Review: Lizzy as seen from the male perspective.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 2, 2013
I enjoyed this book very much, and not just for the story (which was interesting). Usually, this type of book is written by a woman and it reflects a woman's opinion of what a the man is thinking and how he acts. Since most of the audience is made up of women, this interpretation (which is probably not fully accurate) is consistent with how we would tend to see it.In this case, Mr. Miller's point of view of how Lizzy acts and how she thinks very obviously reflects the male perspective of the feminine mind which I found fascinating. This Lizzy, when dealing with issues of love and marriage, is completely logical and analytical, she weighs the pro's and con's very intelligently, with affection not allowed to muddle the issue. It's a good thing spreadsheets hadn't been invented back then! There is not a trace of feminine intuition, gut feelings, emotions, and all those other qualities that women (not just literary ones) blend into the 'known facts' as part of an intelligent decision-making process. I'm not implying that women do not make decisions based on facts and logic, but we do allow emotions to form part of the process at some point. Sometimes emotions carry the day, and sometimes not, but they are there.  With Lizzy, when her Eureka moment finally arrives it almost seems like an impulsive decision--she suddenly realizes who she deeply loves.Seeing this male view of the female thought process made me wonder how far off the literary male created by a female mind might be. If I had been the author of this book, the men would have been made to behave differently than they did in this book.Still, this logical Lizzy obviously had something that attracted people. Almost every man who came close, even when just dancing, fell in love with her. Women, too, found her unique and admirable and she gained the stamp of approval and active sponsorship of  women of rank and influence--which seemed like a bit of stretch to me, especially in 19th century England. The attraction of the men, I'm sure the author is better qualified than I to judge.