boring? really?

[I-hate-Jane-Austen's-style]

Well, "boring" is not the exact word I have in mind, but like any other works typical of Jane Austen, it's wordy! Austen puts one (thousand) too many commas!!!

[Hope]

I found it very much... not boring at all. I think the only way somebody could find it boring is if they scanned the pages and didn't give it a chance to begin with. I also think that if somebody can't enjoy this book then they must have not had many meaningful moments as a human being. Maybe they just sit around watching television all day and only read books they *have* to read. Well, yeah. Just because you didn't actually read the book and you came here to figure out what happened doesn't mean you can call it ... anything less than good. It's Jane Austen. Millions of people disagree with you.

[laura_nicolle]

and i am one of those millions of people who disagree you. you can tell about P&P anything but boring. you should read the book and try to understand it and then to communicate us your opinion.

[Gracewings]

Well, "boring" is not the exact word I have in mind, but like any other works typical of Jane Austen, it's wordy! Austen puts one (thousand) too many commas!!!

Wordy, huh? Why, I love words! And Jane Austen has such a way with them, particularly in P&P. The opening lines are well-known and well-borrowed: "It is a truth universally acknowledged..." Perhaps it is the truth in those words that makes me smile every time I read them. And I love the characters in this story, they play their parts perfectly. ;) The whimsical, the wry, the witty...

[maraki16]

boring?are we talking about the same jane austen? about the same book? i always thought thatmostly women could understand the true measures of the romance that is described in her books, and even though the plot is not really an extravagant one- i mean, its a realist novel, not a science fiction!- if you pay enough attention to the book, to the way austen expresses herself, her emotions through the characters, and understand the hidden romance behind the whole of this 'wordy' book, you would not find it boring at all. it is not just the style of the author that does not let us get bored, it is also what he writes, and most of all, what is let to be imagined by the readers, the sentiments that are not openly expressed, the tension that a reader can feel only when he pays closer attention to the text, without simply 'reading' it. i suggest you did that first and then decide whether you still find her books, and especially this particular book- boring or not, because i once had done the same thing in the past with an author, but then decided that i should give him a second chance... and i think that austen really deserves one...

[JBI]

The truth is, half the humor is contained in there. Her best attribute is her clever irony, which, only is made possible with her style, as it allows for more clever choices of words, and perspectives.

Keep in mind, words don't have neutral meanings. Austen is a master of this knowledge, and she uses it to give fuller depths to her characters.

In addition to this, the style at the time seemed to favor similarly lengthened sentences, and the spoken speech was not exactly the same as ours, and neither the formalities of conversation. Many contemporary readers fail to notice the 200 year gap in style.

[eyemaker]

The truth is, half the humor is contained in there. Her best attribute is her clever irony, which, only is made possible with her style, as it allows for more clever choices of words, and perspectives.

Keep in mind, words don't have neutral meanings. Austen is a master of this knowledge, and she uses it to give fuller depths to her characters.

In addition to this, the style at the time seemed to favor similarly lengthened sentences, and the spoken speech was not exactly the same as ours, and neither the formalities of conversation. Many contemporary readers fail to notice the 200 year gap in style.


I totally agree with you JBI.Austen uses a lot of passive voice constructions and mostly “tells instead of shows” us her characters and their strengths and weaknesses. I assume she was trying to weed out the passive constructions from their writing. However, I thought at the time that “being verbs” are not the problem. Passive writing that does not engage the reader is the problem. These first lines from Austen’s novels may be passive, telling instead of showing, but they do capture the reader’s attention.

Pride and Prejudice: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Reader immediately laughs in rueful agreement.)
Mansfield Park: About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet’s lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income. (Reader: “How did she do that?”)
Emma: Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. (Reader: “How did she do that and can such good fortune possibly continue?”)
Northanger Abbey: No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine. (A heroine? )
Sanditon: A gentleman and a lady travelling from Tunbridge towards that part of the Sussex coast which lies between Hastings and Eastbourne, being induced by business to quit the high road and attempt a very rough land, were overturned in toiling up its long ascent, half rock, half sand. (What business could “induce” them to do such a thing? And what happened next?)
Sense and Sensibility: The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. (This sentence is not nearly as intriguing as the others, but Sense and Sensibility makes up for the slow start with a great story and a satisfying ending: “Between Barton and Delaford, there was that constant communication which strong family affection would naturally dictate;–and among the merits and the happiness of Elinor and Marianne, let it not be ranked as the least considerable, that though sisters, and living almost within sight of each other, they could live without disagreement between themselves, or producing coolness between their husb

[JBI]

Those are all highly ironic lines in the context of the book. I see no problem with them, as they give us premise, and commentary all in one. Good job in wording it better than I possibly could.

[Dobie]

Well, "boring" is not the exact word I have in mind, but like any other works typical of Jane Austen, it's wordy! Austen puts one (thousand) too many commas!!!

I wish she were even wordier. I've read every Jane Austen novel several times.
I never wanted any of them to end.