Rating: 
Summary: kinda slow, but good! :)
Review: Sense and Sensibility is a pretty slow book. I felt as if I had to wait and wait for something interesting to happen. When something did happen, I found it to be pretty predictable. I think that some parts of this old book have been used in other films. I know I am not all the sudden good at predicting what happens in stories. I think it was just this book. I was confused in the beginning of this book because I spent most of the time trying to get all the Dashwood people straight. After I became familiar with the characters, I started working on the plot. I have to say that the plot was a bit uninteresting at times. When it was interesting, and not predictable for me, I really enjoyed it a lot. There were several surprises in the book. I enjoyed how tricky the plot was. Toward the end of the story I began wondering how the plot was going to wrap itself up. The ending of the book was quite unexpected for me.
One of the things that I liked best about this book was that it was so tricky. Once I thought the movie was going to end a certain way, but I was immediately proven wrong. I think this happened at least five times. The bulk of the story may have been a little dry, but with all of the twists in the plot of Sense and Sensibility, I have to say I was entertained. One of the lower parts of this book would have to be the ending. It seemed as if in the space of about three minutes everyone went from melancholy, to perfectly content with their lives.
Overall, I have to say that I enjoyed this book. Most Austen fans do not praise this as her best book. Most of them overlook disliking the book because it was Austen's first book. I cant be to sure because I have never read any other Austen books. However, after reading Sense and Sensibility, I am definitely going to dig in to another Austen book really soon.
Rating: 
Summary: my new favorite
Review: I just finished reading this book and I have fallen in love with it. Austen is funny and poignant and though the social commentaries she makes throughout this splendid novel were originally meant for the 18th century, much of what she says still holds true to some degree. The characters of the story will tug at your heart strings as you laugh out loud. Absolutley stunning!!
Rating: 
Summary: Lesser first effort
Review: As SENSE & SENSIBILITY (S&S) was Austen's first published novel, it is perhaps a forgivable sin that this work is almost wholly without that inimitable touch of greatness that makes her later works so wonderful. To be sure, S&S is not completely without charm; as usual, her characters are described along the same uber ironic and caustic lines familiar to fans of her later work, and the soap operish quality of the narrative is, as always, tempered by her wry wit. When Austen sets her baleful eye on the often ridiculous mores of her society, deftly skewing her demographic representing characters with the graceful, devastating wit she made her stock and trade, there is no one better. Yet, in S&S, the other part of what makes Austen so great - the biting, social commentary which is always indistinguishably entwined with plot and that sterling character development we've come to expect - is absent. And though Austen sets her novel up as a didactic tale centering around an overmeasure of both sensibility and emotional excessivity, in the end she fails to create any application, to make sense of the lessons she so clearly intended to teach. The two main characters seem to have suffered trial after trial for nothing, and the rest of the characters, those that MADE them suffer, get off scot-free. That sense of Austen Justice so unavoidable in her later efforts is conspicuously absent here, leaving the narrative in want of purpose and the reader ultimately dissatisfied. A lesser effort from one just setting her foot on the Alpine Path to greatness.
Rating: 
Summary: Kept waiting for something to happen
Review: This book was hard to get into. Austen takes the story of two sisters, one quick to emotion and the other reasonable nearly to a fault and puts them in a similar situation of unreturned fancy. In the right hands this could be an interesting story and you would think Austen would make it so. Unfortunately not, her story is dull and I kept waiting for something to happen. There was no biting irony or under the surface commentary. This being Jane Austen's first novel explains some of it. You see a few glimpses of her use of language and irony but not enough to carry this book. I give this a C-.
Rating:
Summary: The narration is lively and captivating.
Review: I have listened to all of Jane Austen's novels in the unabridged audiobook form. Sense and Sensibility (narrated by Sarah Badel) is my personal favorite. Every character has a wonderfully distinct voice. The narration is lively and captivating. You will love it! Pay particular attention to the voice Miss Badel gave to "Robert Ferrars"....it's hilarious!!
Rating:
Summary: Not her best
Review: The funny thing about Austen's work is that, although not much happens in her books, they are always interesting. Sense and Sensibility is in fact interesting, but lacks something. The ending is disappointing, and overall, it wasn't nearly as good as Emma.
Rating:
Summary: A book for women, lovers and . . . sisters
Review: "Sense and Sensiblity" is a masterpiece. It's greatness and universality, besides it's pure entertainment value, can be extolled all day long. So its very easy, when you are dealing with a masterpiece, to lean on clichés to describe a work.
But I don't want to do that. I will, however, tell you that for young romantics who believe in Mr. Right and long walks on the beach, this novel takes you through the breathtaking ride of falling, captively, into love and falling, quite willfully, out. Also, you vicariously experience the emotional stupor of coming out on the other side of such a relationship exhausted...and wiser. Also, if you're like me, you can wrestle with the tale of a woman who believes in the security of decisiveness. Her conflict is how to be sensible in an insensible world, and then, finally, how to reconcile the whimsicleness in herself. Where does the mind retreat and the heart take over? "Sense and Sensiblity" lastly is a tale for sisters. A truly unique relationship, Jane Austen captures the complexity of sisters--persons, peers even, that are equipped with the same tools in life but that often are very different. And despite these differences, share an eternal bond that can only be severed by themselves. "Sense and Sensibility" is worth the time and money any day.
Rating:
Summary: Lacking
Review: A Jane Austen fan, I was disappointed with this book. The language, the style of writing was not in contrast with her other works, but the characters and plot did not interest me. Marianne was decidedly a young woman whom I had no interest in. She was too wrapped up in her own little world to be a girl who deserved the compassion which Austen tried to ilicit. Besides this, Marianne and Elinor's prejudices made them seem as ill-bred as the company they ridiculed for being such. Although I liked Elinor for her honesty and compassion and hated Willoughby and Lucy Steele because of who they were, I was so disappointed with the conclusion that these three did little to save this book. My recommendation: read Pride and Prejudice or Emma instead.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I have to say I loved this book. Most of the cogent points about this book have been pointed out already, so I'm not going to repeat them, but add some comments additional to what has been stated already. It's not Austen's best book, it's a simpler book than the ones that come after it, but that does at least make it easier to read - each successive book is a quantum leap in terms of style, narrative, dialogue and plotting over the previous, and Austen was changing the way novels would be written forever. Not that this is a bad book. Personally I liked it because it has something that's not so obvious in her later books, with the exception of Persuasion - the rock hard scathing judgment that comes accross in her letters - her obvious contempt for characters like Sir John Middleton, Lady Ferrars is searing in it's acidity. There are some excellent scenes - the scenes with Lucy and Elinor are classics in their own right, and the coup de theatre scenes when Edward bursts in on Elinor and Lucy, or Elinor throwing open the door after waiting for her mother when Marrianne is desperatly ill, instead finds only - Willoughby! Although the habit of the author colouring the narrative with her own opinions does get irratating at times, (a lesson she'd learnt by the time she wrote Pride & Prejudice, which is neutral and unbiased) this still makes for a marvellous read. Marianne's sensibitility is breathtaking, and the revelation of how individual behaviour is fundamental in preserving the very fabric of society is unsurpassed.
Rating:
Summary: Again with the sisters!
Review: Although this book is not about the two sisters of "Pride and Prejudice," the primary characters are two sisters (which will remind you of Jane and her sister), Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Again, as in "Pride and Prejudice," the underlying theme is marriage. There is a lot of misunderstanding due to partial, or erroneous, information. The sense and sensibility is shown in how the sisters handle the different predicaments. The cast includes, among others, the sisters, Willoughby, Edward Ferrars, and John and Fanny Dashwood. This edition has the complete text and not much else. The introduction has some historical information about the author and about the publishing of the book. There are only two pages of this. The margins are small, so taking notes within the text will prove difficult. It is easy to carry around and seems to put up with a moderate amount of abuse. I do recommend this book. The edition is worth the price, and the story is indeed a classic.
|
