As someone thought me prejudiced as I explained that I hadn't read Austen since I had a feeling I might not like it particularly, I had to try and see what the truth was. And the verdict is: it was much as I expected. The society portrayed in the book is so far removed from the one we live in that I couldn't extract much useful information from the book. I was just constantly annoyed by the limitations forced on the characters by the bizarre morals of the time, and the much ballyhooed wittiness of Elizabeth and Darcy, while fun at times, was sorely lacking most of the time.

And what's up with the language? How could I ever take seriously a book in which a wife calls her husband of over 20 years "Mr. Bennett"? Notice also that I referred to "Elizabeth and Darcy", that's only because I have no idea what Mr. Darcy's first name is. I was confused all the time with all the Ms. Bennets' and Mr. and Ms. Bingleys and Mr. Darcy and Ms. Darcy and a million others. Why on earth don't they use first names?