just watched Pride and Prejudice... i love the film (Keira Knightly version) is the book hard going?

[juicychops]

im dying to read it when i get a chance and a break from my studying

Not hard going at all. Jane Austen is very readable.

O I love Pride and Prejudice. I read it whenever I'm ill, it cheers me right up

It's brilliant - and I am one of the few people on here who loves the KK version. No doubt you'll get loads of people coming along telling you to watch the BBC one - gah.

If you want to watch a different filmed version definitely try the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth one, absolutely brilliant.

The book isn't a hard read at all. Fab book.

Is it really readable? I always imagined it would be a bit, well, Dickensy.

Or soppy?

janeite, xpost.... watch the BBC one juicychops!!! Jennifer Ehle is soooo much better as Lizzie than KK and her silly pouty mouth!

Well if you don't like the book version, you can get the grapic novel with Zombies or the marvel comics version!!
www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,7847/title,Pride-and-Prejudice-a nd-Zombies/

or

marvel.com/catalog/?id=11466

i read the other boleyn girl which i loved. then watched the natalie portman version of the film which wasn't all that. then thought id watch the BBC one which i thought was even worse! so wont ever watch a BBC version of anything now

'Tis a comfort read for me - something I reread when I'm ill, feeling blue etc. Not hard going at all. Enjoy

O no, Dickens is a chore, I've never finished one yet.

ooo forgot there is a colin firth version!! im gunna add that to my Lovefilm list

Hate to say juicychops but the colin firth version is the BBC version.

It's an excellent book, very readable. Do give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

I thought the KN film was pants and didn't watch it all. The BBC version (Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle) is far superior and much truer to the book.

The BBC version has Alison Steadman in and she was grossly mis-cast and is beyond irritating. And whoever played Elizabeth, with her simper and her dimples, was crap too.

Whilst I was pleasantly surprised by KK not being as awful as I feared, I was woefully disappointed in Pa & Ma Bennet and actually most of the cast.

The BBC version has a vastly superior Bennet family, including the odious Mr Collins who just oozes slug-like across the screen!

P&P is a lovely read and very witty.

Janeite, Mrs Bennet is beyond irritating so Alison Steadman is perfect! And Benjamin Whitrow is spot-on as Mr Bennet.

It's much more tightly written than Dickens. Very sharply observed. Absolutely not soppy.
Brilliant.

Fancy you posting here, Janeite.

Mr Collins in the BBC one was SUPERB!!

I agree Heated, the casting of the BBC version is pretty much spot on in the way that Jane Austen describes the characters.

I can watch it again and again and read the book in between and never feel that it does any dis-service to it.

Am straying a bit here but I also feel much the same about the Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility. Better than any other I've seen.

I despised KK as Elizabeth (all that pouting and staring in mirrors, gah!) but did like the exploration of Mr and Mrs Bennett's relationship in that version. I also thought the social inadequacies of Mr Collins were better portrayed without the oozing slug-like that prevailed in the BBC version.

All that said... the BBC version is superb. I adore it and watch it when ill. Colin Firth as Darcy, well, oh Sweet Moses.

The book, OP, is lovely. And witty. And well paced. Definitely read it.

Read it OP! I love it and have read it over and over. I've not watched the KK film as I love the book so much I didn't want it spoilt...not a huge KK fan. I do own the BBC Colin Firth version on video and dvd and I agree with others that it's a very truthful adaptation with spot on actors playing the characters.

Oooh I want to go and read it again now...

Read it, it's lovely. Also interesting to read along side Austen is this helps you understand the subtleties.

You absolutely must watch the BBC version, it is fantastic and the low production value just adds to the authenticity I think (but then I have been slavishly watching House of Elliott re-runs).

Mrs Bennett is meant to be annoying, the casting is perfect I think, all round. Love Jennifer Ehle, didn't she and Firth have a little fling whilst filming? Adds to the frisson for me!

Alison Steadman too old and wrongly annoying imho.

Mr Collins good in both versions. Mr Collins also great in 'Bride And Prejudice' in a strangely Ali G sort of way.

I did like Lady Catherine in the BBC one. Didn't like Colin Firth.

Didn't like Colin Firth? Wha.....?

Eh????

Colin Firth was the perfect Mr Darcy. Exactly the right mix of arrogance and sexuality. Matthew McFadyen is a boy in comparison.

And Alison Steadman did Mrs Bennett proud, all nerves, fluttering, selfishness and emotional outbursts.

Read the book OP and then see which tv/film adaptation you like best.