100年後も読まれる名作 10 リジーの結婚 プライドと偏見

This is an abridged adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, intended for children ages 10 and younger.

Like other books in this series, this book features complete furigana, large font size, and is less than 150 pages long. For the most part I found it pretty readable — no ornate poetic description, no excessively long sentences, and very few contractions or slang words since characters speak politely and properly. However, because characters speak very politely keigo is used rather frequently — that said, I didn't find it a barrier, since understanding keigo in a book context is fairly easy (the hard part is speaking or writing with it).

The more familiar you are with the original book the easier this will be for you, but while this adaptation keeps the same important story events it does take creative liberties with the details of the story, particularly in the main characters' interior thoughts but also in some conversations — so referencing the original work in English won't necessarily be helpful in understanding some of the more puzzling sentences.

I would recommend this book to someone who is a fan of the works of Jane Austen and is curious to see it adapted for a Japanese audience; however if you are not familiar with Pride and Prejudice, this really isn't a good place to start with it.