The original novel by Jane Austen has 61 chapters in it. This novel was claimed to be one of the best romantic novels and suitable for young adults. As I had no patience to read the complete novel to understand the content of the story, I was looking for a shorter version of same to get a better clarity of the content before proceeding to spend hours reading the original novel. I happened to get the shortened version of it retold by Prashanth Gupta. The title itself has its own charm and the story exactly follows the title.

The story dates back to the 18th century and it deals with the Victorian upbringing. Mr. Bennet of the Longbourn estate has five daughters and his wife is worried about their daughters' future as their property is entailed and is to be passed from a male heir to another male heir and thereby leaving the daughters stranded without any money for their living. Mrs. Bennet starts looking for the right grooms for her daughters before they end up losing their property and that drives the plot. The tone of the book is well set from the very opening line.

Elizabeth, the second eldest plays the protagonist of the book who is the personification of Prejudice mentioned in the title and Mr. Darcy who ends up marrying Elizabeth personifies Pride. The reasons behind why the characters are compared to the title are well conveyed through the extremely sequenced storyline. 

This book which I have read has the total novel summed up in 20 chapters with a glimpse of a lot of events being given but not in detail which persuades the reader to read the original novel with deep detailing. 

With the expectation laid on the novel as one of the most loved romantic ones, I expected it to have contents not relevant to young readers but it did not. This book has wonderfully shown the love and romance that the reader would experience how the real pain or happiness of love feels.

This not only deals with love but also about the nature of people who walk around with a false facade. The two characters in the story Mr. Darcy and Mr. Whickham show the reality of people existing even now and how easily people get carried away with one's looks and outward behavior than to a well behaved but not so impressive looks. Real friendship is seen between Mr. Bingley and Mr.Darcy while the character of Mr. Collins is well characterized to show the real nature of a person who acts positively initially and turns out wicked when his expectations don't work well.

All the other characters in the book are created with a purpose and also seen to serve them. The characterization of each character adds more value to the story as it brings in a live visualization in our minds. It tells about how certain hasty judgments can result in a lack of happiness and how we should look for the difference between actual goodness and a covered-up one.

This short version has made me understand the worth of the novel and the classic work of Jane Austen and I would definitely look forward to reading the original version. I would suggest it as one of the best books for young adults. The little ones might find it tough to understand the indirect messages conveyed and the terms used in the novel. So, they might need to grow up to read this wonderful classic.