This review is also available on my blog, Bows & Bullets Reviews

Okay, first off, I read this the traditional way several years ago and you can read the review I did then here. When I had the opportunity to get this awesome audiobook version for review, I thought it would be a nice experiment. How would the audio reading experience measure up the the normal reading experience? Would I love this as much the second time around? Or would Darcy irk me like he does a lot of people? The conclusion? I think it's a safe bet to say I might just prefer audiobooks to actually reading (PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME!).

I have actually been avoiding writing this for a little bit because I never feel like I can do supremely awesome stories justice. I am a mere mortal and Austen is a god and how am I supposed to string words together in the bastardized version of the English language we use today to explain just how amazing Pride & Prejudice is? What am I to say that a hundred other reviewers haven't already said more elegantly than I ever could? Here's my best go at it!

Pride and Prejudice is an acclaimed novel for a reason. Even classic-haters like me adore it. Austen brings the Bennet family to life and that's the magic of this story, even a hundred years after it's publication. Ultimately, P&P is a love story about Elizabeth and Darcy, but it's also about the Bennet clan. It's about Jane and Kitty and Mary and Lydia. It's about the dynamic between the parents and the siblings. It's about how close Jane is with Lizzy and how truly irritating and immature Lydia can be. I think that is part of what makes it magical, there's character development all around. It makes you want an hoard of siblings to call your own...as well as a Darcy, cuz...you know, he's Darcy.

I also love this because those slow-build, I-hate-you-until-I-love-you love stories have always been a weakness of mine. As much as I love Elizabeth with her love of books and walking and her outspokenness, it was Darcy who I really related to. Not because I'm insanely rich with fake people continually clamoring for my attention (I WISH), but because he's so shy and awkward. When he utters the following line, I was finished: "I certainly have not the talent which some people possess, of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done." That is me in a single line and I swooned on the spot. I have no talent for small-talk either.

Basically, this is everything that all the positive reviews claim it is and it should be mandatory reading in school instead of depressing things like Wuthering Heights!

Audio Notes:
As I said, I was very interested to see how the audio experience compared to the traditional experience. In a word? It was "better." That seems like an understatement. Rosamund Pike is fantastic. I was both excited to hear her narration and nervous. She plays Jane Bennet in the Keira Knightley film version, so I knew she could do that would, but how well would she do the rest? Would I just feel like Jane was reading me her sisters love story? But not to worry! Rosamund does a wonderful job with the proper voices and that great accent. Really, I think I'd give this more than five stars if I allowed myself to rate anything about 5 stars. I definitely enjoyed this more than reading it myself. Rosamund really brought the story to life in a way I didn't think was possibly outside film. If you are on the fence about reading this particularly classic, do yourself a favor and just get this version. Trust me, if you don't love it with Rosamund narrating, you aren't destined to love it at all.

****Thank you to Esther Bochner at Audible for providing me with an audio copy in exchange for an honest review****

Summary:
One of Jane Austen’s most beloved works, Pride and Prejudice, is vividly brought to life by Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl). In her bright and energetic performance of this British classic, she expertly captures Austen’s signature wit and tone. Her attention to detail, her literary background, and her performance in the 2005 feature film version of the novel provide the perfect foundation from which to convey the story of Elizabeth Bennett, her four sisters, and the inimitable Mr. Darcy.
In Pride and Prejudice, the Bennett sisters try to find their way in the repressive strictures of 19th-century society. Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and the experience of falling in love, and she superbly describes a world which, despite being more than two centuries old, still resonates with modern concerns.

 It is a flawless masterpiece indeed Mr.Cooper.

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite classics and I thought the narration by Rosamund was very fitting to the tone of the book. Her narration was very even and nicely paced. My only complain was her voice for Mrs.Bennet (Elizabeth's mother); it was a bit annoying for my taste. Elizabeth however was spot on!

I cannot possibly write something that hasn't been written about this classic piece of literature.

I read this when I was a teenager and loved it. Both Elizabeth and Darcy hold a special place in my heart. Their admittance of their faults is admirable. And their subtle romance contradicts all the romance that conquers literature nowadays.. 

I do recommend this audiobook, if you like Pride and Prejudice. Plus, if you get the free kindle you can get this narration at 1.99$ which is an amazing bargain!

Is there anyone, from barely discovered tribes in the South American rainforests, to nomadic tribes on the Mongolian steppes, who doesn't actually know the gist of the plot of this book? Just in case there are any people who have lived in a barren cave their entire life, I will attempt to summarise it the major plot beats.

Jane and Lizzie are the two eldest, prettiest and most sensible of the five Bennett sisters. Their mother is a silly and easily upset woman who wants nothing more than to see her daughters happily married. Their father would seem to mainly want to be left alone with his books (a household full of women, I can symphatize). There's also the stuffy Mary, and the boy-crazy youngest sisters, Kitty and Lydia. A rich and handsome young gentleman, Mr Bingley, moves to the area, and Mrs. Bennett is determined that he will fall in love with one of her girls. After he meets Jane, that seems very likely to happen, but after some promising encounters, the majority of the Bennett family make a dreadful spectacle of themselves at a ball and before anyone is even cured of their hangover, Bingley's two spiteful and snobbish sisters and haughty and supercilious friend, Mr. Darcy have convinced him that he imagined Jane's affection and persuaded him to return to London. Lizzie's none too surprised as she pretty much loathed Darcy at first sight.

Meanwhile Lizzie upsets her mother by refusing the proposal of the family's distant cousin, Mr Collins, who will one day inherit their house. He marries her spinster friend Charlotte Lucas instead. After some months of getting used to her friend choosing security and a home of her own at the price of being married to someone quite ridiculous, Lizzie comes to accept her friend's choice and goes to visit her at her new home. Here she runs into Mr. Darcy again and over the course of her six week long visit, she sees him quite a few times. She likes his cousin quite a bit, but is shocked speechless when Mr. Darcy proposes marriage towards the end of her stay there. He confesses that he does so against his better judgement and that he thinks her family are beneath him, but he loves her enough to overlook their difference in station. Lizzie, having recently discovered the truth behind his spiriting away Bingley and breaking Jane's heart, as well as believing Darcy financially ruined a childhood friend, wastes no time telling the man exactly how appalled she is and tells him to stuff his proposal. He's offended, but writes her a comprehensive letter explaining his side of the story with regards to the accusations she flings at him, and once Lizzie calms down sufficiently, she starts to wonder if she's owes the man an apology.

Six months later, when travelling in Derbyshire with her aunt and uncle, Lizzie meets Mr. Darcy again, here at his magnificent estate, Pemberley. He's like a changed man, amiable, generous to a fault, complimentary and insisting he wants to introduce Lizzie and her relatives to his younger sister. Having had time to think and consider everything she learned in the letter carefully, Lizzie's heart is already more receptive towards Darcy when a terrible scandal is revealed, involving the youngest Bennett sister. Any happiness with the proper and respectable Darcy seems sure to be doomed - just as Lizzie was considering telling him her feelings had changed.

I've read Pride and Prejudice countless times, first in Norwegian, later in English. I fondly remember waiting eagerly along with my mother for every new episode of the 1995 mini series, that for a very long time type cast Colin Firth as the romantic lead in all sorts of things, as he was the perfect Mr. Darcy. When I don't have time to watch the six hour mini series, the 2005 movie version starring Kiera Knightley and Matthew McFadyen will do nicely as well. I adored the modernised YouTube version made around the book's 200th anniversary, and the spin off book resulting from it. I still return to the original every few years though and each time I rediscover little bits that I'd forgotten in Ms. Austen's brilliant romance, which as well as having several satisfying happy endings, is a very clever social satire, using the eternally unmarried parson's daughter's observations of the people around her and the situations of ladies very much in her social sphere. While Austen has written many memorable book, this was the first of hers I read and it remains my absolute favourite. 

The new Audible audio version, narrated by Rosamund Pike, who played Jane in the 2005 movie version, is excellent. Ms. Pike has a lovely voice and manages to differentiate between the huge cast of characters with pretty distinctive voices for everyone, mostly to great success. It was a perfectly soothing and comforting listen in the hustle and bustle of the pre-Chistmas weeks. All the characters are so familiar to me, and having the book to listen to while running errands and trying to finish the last of the shopping made several stressful tasks go easier. If you've never allowed yourself the pleasure of reading Pride and Prejudice, you should consider the audio version for an extra treat. If you already know and love the book, get the audio, as I can't imagine a version that could be better.