I’m reading “Pride and prejudice” and I’m strangely enjoying it. I like the characters and the story, I’m really hooked with the book, but I don’t really know why it is so interesting and how Austen makes me feel interested in a book that, maybe just in the surface, is so mundane.
In the past, I also read “Sense and sensibility” for University and I also enjoyed it very much.
How do you think Austen makes this? How does she make a realistic and simple book so interesting in its story and its characters?
I think Austen is interesting *because* she wrote about average people with average lives.
Before she took off, romantic novels with lots of action and drama were the thing. They were lots of fun to read, but the average person couldn’t relate to them. Austen created characters who could be you, your family members, or your friends. A teenage girl living in 1813 could see herself in a character like Elizabeth Bennett, and so can a teenage girl in 2023 (though I don’t think she would be in a rush to marry like her 1813 counterpart).
Also, the saracastic, witty humor resonates. Her books are still funny, centuries later. That kind of cultural impact is rare.