Am I The Only One Who Found It Sheer Torture....

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skibum
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29 Jul 2013, 12:29 pm

...To Read Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice? - Sorry, I ran out of room in the title bar. :)

I read this book recently because everyone I know who has read it has loved it. I don't get it. I thought the characters in it were stupid and shallow and I thought the story was a torturous, boring read. It was almost as difficult for me to get through it as Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

Contrary to what many "experts" say, I am someone on the spectrum who loves to read fiction and I totally get into it and very deeply into it understanding motives and character development and getting great visuals and the whole nine yards. I even write pretty well. I know that when I took the AQ quiz, those were some of the questions I answered in what they considered a non AS typical fashion.

But I was wondering if I am the only one who would rather have a root canal than have to read Pride & Prejudice again.



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29 Jul 2013, 12:33 pm

skibum wrote:
...To Read Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice? - Sorry, I ran out of room in the title bar. :)

I read this book recently because everyone I know who has read it has loved it. I don't get it. I thought the characters in it were stupid and shallow and I thought the story was a torturous, boring read. It was almost as difficult for me to get through it as Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

Contrary to what many "experts" say, I am someone on the spectrum who loves to read fiction and I totally get into it and very deeply into it understanding motives and character development and getting great visuals and the whole nine yards. I even write pretty well. I know that when I took the AQ quiz, those were some of the questions I answered in what they considered a non AS typical fashion.

But I was wondering if I am the only one who would rather have a root canal than have to read Pride & Prejudice again.


Couldn't stand it, not one bit. The writing style made me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon just to get away from it. I could only read the first 30 pages or so. I admit I'm very picky about writing styles and what I can read.



redrobin62
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29 Jul 2013, 12:37 pm

Thanks for warning me about it, not that I was looking to read it anyway. At least now I know to stay away lest I should want to gouge out my eyes with a spoon while undergoing root canal.



daydreamer84
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29 Jul 2013, 12:40 pm

Yes, I also only read a few pages of it and gave up. In general I have good reading comprehension and I spend more time reading fiction than doing anything else.



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29 Jul 2013, 12:48 pm

You wouldn't catch most people reading a popular book until becomes a film or TV series. A lot of popular books suck and are boring.. I tried reading under the dome (before it was coming/came to tv.. can't remember which) and it was so mind-bogglingly boring I wrote it off as a bad job.



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29 Jul 2013, 12:48 pm

I liked the book personally, and I also enjoyed Anna Karenina but it's been a while since I've read either. Perhaps this would liven it up a bit?

Image



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29 Jul 2013, 12:55 pm

xarrid wrote:

Couldn't stand it, not one bit. The writing style made me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon just to get away from it. I could only read the first 30 pages or so.
LOL!! ! ROTFLOL!! !! (Rolling on the floor laughing out loud - for those of you who did not know! LOL!! !

I am so relieved and glad I am not the only one!! ! LOL!! !



skibum
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29 Jul 2013, 12:57 pm

MjrMajorMajor wrote:
I liked the book personally, and I also enjoyed Anna Karenina but it's been a while since I've read either. Perhaps this would liven it up a bit?

Image
LOL!! ! Thank you friends. I have not laughed this hard in a long time!!

Hey if you liked them, more power to you. That is what makes us so awesome, we are all unique and diverse.



skibum
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29 Jul 2013, 12:59 pm

redrobin62 wrote:
Thanks for warning me about it, not that I was looking to read it anyway. At least now I know to stay away lest I should want to gouge out my eyes with a spoon while undergoing root canal.
LOL!! although it might make good general anesthesia for the root canal!



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29 Jul 2013, 1:25 pm

Yeah, me too. I found it tedious and pointless and too wordy by half.
Couldn't even get through any of the 'remade as fanfiction with characters from another series' or 'with Zombies' remakes / pastiches. I try to give it a shot every other year or such, but at this point, Austen's prose remains inaccessible to me.

I love fiction normally, but because I'm such a reader, I've become very picky about writing styles and pacing and whatnot. Hers just doesn't work for me.



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29 Jul 2013, 1:28 pm

I loved it and read it every year. I also like Emma and Mansfeild Park.


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29 Jul 2013, 1:34 pm

Welcome to 19th and early 20th century literature! Yes, it is all mostly boring stuff at best. The Russian literature is the most incredibly boring stuff ever written. Worse than the German, or English literature of the time. It is indeed torturous to read. I can't imagine how these authors ever managed to write such works without dieing of bordom in the process! Reading it is hell on earth! And the movies aren't much better. I have never been able to watch more than 10 minutes of Dr. Zhivago without being bored out of my skull.


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29 Jul 2013, 2:13 pm

Yeah I couldn't get more than twenty pages into pride and prejudice despite liking the film. Funnily enough though I absolutely love Anna Karenina!


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29 Jul 2013, 3:15 pm

If I had a nickel for every time I hated a novel or a movie that had a reputation for being a masterpiece, I'd be a rich man indeed.

Having said that, not all 19th century English fiction is a bore. I suggest giving Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short stories a try. For the most part, they read like they were written yesterday. I've never encountered anyone who regretted reading "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Red-Headed League," or "The Speckled Band." All of them can be found in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. If you don't want to buy a physical copy of the book, you can find free online e-books here and free audio book versions here.



Shakarians
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29 Jul 2013, 3:18 pm

There's always gonna be some person who thinks being painfully wordy makes them a better writer. I come across this all the time on Tumblr and I wouldn't be surprised if there were people like this back then too.

Honestly, I've never tried to read Pride and Prejudice, but that's because I'm not into 19th century literature.


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29 Jul 2013, 3:42 pm

It's been a while since I've read it, so I can't remember all of my thoughts, but here it is:

It took me a while to get into it. If you're not used to reading literature from that era, it's gonna be wordy and dry, not to mention confusing (if you don't know about how society was back then). BUT once I did get into the flow and flavor of it, I really did like it. I liked the story (no wonder people keep remaking it), and I loved the main character (I remember her being smart and quirky, unlike a lot of female characters from a lot of books in a lot of eras). But I don't think I'd ever be in the mood to read it again. It's not entirely my cup of tea.


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