[MANGA REVIEW] Pride & Prejudice (Manga Classics) by Stacy King

Pride & Prejudice (Manga Classics) by Stacy King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Kynthos-the-Archer by: ARC provided by Netgallery

Recommended for: Newbies to Jane Austen's work.

Read from January 26 to February 17, 2015 — I own a copy, read count: 1 

I am happy to award this manga adaptation of Jane Austen's famous romance 4 stars for the lovely artwork and smooth manga storyboard. I'd say it's a worthy purchase to add to your bookshelf. The cover itself would certainly look lovely on your shelf and the book would help ease the introduction of Ms. Austen's work to the younger generation.

Frankly speaking I am a newbie to Ms. Austen's stories. This manga adaptation of Pride & Prejudice is my first experience of her story. I haven't even watched any of the film adaptations. Nevertheless I am quite charmed by the storyline and Po Tse's lovely artwork. However there are times where I felt the characters' facial expressions to be a little overboard and this threw me off a tad. Aside from that, Elizabeth came out somewhat airheaded to me instead of displaying her reputed intelligence and her charming quick-wits. Perhaps this could be due to the manga compressed time frame which might have hampered the delivery of Elizabeth's feelings sufficiently. On the other hand, the presentation of Mr. Darcy is pretty well done. He is that handsome to a fault vainpot who is full of himself and that rich unpleasant dude who thinks that everyone else is beneath him. Yeah I sorta did a bit of research on the characters as a comparison guideline since I don't have any prior information on them to help me on the valuation.

Upon experiencing this famous classical romance via the manga adaptation I am now keen on reading the original novel itself. So bravo for a job well done to both Stacy King and Po Tse.

Introducing the lovely manga cover (softcover version):

Another colored artwork (hardcover version):

Meet the lovely Bennets sisters:

A sample page:

Darcy isn't as dashing here on this particular page. Sometimes he even looked a little villainous on the artwork. Other times he is a lady killer. Haha.

Do check out some more sample pages over at COMICS ALLIANCE

BOOK DETAILS:

Title: Pride & Prejudice (Manga Classics)

Author: Stacy King

Illustrator: Po Tse

Publication Date: August 19th, 2014

Publisher: Udon Entertainment

Type: Manga

Genre: Classical Historical Romance

Description:

Beloved by millions the world over, Pride & Prejudice is delightfully transformed in this bold, new manga adaptation. All of the joy, heartache, and romance of Jane Austen's original, perfectly illuminated by the sumptuous art of manga-ka Po Tse, and faithfully adapted by Stacy E. King.

WHERE TO PURCHASE:

★|| BOOK DEPOSITORY ||★
★|| AMAZON ||★
★|| BARNES & NOBLE ||★

* Reviewed on February 21st, 2015

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**ARC provided by NetGalley for reviewing purpose.**

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[REVIEW] The Backwash Of War by Ellen Newbold La Motte

The Backwash Of War by Ellen Newbold La Motte

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Read from April 28 to 30, 2014 — I own a copy, read count: 1

Brutal, poignant and honest account of the devastation of war and the succeeding deterioration of humanity.

Pretty tough book to read yet utterly engaging, I couldn't look away. The truth in this book is hard to swallow, the vilest side of humans could be witnessed during trying times like war.

After reading so much on the sufferings of the severely wounded from the start till the end of the book, I felt the hospital aren't really helping these people. They are just adding on to their misery and pain. Makes me think bleeding to death is more merciful than rotting inside our while you are still alive. These unfortunate soldiers could have pass on faster if not for the intervention of medicine in the guise of saving life. I felt like yelling at them to STOP PATCHING UP THE DYING AND LEAVE THEM THE HELL ALONE. Leave them in peace please.

He was pretty ill when brought in, and if he had died promptly, as he should have done, it would have been better. But it happened at that time that there was a surgeon connected with the hospital who was bent on making a reputation for himself, and this consisted in trying to prolong the lives of wounded men who ought normally and naturally to have died. So this surgeon worked hard to save Grammont, and certainly succeeded in prolonging his life, and in prolonging his suffering, over a very considerable portion of time. He worked hard over him, and he used on him everything he could think of, everything that money could buy.

The tone of this book is dripping with unbelievable amount of sarcasm. I could feel the author's intense anger reverberating through the text with such force I felt like being punch in the gut and slapped on the face. BUT it's alright because her words are nothing but the truth however ugly the truth was and I am glad she had the courage to write this book and to tell it like it is. She was using sarcasm as a medium to bring across her distaste on war and was deeply sadden by the devastation it has brought to the innocents.

For a more in-depth review please do refer to Steelwhisper's thoughful review. I have to thank her bringing this book to my attention.

BOOK DETAILS:

Title: The Backwash Of War

Author: Ellen Newbold La MotteG. P. Putnam’s Sons

Publication Date: October 12th, 2008 (Ebook) - (First published in year 1916)

Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons - New York and London

Type: Memoir, approximately 24,156 words

Genre: Historical War Memoir (a diary turn book)

Tags/Keywords: classics, historical, soldiers, war, severely wounded, dying, death, prolonged sufferings, war, true account, diary, nursing, military hospital, humanity, amputation, disfigurement, tragedy, disability, mutilation[soldiers, war, severely wounded, dying, death, prolonged sufferings, war, true account, diary, nursing, military hospital, humanity, amputation, disfigurement, tragedy, disability, mutilation (hide spoiler)]

Description:

Ellen LaMotte (1873 - 1961) was an American nurse, journalist and author. She began her nursing career as a tuberculosis nurse in Baltimore and then served as an army nurse in Europe during World War I. After that she traveled to Asia where she saw the effects of opium addiction. The Backwash of War (1934) was based on her diaries kept during her time at the front. La Motte speaks of her time in an army hospital in France as periods of boredom interspersed with moments of fright. The Backwash of War is an excellent memoir of war from the viewpoint of a woman army nurse.

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★|| Various Ebooks Formats ||★|| Read Online ||★

* Reviewed on April 30th, 2014

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