Longbourn

Longbourn by Jo Baker

I think of the enthusiasm with which I took up this book and the way I finished reading the same. I have to admit that there is none of that enthusiasm left. But that is not because the book is bad or anything, just that the expectations were wrong.

Pride and Prejudice - remains very close to heart, even after multiple readings of the same , watching it multiple times in multiple versions of art - and that is the primary reason I picked up this novel. The expectation that somehow there will be an additional insight into the household of Longbourn and the lead characters of the novel. To tell the truth, there is none.

Half way through I realized that I should shed some of those expectations and should read it as a separate work of fiction and that actually helped. It worked much better as a stand-alone novel than as any kind of accompaniment to Pride and Prejudice.

The novel tells the story of Sarah, the maid to Elizabeth Bennet and part of the kitchen staff at Longbourn. Her love story with James, the stable lad, forms the crux of the story with some additional characters and their trials in life comes forth - especially Mrs. Hill.

None of the characters from Pride and Prejudice make any sort of meaningful appearance here except Wickham, who brings his villainy to the kitchen as well. This results in the separation of the lovers and after much trials, the story ends in a happy note.

The novel is thought provoking in following the lives of the servants - who seem to be more indentured than voluntarily taking up the work - and seem to be making so little to go with in life. There is no way forward, though they may be a little literate - there is not much going for them. The class system in England is shown for what it was, a crude way to keep people down which took another 100 years to undo.

Sarah, for a girl living that age, seems to be thinking very modernly and that does not surprise me. I believe women tend to think better than men and in also trying to get better in life while men tend to accept life for what it is. Some of her thoughts really border on revolutionary terms - but I think it is possible. Her thoughts about carrying the chamber-pots or menstruation or the inequality between the girls in the household and kitchen - are all possible for anyone who can look around and think. If Lizzie is the quintessential Feminist of the original, Sarah is the proto-revolutionary here.

Because I liked this picture

The story is primarily the love between Sarah and James. James runs away in the middle of the story and it becomes a story of Sarah trying to decide what to do with her love - to let go or hold on to it in the hope that it will come back. The all too-familiar conundrum of love stories and finally She takes things in her own hands and make her life for herself.

"Work was not a cure: it never had been. It simply grew a skin on despair and crusted over it"

The writing style, unlike Jane Austen's, is very different and has less conversations and more in the way of flow of the consciousness. This becomes tedious at times and if not for the excellent background with details on life as it was lived then, it would've been boring as well. And when Mrs.Hill thinks the above - in the context of Sarah trying to immerse herself in work to get over James - the entire flow of that thought becomes prose of excellent worth. There are moments like this across the book.

"Perhaps it was not an easy thing, to be entirely so happy. "

Perhaps it was. Elizabeth , as Mrs. Darcy, gives over to thoughts like this - but what was indigestible was the girl we knew as someone romping over mud and rain being transformed into someone valuing external appearances so much after marriage. That didn't gel well with the original. Darcy appears once and Bingley never.

Overall, if you read the book as an independent novel, it is a good read. Having any other intention will probably ruin the experience.

7 Days 7 Books - Book 1 - Pride and Prejudice

I got tagged to share 7 book covers by a friend. I was not sure what is the point of just sharing book covers - so thought I would rather write about 7 books that made a difference for me in the next 7 days (and that depends a lot on the work schedule!!)

First, I am going to restrict myself to 7 English books and may be later, I might write about 7 Tamil books as well. And I have no set criteria or choice in choosing these books but these are the books that come to mind the moment I am asked to chose. So to the first book.

I read 'Pride and Prejudice' just when I finished college - in fact, most of these books are going to be from that period - when I was flush with money and had nothing else to do in life other than shopping in Amazon (yes, customer since 1998!) and Barnes and Noble, all the time.

And it was not the first Jane Austen book I read - that was 'Sense and Sensibility'. After watching that excellent movie version by Emma Thompson, I picked up the book and was hooked. When I found that Jane Austen has written only 6 or 7 novels in total, I went ahead and got all of them. 

What I loved in 'Pride and Prejudice' is that unending optimism of the story. While her other stories have strong heroines - there is a sense of disappointment and melancholy that pervades at places. You know that those girls are not entirely happy. But Lizzie is different. 

She is full of bonhomie and positive energy. There is nothing that will disappoint her or make her feel bad about herself. She always puts a positive spin on life and lived it. 

I used to wonder what would've happened if she did not end up marrying Darcy. The answer , to me, is that she would've married someone else and be that same girl she always was. Love is nothing but a part of life for her and would not have taken away her spirits.

That sets the tone for the entire story as well. There are no bad endings - even the wicked Wickham marries off (although whining!) and behaves in the end. Everyone ends up living, if not happily, at least rich, which is something. 

But why is it the top book in my list? because it is a romance and all romances are personal. The Lizzie - Darcy love story is not unique or the greatest in the world, but what makes it lovable is that the story is told as a product of their personalities and the events just happens around their personality. That is absolutely what is different from every other story out there. Lizzie does not change or lose her perspective anywhere in the story. Darcy - changes for the better - but is still the proud man we see at the Netherfield ball. And what they despised at the start becomes the one element that they fall in love with at the end. And that is wonderful to read about.

Probably, this is the book I've written more about than any other. And will write more but for now, that is the first book in the series.