Books

Booklover Déjà Vu (Pride and Prejudice Edition)

Aubrey Leaman

Jane Austen deja vu

Do you ever get booklover déjà vu?

“Booklover déjà vu” is a scientific phenomenon (that I made up) that manifests itself in two different forms:

  1. You realize you’re similar to a book character in some way, shape, or form.
  2. Events in your life may actually mirror the events in a book (less common, but still occurring).

For example, I have a friend who is the Elizabeth Bennett to my Jane Bennett.  Whereas she would have no trouble giving Mr. Darcy what for, I’m more likely to assume people have good intentions (to the point of being naive at times when it comes to the Ms. Bingleys of the world).  Of course, I’m different from Jane in a lot of ways (for one thing, I’m a Ravenclaw, not a Hufflepuff like she is) and my friend has many awesome traits that Lizzy just doesn’t have.  But I still feel the déjà vu!

Sometimes I get the other version, too, though, where actual events in my life are ridiculously similar to a book’s events.  Honestly, it can be kind of creepy…

Have you ever experienced booklover déjà vu in either of its forms? Or is there another form out there that I haven’t faced yet??

And now: a big thank you to all of my readers! I’m always thankful for the likes and comments you leave on my posts, but now seemed like a particularly good time to say thanks since over 1,000 of you were following me as of sometime last week.  I hope you continue to enjoy and find inspiration through the blog and please feel free to chat with me about anything bookish, music, or blog-related through post comments or email! I love nerding out with you guys.

 

Side note: While looking up how to spell déjà vu, I came across this awesome article: Scientists May Have Solved the Mystery of Déjà Vu.  Fascinating read if you’re interested in that sort of thing!

 

For more Pride and Prejudice talk, check out Classical Music Stories: Pride and Prejudice.

Twitter: @ifmermaids

37 thoughts on “Booklover Déjà Vu (Pride and Prejudice Edition)”

  2. North & South is AMAZING. Richard Armitage’s smoulder is more smouldering than Colin Firth’s. Plus they actually kiss at the end which makes me happy. I mean if you’ve watched 2-3 hours of this emotionally-wrenching drama filled with romantic tension you want at least one kiss at the end.

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  3. Such a good book! personally I often end up subconsciously mimicking the characters in my favorite books- just went out for dinner dressed like a boarding school student after starting the book Prep…

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  4. I experience the reverse phenomenon. After reading a book, I feel like the character that impressed me most for a couple of days until I start reading the next book. I even carry myself like I imagine my protagonist would. And it is not even a conscious effort. Pretty annoying.

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    1. I bet! That’s really interesting, though. Now that you mention it, when I read a lot in one day I start to do a similar thing. It will feel like the protagonist’s problems are mine and that the people in my life are acting in similar ways to the people in his or her life…

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  6. When I think of déjà vu parallels I can’t help of being reminded of one of my favorite movies, a modern twist to the Pride and Prejudice story: You’ve Got Mail. For me personally, I totally experienced the phenomenon you described specifically with Pride and Prejudice. I finished reading it for the first time in my hostel in Lisbon, and I suddenly realized this story was the corrupted version of my doomed relationship in college. I dated a girl who told me over and over again how P and P was her absolute favorite book. But later I realized she was playing out the story in our relationship. I was supposed to be the Mr. Darcy to her Elizabeth Bennett with eerily similar details. Let’s just say neither of us could live up to the plot expectations. Ha! Still love the book, though, and have now read all of Austen’s major works minus Persuasion.

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    1. Ouch, I’m sorry! That’s rough… And I love You’ve Got Mail! I haven’t seen it in a while, but it’s a great movie. Personally, Mansfield Park is one of my favorite Austen books. Persuasion was still enjoyable, but not one of my favorites!

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      1. Ha…yeah. More just funny I think. But yes, I enjoyed Mansfield Park. I think my favorite, though, was Sense and Sensibility. Plus, it’s one of my favorite book to film adaptations. I mean…who doesn’t love Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, and Severus Snape (ahem…Alan Rickman)?!

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      2. Omgoodness… I can’t make myself finish Sense and Sensibility… I can’t stand it! Am I the only one that feels the characters are just… ERGH?!

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      4. Ha, that’s okay. Not every novel fits every person. But I’m sticking to my guns; I like the characters a lot. Even if they can be dramatic (or even dramatic in their stoic-ness?), I like the life of them.

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  7. I must say that during a difficult period of my life, Catherine Sloper from “Washington Square” rang a bell. You may remember her as the heiress who wanted to marry the gold digger, but her father discouraged her from doing so. In looking back, I must say that my parent’s influence kept me from making big mistakes in my life. Fortunately, I ended up marrying a wonderful guy about a year ago.

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  8. “Booklover déjà vu” is a scientific phenomenon (that I made up)” Ha this made me chuckle, I love it. Sometimes I get “Booklover déjà vu” when I read a certain genre (Eh hem, Romance) and then the plots start to sound the same over and over again, and I wonder, “Did I already read this book?”.

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    1. Haha thanks! Fair point. After a while all the love interests start to sound the same…and of course the plot tends to be super predictable, which could be good or bad depending on what you’re looking for in a book!

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  9. I think another form of Booklover’s Deja Vu is when I feel like I’ve read a book before, but I know I haven’t. I experience that all of the time. For instance, I’ll be reading “Emma” and think, I’ve read this before! But it’s because it’s so similar to P&P that I feel like I have “been there before.” (This isn’t to say that all of Jane Austen’s books are the same because they definitely all carry a level of uniqueness. But with the similar settings, subjects, and characters, they all seem very familiar.)

    I personally suffer from perpetual deja vu with all things. I don’t know if that’s a real thing, but it makes me think I’ve heard songs before or seen movies before, or been in situations before that are really from books and movies. I loved that article. Thanks for posting it!

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    1. Great point! I feel the same way about her books. While each one is different, they still exist within the boundaries of what we know to be a typical Austen novel. It reminds me of what Rachel said above, where a lot of romance books can start feeling the same because of similarities in plot and characters! That’s interesting about your déjà vu…hope that doesn’t get too annoying for you! Our brains really work in really crazy ways sometimes… Anyway, glad you enjoyed it! 🙂

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  10. I was surprised that I enjoyed P&P so much,although the bit where they do laps of the room spun me out until I realised it was a really big room and not a standard sized room in which Darcy could tap hang over all the conversations.

    Next up will be Northanger Abbey when I buy it, there won’t be a sense of déjà Vu with that.

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    1. I never picked up on the size of the room! That makes so much more sense now, though. Hope you enjoy Northanger Abbey! That may be the only Austen book I haven’t read yet haha so I’d be interested in hearing if you like it!

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      1. Having been to Chatsworth House where the famous one was filmed (and getting lost in the maze) it helped me imagine it better. Northanger sounds pleasantly Gothic so looking forward to it.

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  12. Pingback: Pride and Prejudice As Told By Taylor Swift Songs | If Mermaids Wore Suspenders

  14. Ok, this is interesting. It isn’t a huge leap to see art imitating life. So, I can see how there could be good alignment between certain books and any number of people. But, the notion of déjà vu itself, seems larger to me. I used to dismiss it as nothing more than left-right hemisphere timing issues in the brain, and that can account for a vast majority of the cases, but some (myself included) have experienced a more prescient sensation. A foreknowledge experience rather than a memory, or recalling a dream. The article you linked to seems to try and put a fairly stringent box around the experience, when it could be possible that it is more. Maybe things like quantum entanglement play a part, and maybe there is something to the multiverse after all. I used to disregard anything out of the realms of biochemistry and neuroscience when trying to define or explain strange phenomena, including déjà vu. But now that I am a great deal older, and should be a great deal more cynical than in my younger years, I have opened to some bigger ideas. At least the possibility of them having merit. It used to be that people could be burned at the stake for playing with magnets. Classical thinking was that they were somehow demonic. So there is a perfect example of the absurd becoming mundane. Maybe that is what we are in for regarding a number of ideas outside the mainstream of the hard sciences. I don’t know… just pondering.

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    1. There’s certainly a lot to ponder! I definitely agree that there’s more out there than we know of right now. I mean, the magnets example points to that. I honestly don’t know how déjà vu works or what exactly I think about it as a phenomenon to be honest, but maybe one day we’ll know! 🙂

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