Nose in a Book

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Ok, what female doesn’t love this book?  All those who have fallen in love with Mr. Darcy say “aye!”  I know there are some people out there that aren’t huge fans of Jane Austen, but I am not one of them and I would have to say that Pride and Prejudice is my favourite of them all.

Someone read me a really great summary of this book from this website.  It says: (SPOILER ALERT! I try not to post spoilers in these little reviews but I figured that pretty much everybody knows what happens in this book, right?)

Mr. Darcy: Nothing is good enough for me.

Ms. Elizabeth Bennet: I could never marry that proud man.

(They change their minds.)

THE END

Obviously, there is a lot more that goes on in the book, but that is the main idea.  I actually really like the way Austen chose to write the novel.  Although it’s written in the third person, it doesn’t jump around and follow several characters.  Occasionally we are allowed to view the thoughts of other characters, but mainly the book is told from Elizabeth’s point of view.  I love how the reader is able to slowly fall in love with Mr. Darcy, just as Elizabeth does (at least I do, over and over, every time).

I love the way Austen satirizes her characters.  I sort of imagine that some people who read Austen back in the day, didn’t really realize they were being made fun of.  (Sort of like people who read SSB and don’t get it… She was the TAMN of her day!)  I reread this book to write this review and I had forgotten how funny it is!  The very first line in the book is: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”  I’m pretty sure she meant that to be tongue in check.  And I laughed out loud in several other places.  Austen is really very witty.

I really like her characters, they are so believable even nearly 200 years later!  They are people you know.  (At least I know some of the characters in this book!)  And the story is just so great.  Austen sure knew how to tell a good story.  I would recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t already read it, or even hasn’t read it recently.  I really like all of Austen’s works but I think my second favourite would have to be Sense and Sensibility.

I also have to mention the different movie adaptation of this novel.  I have not seen the BBC version (I’m planning on it very soon though) but I’ve heard it’s very good.  I have seen the newest version with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet.  I really like this one.  I think it’s cast very well and it’s actually pretty true to the book.  Another version I like is Bridget Jones’ Diary (the movie and the book.)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner begins with Amir (the narrator) making this statement: “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.”   That cold winter’s day, Amir failed to stand up for his good friend Hassan when he needed it the most.  The one thing in the world that Amir desired the most, was the approval of his father, and that day, he traded Hassan’s happiness for his father’s love and affection.  Sadly his father’s approval was short-lived and Amir could not get over his guilt at the betrayal of such a close friend and so pushed him even farther away, this time putting physical distance between them by forcing Hassan and his father to leave.

After living in California for 25 years, Amir is summoned to Pakistan to see an old family friend (Rahim) who is dying. Rahim is able to answer some of Amir’s questions about the fate of Hassan and his father and reveals to him that Hassan had a son that is living in an orphanage in Kabul.  Rahim is also able to provide some insight into the Amir’s strained relationship with his father.  Amir returns to Afghanistan determined to find Hassan’s son and bring him back to Pakistan to be cared for.  Through this process Amir is able to forgive himself and find peace.

My favourite thing about this book is the story.  It’s gripping and emotional.  It’s truly a book you can’t put down.  There are parts of the story that are sad, and parts that are happy.  And it’s so well written, the characters are so real.  I really feel for the characters and feel with them.

There are some really bad things that happen to the characters in this story.  It could be very depressing, but the way Hosseini tells the story, I felt sad and outraged when these things happened, but not depressed, it didn’t bring me down.  Hosseini has a way of telling the story, that lets you accept what happened and move on.  He allows the reader to hope for happiness for the characters.

I read Hosseini’s second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns and didn’t like it nearly as much as The Kite Runner.  It’s a good book, but it’s not at all the same type of story.  I think I would have liked it a lot more if I hadn’t known it was by the same author.