1 – Pride and Prejudice #1 w/ Amanda Faye

This is the very first episode of the Barely Bookish podcast! I am joined by a wonderful author named Amanda Faye who is absolutely obsessed with Pride and Prejudice. So, whether you’re new to this book like me or you’ve already deep-dived into it like Amanda, come and enjoy this amazing book with us.

Amanda Faye’s Socials

IG: instagram.com/amanda_faye_books/

FB: facebook.com/amandafayebooks

Web: amandafayebooks.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Faye/e/B07T7HYMLW?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1601935884&sr=1-2 

Summary from Penguin Classics

“Austen’s most popular novel, the unforgettable story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

Few have failed to be charmed by the witty and independent spirit of Elizabeth Bennet in Austen’s beloved classic Pride and Prejudice. When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows us the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life. This Penguin Classics edition, based on Austen’s first edition, contains the original Penguin Classics introduction by Tony Tanner and an updated introduction and notes by Viven Jones.”

Transcript

Rachel: Hello everyone, my name is Rachel and I am your host here at Barely Bookish. Welcome to the very first episode. I hope you are as excited as I am because I am very excited so hopefully you are also very excited.

Rachel: Today we are going to be reading Pride and Prejudice a small spoiler I absolutely love this book and I hope you will love it as much as I did. Um… yeah check us out enjoy – uh this little read-along and hopefully you will enjoy listening to as many classics as I enjoy reading them. Ah- For those of you who haven’t listened to the trailer yet this podcast is about classic literature and modern classics.

Rachel: Basically, every book that someone comes up to you and says, “oh you like books, how have you not read that yet?” that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to talk about them, are they worth reading, uh I think Pride and Prejudice definitely was but some of them maybe not so buckle up enjoy and yeah welcome to Barely Bookish.

[Intro Music]

Rachel: Hello everyone and we’re discussing Pride and Prejudice today. I have a wonderful guest Amanda here.

Amanda: HI everybody.

Rachel: uh so we’re going through Pride and Prejudice. This is very spoiler inclusive so if you haven’t read the book yet stop the episode and start reading because you will get spoilers and nobody wants that.

Rachel: So we’ll just uh start start right into it with chapter one. So, the first note that I wrote which, you know, you can really see my inexperience of the book itself is “some man is single so all the neighborhood ladies thinks he needs a wife. He’s also got lots of money.” and then, second note “his name is Bingley” which is how I pronounce it is that how you pronounce it as well?

Amanda: Yep yep, Bingley.-

Rachel (kind of interrupting): Okay.

Amanda (continuing): I still don’t understand how you made it this far in life without knowing anything about Pride and Prejudice

Rachel: I don’t know either! I have distinct memories of Pride and Prejudice Zombies coming out and me going, “what is that? What is- What is Pride and Prejudice? What does it have to do with zombies?” I was like- I was so shaken I was like what is this (Amanda laughs in the background) what could it possibly be because I knew what Pride and Prejudice is. My brain just told me that is some boring classic literature novel and that’s all I knew. So, I was like how are we getting from 1800s Europe to zombies? You know like…

Amanda: and I’m assuming obviously we haven’t read Pride and Prejudice Zombies yet?

Rachel: No, I have not. I didn’t even know there was a book I just knew there was a movie.

Amanda: Wait until you get to Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. (Amanda laughs)

Rachel: Oh, I need that in my life… I need to find that- I need to buy it.

Amanda: Somebody redid the entire Jane Austen-line with fantasy… it’s awesome.

Rachel: Oh my gosh I have to look into that because that sounds fantastic. I want it. I need all of them. I hope that they have like very H.P. Lovecraft-type covers. Like those classic- (breaks off in small awe) I want-oh yes that’s next. That’s next. (Amanda laughs in the back)

Rachel: So then they go on to say that his fortune is four or five thousand a year and I know that that’s not modern-(small stutter)modern money so I kind of roughly looked at the conversion and so they didn’t say how much Bingley made but cliffnotes told me that um apparently that Mr. Bennett makes 160 grand a year in like US dollars. Which to me that’s that’s a lot of money and that’s like mid-class but Darcy makes 800,000 a year. I just- I that’s so much money.

(Amanda Laughs)

Rachel: I just I-I was okay when we were watching the movie, I was looking at the scale of houses and you know not- to get too far into the movie, but like I thought in my head that Elizabeth and the Bennetts were like middle-class they make them look so poor in that movie! I was like okay maybe they’re not middle-class but like 160 is middle-class right?

Amanda: In our life, 160 is like middle-class but you have to think about how the dollar was so different back then, you know? So they were buying clothes for pennies-

Rachel: Yeah

Amanda: Um, but then also-also think about when-when they originally like Longbourn and stuff it was not intended for five non-thrift spendy little girls.

Rachel: Yeah that’s true.

Amanda: So so if they had a different household in there it would have looked higher class than it probably was. But certainly I mean if you look at their house in the movie it makes them look poor but if you look about the way they were treated in the neighborhood they were they’re certainly, you know, one of the top ranked families.

Rachel: Yeah.

Amanda: So for the area they live in they’re definitely upper middle class.

Rachel: Yeah that’s what I was thinking-

Amanda: Not compared to Darcy.

Rachel: Yeah, Darcy’s just like you guys are poor and I’m like are they?! Are they? I’m like I would like to have that much money but you know, okay.

Amanda: No kidding!

Rachel: I know and like I’m looking at their house and I’m like this is a gigantic house but also like… they have animals roaming all around. So, I’m like… okay maybe, you know I think my head was like okay maybe he was rich at one point and then like with that amount of kids, you know, as you said, and like Lydia and Kitty are ready to spend the fortune all the time.

Amanda: But you also I mean, not thinking about the movie, if you think about in the book the way they’re talked about in the book, you know “I’m perfectly able to keep a cook.” They’ve got a maid, they’ve got servants, they’ve got a carriage, which they were talking about, you know, the other houses in the neighborhood that don’t have carriages, whereas they do have a carriage. So, there-there are indications at least, in the book about what their class level looks like, it’s just nowhere near compared to Darcy’s class level looks like.

Rachel: I guess my brain is thinking probably it’s like country wealth, you know. Which is very different than like city wealth.

Amanda: Yes

Rachel: Yeah

Amanda: Yes like like they don’t have a house in town where Darcy’s got two houses in town, you know? So.

Rachel (dreamily): To be as rich as Darcy…

Amanda: Oh who you telling? (Amanda laughs)

Rachel: I was I was just dying when I was trying to imagine it in my head like his library. I was like “it’s expansive!” and then like when they come to the movie and I’m like, “that felt right.”

(Both laughing)

Rachel: So then uh miss Bennett wants her husband to go see him- uh go see Bingley- so that he can send the girls over to meet him and that’s where chapter one ends. So I only have one note for chapter two, Mr. Bennett told his family that he actually met with Mr. Bingley after being very sarcastic about it to Mrs. Bennett for a long time. I just their relationship dynamic’s very interesting to me.

Amanda: and I think um he-he’s stuck with her, you know? They- divorce is not something that, you know, they do. It’s this is not something that’s done, you know? So, I think especially the way they describe her she was a beautiful woman, was able to catch a very, in that point in time, you know, a high middle-class man and then the beauty fades away and he’s left with this woman that he has absolutely no interest in whatsoever-

Rachel: Yeah and she’s very high strung and like she her emotions are all over the place and she cares about things that he does not care about at all and I was just like oh geez this is a like you guys are not a good match.

Amanda: I think she’s my least favorite character-

Rachel:  Yeah

Amanda: -out of the whole… Even like Wickham and Lydia, I know most people, Wickham and Lydia but but Mrs. Bennett is certainly my least favorite.

Rachel: I think my she’s my least favorite, too. I mean, her and Caroline are like neck and neck to me.

Amanda, sighing: Caroline…

Rachel: I hate Caroline so much. I find her so annoying I mean I simultaneously also feel bad for her because she is like… what is that… unrequited (trying to pronounce it)

Amanda, correctly pronouncing it: unrequited lust.

Rachel: Yes yes.

Amanda: It’s not even love it’s money hunger she’s got she’s got unrequited… unrequited greed is what she’s got it’s not even she’s not like she’s in love with Darcy.

Rachel: I think she just wants the convenience of someone she already knows who she knows is wealthy as well.

Amanda: Yeah he would he would greatly raise her standing in society and that’s all she cares about.

Rachel: Yeah for sure. She just she follows him like a little puppy dog, too and doesn’t have anything to add to the conversation I’m like…

Amanda: Yeah no it’s- she’s annoying.

Rachel: Yeah I just when they wrote not even to not to really go back to the movie but when they wrote out… Um Bingley’s other sister, I was like oh yeah she did not add anything to the book at all, to the 2005 movie, I was like I didn’t even notice that she was gone it’s not like there was any major plot point that she was in that I was like, “oh no she can’t be out of the movie!” I was like, “eh, whatever.”

Amanda: All she did was give somebody- give Caroline somebody who would agree with her no matter what Caroline said.

Rachel: Yeah which she didn’t-they don’t need that.

Amanda: No.

Rachel: Okay so in uh chapter three Mr. Bingley is going to the next party which means every single person in the entire village is going to be there because they want money and to meet a new interesting person. Mr. Bingley returned the visit that Mr. Bennett had paid to them and paid a visit to the Bennett house in the hopes of taking a peek at the girls because he heard they’re beautiful. But, he didn’t get to see him on the first visit. The Bennett’s invited to him to dinner but Mr. Bingley had to reject because he had to go to town which in this case, town is London.

Amanda: mhm (in agreement)

Rachel: Mr. Bingley also brought his relatives to the party and someone named Mr. Darcy which is exactly what my notes say. Which everyone is into. In the first initial visit, everyone’s like “ooh who’s this? He makes a lot of money!” (laughs) I just I love reading my old notes because I’m like “oh it’s someone named Mr. Darcy.” I’m like the best person in this entire series um besides the queen Elizabeth herself?!

Amanda: Best, best person in the world I mean Darcy is just-

Rachel: unparalleled.

Amanda: Yes.

Rachel: I love how awkward he is it’s my favorite.

Amanda: Oh my god he’s just he’s he’s so like grown up and at the same time he’s so stuck as like a four-year-old little boy and the contradictions to his personality are fantastic.

Rachel: I think too it plays into the fact that like he’s never had a work for someone to care about him. Like he’s always just had people care about him it’s always been easy to him so now he’s like “oooh how do you do that?”

Amanda: Yep, yep.

Rachel: Which I think they-I think Jane Austen did really, really well is that play on how do you get someone when you’ve never had to try at anything.

Amanda: Yep.

Rachel: Yeah, I think she did an amazing jobwith that.

Amanda: And I also found it fascinating and I’m jumping ahead probably that they have to in that day and age you know you basically got to know each other after the wedding, you know, because there was nowhere was no one-on-one time, there was no going out for dates and stuff, there was going to balls with the entire county there. And I love how all of Darcy’s friends and relatives talk about what a great person he is but because he’s so uptight she doesn’t that until after they quarrel, until after they both see that the worst in their personalities at which point he finally thaws and we see all the good qualities of Darcy. I like how I like how they’ve gotta come to blows emotionally before we finally see him down some of that guard.

Rachel: Yeah theoriginal enemies-to-lovers.

Amanda: Yes yes yes it is it’s the original trope.

Rachel: I know I was I’ve never been a huge enemies-to-lovers kind of person and I was like, “I’ve changed my mind” as soon as I started reading this.

Amanda: But I think cause I mean the slow burn is real!

Rachel: Oh yeah. Because most books you’re like, you know, you’re trying to get from point A to like kiss scene this one you’re like “they touched! hands they touched hands!”

(both laughing)

Amanda: Oh my gosh that is so true! I mean Pride and Prejudice is considered one of, if not the best romance novels in the entire world and they don’t kiss once.

Rachel: Yeah!

Amanda: You know? There’s no physical intimacy whatsoever.

Rachel: Yeah and it’s like any time they have a long glance you’re like, “oh my gosh they stared at each other!” (both laughing) and it’s like in every other like modern-day book you’re reading it and you’re like, “oh they looked at each other so what?” But like in Pride and Prejudice every long look you’re like (heavy breathing)

Amanda: I know! That’s panting, cool down!

Rachel: I know I don’t I just I this made me love slow burns now I never was a person… I was like, “just get to it!” but now I’m like “Oh my gosh if they look at each other I’m just gonna cry for 20 minutes.” and I’m like, “There’s no love like Darcy and Elizabeth’s love.” You know?

Amanda: I do know, yeah.

Rachel: So, this is where they find out that Darcy is loaded and he makes ten thousand a year, which is as I said the 800,000 in like U.S. dollars and then my next note is apparently he has very bad manners, though. Little did I know. Mr. Darcy doesn’t want to dance with someone unless he knows them and apparently that was frowned upon. Which, you know, I get it… now.

Amanda: Well if Mr. Darcy were alive in this day and age, he would be he’d be the ultimate millennial. I mean, he’s got anxiety issues, he’s got crowd issues, he’s from a wealthy family, so he he’s got all the manners, you know, but he’d need to pop a Xanax before he goes to every ball.

Rachel (laughing): I’m just now I’m imagining Mr. Darcy talking about his CBD oil routine.

Amanda: Yes! Yes! Except he’s too well bred to mention he has to do that to anybody.

Rachel: That’s true he has like a finsta, you know? Where he like does CBD oil and then also those like color… um… those… what are those? The adult coloring books. There’s a lot of those.

Amanda: I mean he’s he’s got to be OCD, out the road. I mean everything is fastidiously organized, you know? If he walks by his desk and the quill is not completely straight, you know, he’s one of those that’s got to stop and reline up everything on his desk again.

Rachel: Yeah.

Amanda: Oh yeah, he’s he’s got to be totally OCD absolutely.

Rachel: I just… now I’m just imagining him and it’s like someone that you’d definitely like be an online friend with but you’d never seen in person ever.

Amanda: Yes I I can almost see him with a really strong World of Warcraft, you know, at night in in the dark room where he doesn’t have to physically interact with anybody oh I could totally see Darcy being a pc gamer.

Rachel: That and like he has a very detailed, like book collection in which everything is like annotated and he definitely writes very controversial blog posts about them.

Amanda: Yes! Yes! Oh he’s definitely a pot stirrer but but under a fake name.

Rachel: Yes, absolutely.

Amanda: Nobody can know that Darcy of Pemberley, heir of Pemberley industries, is the one that’s out there trending right now, you know? Totally deep covered.

Rachel: Yeah he’s the original anon. (Amanda laughing) That’s what I want, you know, a modern-day retelling but specifically everything we just mentioned.

Rachel, but now different tone because this is a post edit and that changes the intensity of my voice for some reason: Hello everyone a brief pause as I tell you something very… uh I can’t even say important um… basically this discussion just spiraled into a discussion about modern-day retellings and I mentioned how I read a retelling of Phantom of the Opera and I had never seen the actual Phantom of the Opera. So, I enjoyed the book it was a very good book but um… I never watched… or read or anything I don’t have any idea what the original text is um the original plot… So, that’s kind of where you’re missing uh because it’s probably about 10 minutes of me um looking like a fool so, you know, there’s that. Uh yeah…. so we’re going to jump right back in here.

Amanda, is disbelief: Never seen Phantom of the Opera… Gerard Butler!

Rachel: I don’t know how my sister likes musicals, too and I still haven’t watched any of them.

Amanda: Okay well that’s going on the “Rachel needs to watch now” list. (Rachel laughs)

Rachel: I haven’t read To Kill a Mockingbird… I haven’t read… um yeah most of the things that you think everyone has absolutely read in their life I’ve read it. I read Romeo and Juliet and that’s about it.

Amanda: Well at least you’ve read that.

Rachel: Yeah.

Amanda: I love Romeo and Juliet. Okay okay Pride and Prejudice because Darcy’s called back from him. I can go on the tangent on classics for hours.

Rachel: I know we’ll get there we’ll text about it. So, the eldest Bennett daughter, which is Jane, danced with Mr. Bingley twice and they seem to really like each other, little did I know.

(Both laugh)

Rachel: Also this is the note I said I just realized Jane Austen named one of her character’s Jane.

Amanda:It’s a very popular name back then.

Rachel: Yeah that was my guess but also I was like… I mean both of us have pretty common names so I’m like trying to imagine writing in my book saying someone’s name is Rachel and not putting all of my personality into that character and be like, “no they’re just casually named Rachel, you know don’t mind me that they’re married to… uh Chris Pine don’t think too hard about that one.”

Amanda: I think when you’re writing a book, though a little bit of your personality goes into every character you’re write so it wouldn’t be that weird.

Rachel: Yeah that’s true. I feel like it to me if I ended up naming a character, you know, it would be like one of those Wattpad point of view things where you’re like, you’re like, “Harry Styles looks longingly at you…”

(Both laughing)

Amanda: That’s funny.

Rachel: I’m like did she just not want Jane to have what she wanted in Darcy or…. Chapter four Jane seems to really like Mr. Bingley but Elizabeth says she likes everyone, which is true. I really don’t think Jane has a bad bone in her body. Like even when Caroline eventually like shows her true colors she was like, “oh it could be a misunderstanding.” Like Jane, Jane honey like…

Amanda: Even when Lydia and Wickham ran off after after Jane knew everything about Wickham she’s like, “but I can’t believe the worst of him. I can’t believe that this is really what was meant” and I’m like believe it sweetheart.

Rachel: I know I was like get it together let’s go. Like yeah, she does not want anybody to have a single bad thing but she would not survive well in 2020.

(Both laugh)

Rachel: No, she’s way too trusting she doesn’t think I don’t even know like I could not imagine her in modern day because it would not work out well in her favor.

Amanda: No, it certainly wouldn’t.

Rachel: So, Elizabeth does not like Mr. Bingley’s sisters as Jane does which, you know, because Elizabeth is a smart cookie. She thinks they spend too much money and they’re conceited. All facts.

Amanda: Truth.

Rachel: And uh the sisters like Jane, Bingley’s really interested in her, and Darcy seems to think that she’s boring. Which is basically Elizabeth’s just projecting onto Darcy. Darcy doesn’t actually think that.

Amanda: Uh you know I think I think Darcy actually, I think at the very beginning Elizabeth nails him on the head, but that’s those first couple of interactions but that’s just because he’s scared and he’s nervous and so to ease above his own fright of being in a crowd with people he doesn’t know he becomes an asshole. Oh, can I say that?

Rachel: That’s fine, I’m gonna put the explicit thing on here so it’ll be okay.

Amanda: He becomes a not very nice person just to try to make himself feel better about being in a crowd but as he starts to thaw and warm towards her and and the community as a whole she is still stuck in her first impression.

Rachel: Yeah I think I agree with that. Thinking back on it to be honest, I just think she kind of reads in too much throughout just like letting it yeah letting him think uh… like not letting him think but letting herself think that he’s still that same person when he’s trying to grow and she’s like, “oh you know you don’t really care” and all that kind of stuff.

Amanda: Yep.

Rachel: So, chapter five, uh the Bennetts and the Lucas as their neigh- lucas’s as their neighbors and they all meet up a day after we look-uh after the ball to be kind of catty to each other for no real reason. But like Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Lucas are basically trying to one-up each other the entire time that they’re there and like she’s like “Well Bingley danced with my daughter for two dances!” and Lucas is like, “but you know my daughter Charlotte…” uh and it’s basically saying that Charlotte looks like trash and I’m like… oh my gosh.

Amanda: Well you have to think about it, Charlotte is 27, which in that day and age was like whoa and uh, you know, they’re already talking about Jane and them becoming an old maid and Jane’s 21, you know? And they’re already making fun of how old she is for not being married and and charlotte’s 27 though.

Rachel: Yeah I was-I read this right after coming off of Gone With The Wind which, trash novel trash novel, I don’t want to talk about it. I hated it. But um I read this after that and like when they were saying, “oh she’s 27.” I was like… What?! I I think Charlotte was like 17 when she got married- or not Charlotte um Scarlett, that’s what I meant Scarlett was like 17 when she got married and so when she they said charlotte’s 27 I was like I am confusion. I’m like, is that legal? I don’t… I was shook I I think there’s probably not a lot of people in that town either for them to be…

Amanda: oh, married to?

Rachel: Yeah.

Amanda: Yeah, yeah.

Rachel: Yeah so, I feel like that plays into part of the struggle here. So, chapter six uh Jane and Bingley are low-key starting to fall in love which I thought was nice. And charlotte says that Jane needs to tell him that she has feelings for Mr. Bingley so that she can marry him and Elizabeth says he should figure it out. Which we all know boys are not smart.

Amanda: No.

Rachel: They’re not mind readers.

Amanda: No.

Rachel: They do not pick up on context clues if fiction has taught us anything and if real life has taught us more.

Amanda: If real life has taught us anything oh yeah. Yeah all of those memes about when your wife tells you she’s fine that you should run in the other direction those were built on gospel.

(Both laughing)

Rachel: And I was like I get that whole romantic thing, like “you should figure it out.” No you gotta tell them you can’t-that’s one of those things you cannot like pat around -er.

Amanda: Yep. Absolutely.

Rachel: So, here’s my first, uh starting to like Mr. Darcy it says, “oh Mr. Darcy is very bad at this so instead of talking to her he just listens in on her conversation with others, which annoys Elizabeth.”

Amanda: But it’s kind of cute because that’s exactly it, he’s too afraid to speak up in front of other people but he wants to act as if he’s giving her attention.

Rachel: Yeah.

Amanda: So, he just stalks her around the ballroom.

Rachel: I mean I’ve definitely done that though. Like I remember like middle school me whenever I was like wanting to talk to someone or become friends with someone and instead of actually speaking to them I would just follow them in their conversations with others and try and find points where I can butt in and talk. Like I have distinct memories of that.

Amanda: It’s actually really funny, um I am Bingley like I could talk to anybody about anything. I start up conversations with people in grocery stores and my husband is Darcy.

Rachel: Really?

Amanda: Like I will start talking to somebody and my husband will side-eye me like, “do you have to do this? Really? Come back, stand next to me, protect me from the strangers. yeah Thomas Thomas and I are are being me and Darcy as like the perfect couple, so.

Rachel: That works, though. It’s funny because me and um my boyfriend are both very shy so in order for we started dating in high school so when we started dating I basically was just like follow and then I was like I started asking weird and absurd questions to get him to start talking to me… so back to Pride and Prejudice. So, uh Mr. Lucas just essentially called for Darcy to dance with Elizabeth right in front of him because, you know, they’re all talking a circle and Elizabeth goes, “Absolutely not. No thank you. You said you don’t dance with anybody. I am not interested.”

(Both laugh)

Rachel: Which I’m sure Darcy was, just in that moment, was like “No no no. Oh no, she has looked at me, she’s spoken.

Amanda: And then he’s like, “She just cut me here in front of all these people.”

Rachel: He’s like, “You know I’m just gonna go home and I’m just gonna cry for 20 minutes. I’m gonna eat eight boxes of ice cream don’t…”

Amanda: Yeah poor Darcy.

Rachel: I’m sure he’s like going home putting on like rom-coms and just crying.

Amanda: She is she’s pretty savage to him.

Rachel: Oh she totally is.

Amanda: She’s but like like the ultimate sap you know the meaner he is to her the more he seems to like her.

Rachel: We love that enemies-to- lovers.

Amanda: Oh it’s because nobody, I mean nobody, has looked him in the eye and given him a contradictory word before. So, he thinks that he’s perfect because everybody agrees with him but here’s this little nobody who’s like cutting him down left and right he’s like, “What is going on here? I don’t understand. But I like it.”

Rachel: Yeah have you seen that sound on TikTok  where it’s like, he goes “So you ignore me and you hate me and you’re just my type.” she goes “um sorry what’d you say?” and he goes “perfect.”

(Both laugh)

Amanda: I have not seen that but it’s funny.

Rachel: If I can find it later, I’ll send it to you. But that’s what I’m imagining for him.

Amanda, laughing: Perfect.

Rachel: So Darcy just told Bingley’s sister, uh Miss Hurst, that’s her name right?

Amanda: Yep Mrs. Hurst.

Rachel: Um but he thinks Elizabeth is hot. I love writing these notes instead of writing like, “He thinks she’s handsome.” I’m like she- “he thinks she’s hot”

Amanda: When are we talking about her fine eyes?

Rachel: Yeah I’m just like I think it’s funny. So, in chapter seven there’s now a militia in town, which is the militia like respected like the army or is it like a weird-?

Amanda: Yeah. It’s the army.

Rachel: Oh, it is the army?

Amanda: Yeah they’re officers in the in the army. You’re talking about the redcoats?

Rachel: Oh does it say redcoats in the U.S. version because I have the U.K. version so it says militia.

Amanda: Both.-

Rachel, cutting in: –Oh, ok.

Amanda: -Both. In my version at least at least all the versions I have the it’s it’s interchangeable. The militia has come to town, so the militia is like the branch of them is the group it’s a militia group but they’re red coats so they’re still regular army.

Rachel: Okay I wasn’t super sure because I was like, is this like a weird branch of like the home group of the army or is it like actual army, army? Like I wasn’t really sure so I didn’t know if it was like one of those things where it’s like kind of looked down like you can’t make in the army so you get in the militia.

Amanda: No militia is just it’s just a term for the- for the military.

Rachel: Okay so then it’s like slightly more respected.

Amanda: Yeah, we got to remember… um not not Darcy um Fitzwilliam is is in the… he’s an Earl’s son but the higher ranks at that day and age they didn’t rise up through the ranks the commissions were bought. So, his lieutenancy is his I think he’s a lieutenant or a colonel maybe?

Rachel: I thought he was a lieutenant colonel?

Amanda: There you go maybe that’s why I couldn’t decide between the two. That was bought for him so his dad bought him his rank.

Rachel: “What do you want for your birthday son? A car?” “No I want to be a lieutenant colonel. Oh thank you!”

(Amanda laughs)

Rachel: Wild um so one of the Bennett girls is interested in the captain of the militia. Jane is going to Bingley’s house again and the sisters are dining with their brother and Darcy plus the officers and this is the point in which Mrs. Bennett makes Jane go on horseback so that she would have to stay the night and it down poured and then she got sick.

Amanda: The catalyst for all that comes after.

Rachel, laughing: I know but I’m just like with the fact that they don’t have good medicine could you imagine just sending your child out and you’re like, “They’re gonna get sick. Fingers crossed they don’t die.”

Amanda: But I mean as Mr. Bennett said, if Jane dies it’ll be a boon to them to know it was in pursuit of Mr. Bingley. If you’re gonna die that make sure it’s for a good cause.

Rachel, laughing: Yeah, I guess.

Amanda: Take one for the team Jane.

Rachel: I was gonna say, he’s got four other replacement daughters.

Amanda: Very true, very true.

Rachel: So, Jane gets really sick from the rain. Which then the romance happens because Elizabeth really wants to see Jane and make sure she’s okay. So, she starts walking which apparently is bad. Exercise is frowned upon.

Amanda: I don’t think… well yes I mean getting sweaty and like that so exercise as we know it was down upon. They are not big on cardio.

Rachel: I just when there she walked because I I guess it was like three miles when she walked over there and then everyone was- as soon as she got in they’re like, “Oh my gosh I can’t believe she dared to walk.” and I’m like, “How else is she supposed to get there?” She doesn’t have a carriage like… steal a horse? Elizabeth got there and everyone is absolutely shook that she exercised like Caroline’s like, “What?” and Darcy’s like, “How did you even get here? Like walking? What’s that?” He’s like, “You didn’t get carried and brought by like 18 people in a lifted chair?”

(Amanda laughs)

Rachel: Well Elizabeth started her stay cause she ends up staying there for a couple days Elizabeth started to like the Bingley sisters which at that point I was like, “Oh this is good!” and then um it’s Elizabeth ended up staying the night there. As soon as chapter eight starts Elizabeth does not like the sisters anymore she’s like, “Never mind. I was right. These people are trash.” Mr. Bingley on the other hand is very nervous for Jane which I thought was adorable. He was like, “Oh, is she okay?” Checking up on her all the time like between um Elizabeth and everybody she’s like oh is everybody okay.

Rachel: Um as soon as Elizabeth leaves the room, Miss Bingley starts talking trash about her like about her she’s like oh the hemline of her pants… or her shirt… her dress dress…. is what I’m looking for um it’s three inches deep in mud and she’s untidy she has bad manners all this kind of stuff.

Amanda: I think what you were looking for was her petticoat.

Rachel: There we go!

Amanda: You’re looking for a petticoat.

Rachel: I know my brain can’t even imagine those kinds of words because I’m like… (laughs)

Amanda: “Good lord miss Elizabeth. Did you walk here? Did you see her petticoat? Three inches deep in mud!” Not that I’m aware of the words or anything in my heart there at all.

Rachel: They’re like tattooed on your arm that specific line.

Amanda: I posted a sarcastic thing on Facebook Saturday night. I said, “I have to do a podcast um for Pride and Prejudice on Monday” and I said “Since I haven’t read the book at all or seen the movie ever” and I just like went on this big rant about how I’ve never seen it and how I’m required to stop everything I’m doing and read Pride and Prejudice so I’m ready for Monday morning. And most everybody knows like my ups because I post about Pride and Prejudice all the time. And then some people are like, “You’ve never read it yet? Oh you’re gonna love it so much!” and I’m like, “How are y’all so stupid?” I’m like I could report- I could read you Pride and Prejudice from memory in Klingon. I don’t need to read it right now.

Rachel: You’re like as soon as those people who are saying that um they didn’t know you read it you’re like, “All right you’re getting the block block.” because now you’re like you don’t care about me so… Darcy and Bingley are basically like, “We thought she was fine.” as the uh Bingley sisters are talking that mad trash and then my note here is just “The Bingley sisters are trash.”

Amanda: Super trash.

Rachel: I just why you gotta bring down others like that? But I guess they don’t have any other form of entertainment. Their life has been a little sheltered.

Amanda: That has a lot to do with it and then their family has because they started out, I mean they’re still in trade that’s how they got their money so at one point in time someone in their family went to a shop every day and now they’re they just have reached the point in the economic food chain where they no longer have to physically work. Somebody does the work for them so she’s gotten a little big for her britches, I think trying to overcome the fact that she knows that you know their money is still in trade whereas like Darcy’s money isn’t in trade you know his money comes strictly from his properties.

Rachel: I know they’re… I just hate them. So Elizabeth would rather read than play cards and one of the sister’s husband, Mr. Hurst did not like that he was like, “You don’t want to play cards? What?” Mr. Hurst was so boring the entire time I was trying to figure out what uh miss like uh Mrs. Hurst saw on him because I was like, this dude all he does is play cards and he doesn’t seem to be any… like he’s very vanilla.

Amanda, singing: Money money money money.

Rachel: Truth

Amanda, singing: Money!

Rachel: Yeah I just ugh marrying for money just sounds boring.

Amanda: Well at that point in time that was basically all you could do was marriage money.

Rachel: You had to be really pretty and just marry for money.

Amanda: Yep

Rachel: So, they all start okay this I actually directly quoted they all start talking about how an accomplished woman must have a “thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages”, and she has to possess a quote “certain something” unquote and Elizabeth says that that’s not possible and their standards are way too high.

Amanda: I agree. Well, I mean, can we do any of the things they-?

Rachel: No!

Amanda: No we we can’t do any of that so.

Rachel: Yeah you have to like devote your entire life to each of those things, you know?

Amanda: Yeah no it’s ridiculous and then what I think was funny and I’ve always wondered about this is um she always just agrees with everything Darcy says, you know? Because Miss Bingley because she wants to- she wants Darcy so she’s just gonna agree with everything he says but she is none of the things he’s listing off.

Rachel: Yeah.

Amanda: So she’s trying to be all superior but he’s not talking about you girl.

Rachel: Literally though.

Amanda: I don’t think she grasps that concept. You have already admitted in this conversation that you can’t do these things so you’re talking about what a great woman looks like but he’s not talking about you.

Rachel: Yeah.

Amanda: Why are you still agreeing with him?

Rachel: The entire time that she’s present she doesn’t draw or sing or anything like that and I don’t think she even dances at the balls or anything. It’s not mentioned at all so it’s like she doesn’t do anything. Like all she does is talk trash.

Amanda: And think she’s so much better than everybody else.

Rachel: Yeah and then okay so then the next thing is Miss Bingley literally says that Elizabeth lives to uh talk trash about other women and like she is literally just minding her own business, hanging out and then they have the audacity to say that. Like she’s the one that talks bad about other women.

Amanda: Yeah no. “Are you so severe on your own sex?” -Sorry.

Rachel: Yeah I love the direct quotes.

Amanda: My bad.

Rachel: I love to see it. We love to see it. Chapter nine. Elizabeth uh sent out for her mom in the morning because Jane was starting to get a little worse. Um and then Jane’s still too sick to move and uh Miss Bennett shows up and just starts bragging about Jane right now to Bingley. I hate Miss Bennett- Mrs. Bennett so much, so much.

Amanda: It’s embarrassing I I could take blood, guts, I don’t mind any of that in a book but embarrassment? I hate watching people get embarrassed. It’s just, it’s awful and for Mrs. Bennett that’s all she does is embarrass Jane and Elizabeth.

Rachel: I know my secondhand embarrassment was like ughhhhhh…

Amanda: I know, it’s cringy it’s just super cringy.

Rachel: It’s like a helicopter parent, you know? You like watch it and you’re like watching those kids just survive it’s like watching like a train crash.

Amanda: But she’s like she’s not even a helicopter parent which makes it so bad she’s one of those parents that wants to be cool in their kid’s eyes and so she’s super irresponsible and she’s bringing a beer at, you know, 16 and…

Rachel: I also feel like she’s the kind of parent that’s like says basically it gets their kid put in all these classes just so they marry rich and that’s it.

Amanda: Yup.

Rachel: Chapter 10. Miss Bingley is commenting on the letter Darcy is writing to his sister and this is so annoying to me and then this is my first indication I was like, “I wonder if she likes him?” I don’t know why that was my first indication.

Amanda: Oh, that Miss Bingley likes Darcy?

Rachel: Yeah, my first indication was like the point where he she’s like hovering over him writing a letter I’m like, “Oh do you think she likes him?” like that was my note I was like, “Huh I wonder if she kind of likes him or something.”

Amanda: I’m like 100 pages out of the book by this point you’re just now grasping that concept? (laughing)

Rachel: I know, I I just like I just thought she’s annoying and then I was like, “Oh, no. Wait. She has a crush on him. Okay.”

Amanda, laughing: Oh my god you’re too cute!

Rachel: I was just like, “Wow, I hate this girl like she’s so annoying. She’s like so full of herself.” I’m like, “Oh. It’s a coping mechanism.”

Amanda, laughing:  That’s funny.

Rachel: Yeah, reading back on my notes is like, “Oh, okay. Wow. I did not pick up on those context clues.”

Amanda: That’s hilarious.

Rachel: So um Elizabeth is trying to at this point I thought Elizabeth was starting to realize that he’s interested in her and then the next note goes, “Oh wait she thinks he’s watching her because he doesn’t like her and she doesn’t like him.”

Amanda: Yep, yep.

Rachel: Yeah okay. He asks Elizabeth to dance and she says no because she doesn’t want to deal with him looking down on her and he says he wasn’t planning on it. And then the next note is, “I was right! Miss Bingley does like Darcy!” and I don’t know why it took me so long to figure that out.

Amanda: That is so cute! Oh my goodness yes, yes. I I don’t even think she likes Mr. Darcy she likes Mr. Darcy’s bank account.

Rachel: Yeah uh yikes, trophy wives.

Amanda: Hashtag truth.

Rachel: I will say they did pick a really good actress for her in the 2005 remake.

Amanda: Oh my god she-they and the remake is almost, except for in a few few spots, the script is almost word from word from the book.

Rachel: Yeah.

Amanda: -speaking parts and the just the disdain you could see her nose is so far up in the air she did such a fantastic job bringing the superiority to Miss Bingley’s character it’s yeah fantastic.

Rachel: I know they did such a good job I was in love with her, like the actress playing her. I hate her so much but you know the actress did a phenomenal job.

Amanda: Yes she did.

Rachel: So Caroline Bingley took Darcy for a walk where they ran into her sister and Elizabeth and they immediately tried to ditch Elizabeth. This is so middle school like I specifically remember this happening to me like all your friends would be walking on the sidewalk and they’d be like three in a row and then you’d have to be that one person behind and be like, “Oh okay guys…” you know because they won’t split off.

Amanda: Yes

Rachel: and I’m like wow and Darcy suggests they take a different route to include Elizabeth and Elizabeth says nope, not interested and goes inside.

Amanda: She said, “peace out”.

Rachel: I know and I was like let’s go Elizabeth like I feel that. We love to see it.

Amanda: See and at that point in time you could see he we can see in his interactions that he’s softening towards her, he’s thawing towards her, he makes the comments about her eyes about how, you know when they’re talking about how dirty she looks, and he’s like on the contrary she looks invigorated. And he thinks he’s coming across to Elizabeth and that Elizabeth coldness is from the sisters and in reality, Elizabeth’s coldness is like because I want nothing to do with any of you. And so he just he just doesn’t grasp it already at this point in time he thinks he’s like halfway courting her. And she’s like “See ya, don’t want to be ya.”

Rachel: Yeah I know. He’s like, “Oh we’re in love.” and Elizabeth’s like, “If you look at me I swear I will fight you on the spot.” and he’s like, “Oh the romance.”

Amanda: Yes that’s it exactly it’s so funny.

Rachel: but um okay so that’s all we’re gonna cover for this episode uh the first episode of Pride and Prejudice. But Amanda where can people find you if they want to find you on the internet?

Amanda: Oh yes um I am all over the internet um I am an author um so my website is amandafayebooks.com uh you can find me on facebook at facebook.com/amandafayebooks um my username is if you want to find me personally is just Amanda Faye or Author Amanda Faye I’m on Amazon um Amanda Faye all my books are on Amazon. And I have such an obsession with Pride and Prejudice that it’s referenced in every one of my books and then I almost always have a character named after Pride and Prejudice as well. In my book so if you like Pride and Prejudice you’ll like… you like whatever what I write.

Rachel: and I’ll link all those in the show notes so you guys can find them uh quickly and easily but thank you so much for joining me today!

Amanda: It’s my pleasure thank you so much I’ll talk to you soon!

(Outro Music)

Rachel: Thank you to everyone who joined me on this episode of the Barely Bookish and thank you so much to Amanda Faye for reading this with me and talking about this with me and for overall just being the Pride and Prejudice expert. And honestly just thank you so much for everyone who joined me. If you want to check me out and follow me on all the socials go @BarelyBookish on everything including TikTok if you want to watch my kind of ridiculous videos. I think they’re funny but if you’ll think they’re funny it’s something else. But thank you all so much for joining me. Our theme song is created by Rafael Krux on freepd.com our logo was made by my wonderful little sister, Sarah and yeah that’s all I have for you guys and I will catch you in the next one. Bye!