of food and family sometimes!

You may be wondering what about this book could make me such a fanatic. Well, I could give you deep literary criticism about the symbolism, the metaphors, or the imagery, but that doesn't really help you enjoy the story more, it only rounds out the meaning. Instead, let me tell you why you want to read this book.

This book combines passion and logic. An odd combination that don't often go together. Jane Eyre starts out in life full of passion and emotions, through torture and schooling, she learns to control her feelings and be ruled by logic. As she moves through life she struggles to find a balance between what her emotions tell her and what logic demands. Logic helps her through times when she feels abandoned and emotions guide her back to love when the tables are turned.
This book skillfully combines elements from nearly all genre and is sure to please anyone. It has action, romance, comedy, suspence, even the supernatural! This book is sure to put cracks in YOUR binding

I just finished reading "Jane Eyre" for my grade twelve English class. I borrowed the book from my school library. About four chapters into the book, I returned the novel to the library, and went out that night to get my own copy.

I cannot express in words how this novel has touched my heart. The musical nor the movie will never ever return the stirring of emotion that I felt for Jane's character while reading it from the creative and romantic mind of Charlotte Brontë. I did cry when Jane witnessed the death of her very best friend, Helen Burns, in Lowood School. I felt bitter and angry when Mr. Rochester did not tell Jane about his first wife, but I also felt relieved when Jane and Mr. Rochester rekindled their love to face a new life together.

If there is one novel that will ever touch my heart, look at my life as a woman, and respect the heroics that women of past ages have undergone, this is the novel.

Jane Eyre: this will be a novel respected for ages to come.

When I first began to read Lady Chatterley's Lover I thought it was going to be quite a chore. I'm used to flowery language and all that, but I just wasn't in the mood for what I anticipated to be a sex-charged love story. Much to my surprise I got MUCH more from this wonderful classic.

D.H. Lawrence makes some striking observations about the state of the social classes in post WWI England, as well as providing some good insights into tough individual decisions we make in regard to relationships. I had limited knowledge of the post-war subject beforehand, but I felt that I learned a great deal in the process of reading. At times the book seemed repetitive, as if Lawrence were beating me over the head with his message, sacrificing character and plot in the process, but after all was said and done I couldn't say that it was a bad book. It's a very insightful, multi-layered work and I'm very glad I read it. The fact that the book was widely banned from publication in its early days is just another tempting reason to read it although, by today's standards, what was so risqué then borders on the ridiculous for us now. As long as you remind yourself of the time period in which it was written you'll be just fine...the laughs and raised eyebrows in conjunction with more serious themes are a pleasant mix.

This novel is not the explicit sex book that you have been led to believe. instead it is a flawless masterpiece that tells the story of Charlotte, the sexually deprived wife of an invalid husband and her search for true love and sexual fulfillment. As a woman, I have no idea how Lawrence was able to delve into the female mind so thoroughly, but so he has done. This book is a compelling argument in favor of the belief that sexual attraction is certainly one of the most important aspects when we search for a mate-despite what snobbish types may say about how looks don't matter and good sex and attraction grows with time. Baloney! Charlotte's attraction to Mellors was immediate and we watch her life developing with breathless anticipation. Some may feel the ending is too cute and tidy, but knowing the characters as they are, you feel that it could not have ended any other way. A profound book, thoroughly readable, and shockingly modern for its time.

I did not read this book until ten years ago - age forty for those who count - and found it a brilliant work. It touched on every aspect of life in that era, using a difficult premise at the focus.

One reviewer called it 'sexist.' In that era, women were kept removed from the world, so men were the ones who made the initial contacts with reality and their sexuality. If Lawrence had written about that society in any other way, he would have been inaccurate. Lawrence shows the social conflict with both subtlety and brutality. Yet, Mellor IS a lover. There are sexual descriptions which are explicit, but within the coccoon of emotional bondings.

The way that Lawrence has essayed the class structure of England in that era is brave and accurate in all ways. He makes the posturing of the aristocracy both frivilous and full of assinine criteria at the same time he understands the willingness of those in power to offer their lives in the defense of the general welfare.

Lawrence notes again with unpleasant accuracy the detriments of an unchecked Industrial Revolution on the social structure of the time. He has Constance both witness these effects and suffer the olfactory damage.

This is a literary work which has an effect across the full spectrum of the possible. Finely drawn characters searching for a better way to survive their lives in a scenario that is rife with obstacles and unpleasantness. He has the touch of the finest artist working with the lightest gossamer and the blunt force of an ogre swinging a stone axe.

This was published in an abridged version because it was felt that the societal message it conveyed should be allowed to transit the draconian (by the less filtered standards of today) censorship of the era which DID focus on the sexual descriptions but could NOT stop the voice of social criticism any more than the same group could stop Dickens a few decades earlier.