During the last two years, whenever I felt absolutely overwhelmed with studying and clinical hours I would close my eyes and envision myself reading books in Starbucks.
I have been fortunate these past months to do just that (albeit in my room, not at starbucks). As a result I think I have read more books in the last 3 months then at any other time period in my life.
It's been fun!
One of the books I read was "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" which, in my opinion, is a literary masterpiece and inspired me to read the original Jane Austen story "Pride and Prejudice" because I'm not sure I would have had the stamina to do it without some kind of guidance.
Coolest thing about the book: I can totally relate each of the characters to people. The choices they end up making....their mannerisms and motivations...its fascinating!
4 couples to reflect on...
Charles and Jane
Both very good people and quite honestly they are soul mates. But they don't have much confidence in themselves or their ability to make the right decisions. Charles lets himself be persuaded by popular opinion to the point that he would (temporarily) deny his love. Jane eventually gets all assertive (which kind of surprised me cuz its a Victorian novel) and goes for him but isn't allowed to see him.
There is this sweet moment when Jane's sister Elizabeth goes to a party where Charles is and talks to him casually and Charles gets all far-away, misty-eyed because he's thinking about Elizabeth's sister, Jane and then storms out of the room.
To me, its interesting how external factors can play a role in how a relationship develops. Jane and Charles are both intelligent and wise and care about each other yet they get caught up in little things like "Well, her family's kind of weird and my best friend doesn't like them." "Well, he probably wasn't that into me anyway. (Even though he nursed me back to health when I was ill!)"
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy
I went into the book expecting Mr. Darcy to be the swoon-worthy Mr. Perfect fangirls slobber over. Surprisingly and refreshingly, he's not the perfect man. He's socially insecure, judges other people by their appearances and talks his best friend out of his true love. But he is the perfect man for someone like Elizabeth.
Most of the book, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth don't like each other. They say bad things other behind each other's backs to the point where when they finally they decide they love each other their families and friend's are against their marriage because they are convinced they hate each other so much.
Another interesting thing about the romance of these two is how little physical interaction they have: they barely look at each other, they don't kiss, they barely hold hands. It almost has this psychosexual quality, how they fight with words (or in the case of PPZ, with the martial arts) when Mr. Darcy gets all worked up to propose.
Charlotte and Mr. Collins
People who convince themselves they are in love in order to have the comfort of being in a relationship.
Mr. Collins is pressured to marry by his employer and Charlotte is of age and still lives with her parents. When they marry, they confess love for each other yet they have a mutual agreement: He's always gardening and she has a special spot in the house he isn't allowed to come in to. All in all, they don't actually have to spend a lot of time in each other's company...
Exactly the kind of marriage I would like to avoid in my own life.
Lidia and Wickham
A relationship based on self-serving desire for sex and status. It's made clear they don't actually love each other at all and that their relationship is likely to end in misery.
I personally love Lidia Wickham's ending in PPZ, thought it was very fitting...
