Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility is a classic novel. It's a very entertaining book. A few pages into this book, I already had taken sides for and against the characters. They are wonderfully believable. Some I disliked; some I liked. The ones I didn't like were money grubbing types who must have been pretty common in that period. The one I most liked was Elinor Dashwood, the eldest Miss Dashwood. She was very pretty and had good sense. Throughout the book, I found surprises. These were unexpected events that twisted the plot. Jane Austen uses the English language very well. This book is almost contemporary in language and is eminently readable. In fact, Sense and Sensibility is a classic worth owning.
I recommend Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility to all readers who want a fascinating cast of characters and a good read.


Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Introduction to Jane Austen's Works
Review: Although SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is not of one Jane Austen's best novels, it is nonetheless a major novel, with the author's then-young talent in full display. Its publication in 1811 marked Austen as a huge literary talent, and its significance reverberates even today as contemporary readers re-discover the works of this author so adept at uncovering the foibles of nineteenth century aristocracy.

The title refers to the two eldest Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, one of whom (Elinor) embraces practicality and restraint while the other (Marianne) gives her whole heart to every endeavor. When the Dashwoods - mother Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor, Marianne, and youngest sister Margaret - are sent, almost impoverished, to a small cottage in Devonshire after the death of their father and the machinations of their brother's wife, they accept their new circumstances with as much cheer as they can muster even though their brother and his wife have taken over the family estate and fortune. Their characters, albeit wildly different in their approaches to life, are impeccably honest and intelligent - and their suitors take notice. Elinor falls in love with the shy, awkward Edward, while Marianne's affections are lavished on the dashing hunter Willoughby. As in all Austen's books, love and marriage don't come easily, as affections aren't always returned and social jockeying sometimes takes precedence to true love. In an interestingly twist, the end of this novel brings into question which sister represents which part of the title.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY only hints at the social skewering Austen would use to such great effect in her later novels, and the humor here is only occasional and slight, as this novel adopts a generally serious tone. Parody is largely limited to the gossipy Mrs. Jenkins, who jumps to wild conclusions about situations she knows nothing about. Though arranged marriage and true love figure prominently in all of Austen's novels, this novel focuses almost exclusivity on the prospects of the two main characters, making it less complex than the novels that followed. Reserved Elinor and exuberant Marianne are expertly drawn, with Edward, Willoughby, and Colonel Brandon (whose lovesick hopes for Marianne are dashed again and again) also engaging creations. Except for the first page or two where the circumstances of the Dashwoods are set up through a series of deaths and relations, possibly causing some confusion, this novel is exceedingly easy to follow for contemporary readers.

This novel is an excellent introduction to Jane Austen's works because of its relative simplicity (though readers should not dismiss it as simple) and the use of typical themes and social situations. Book clubs and students might want to explore the influence of money on nineteenth century British society as well as the meaning of the title as it applies to both the sisters and the other characters. It is also interesting to note both the helplessness and the extraordinary power of women in different circumstances.

Just because this is not Austen's best novel, I could not take away a single star because it is such a delightful book. I highly recommend this novel for all readers.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Introduction to Jane Austen's Works
Review: Although SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is not of one Jane Austen's best novels, it is nonetheless a major novel, with the author's then-young talent in full display. Its publication in 1811 marked Austen as a huge literary talent, and its significance reverberates even today as contemporary readers re-discover the works of this author so adept at uncovering the foibles of nineteenth century aristocracy.

The title refers to the two eldest Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, one of whom (Elinor) embraces practicality and restraint while the other (Marianne) gives her whole heart to every endeavor. When the Dashwoods - mother Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor, Marianne, and youngest sister Margaret - are sent, almost impoverished, to a small cottage in Devonshire after the death of their father and the machinations of their brother's wife, they accept their new circumstances with as much cheer as they can muster even though their brother and his wife have taken over the family estate and fortune. Their characters, albeit wildly different in their approaches to life, are impeccably honest and intelligent - and their suitors take notice. Elinor falls in love with the shy, awkward Edward, while Marianne's affections are lavished on the dashing hunter Willoughby. As in all Austen's books, love and marriage don't come easily, as affections aren't always returned and social jockeying sometimes takes precedence to true love. In an interestingly twist, the end of this novel brings into question which sister represents which part of the title.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY only hints at the social skewering Austen would use to such great effect in her later novels, and the humor here is only occasional and slight, as this novel adopts a generally serious tone. Parody is largely limited to the gossipy Mrs. Jenkins, who jumps to wild conclusions about situations she knows nothing about. Though arranged marriage and true love figure prominently in all of Austen's novels, this novel focuses almost exclusivity on the prospects of the two main characters, making it less complex than the novels that followed. Reserved Elinor and exuberant Marianne are expertly drawn, with Edward, Willoughby, and Colonel Brandon (whose lovesick hopes for Marianne are dashed again and again) also engaging creations. Except for the first page or two where the circumstances of the Dashwoods are set up through a series of deaths and relations, possibly causing some confusion, this novel is exceedingly easy to follow for contemporary readers.

This novel is an excellent introduction to Jane Austen's works because of its relative simplicity (though readers should not dismiss it as simple) and the use of typical themes and social situations. Book clubs and students might want to explore the influence of money on nineteenth century British society as well as the meaning of the title as it applies to both the sisters and the other characters. It is also interesting to note both the helplessness and the extraordinary power of women in different circumstances.

Just because this is not Austen's best novel, I could not take away a single star because it is such a delightful book. I highly recommend this novel for all readers.

Rating:
Summary: My second Austen book!!! Yaayyy!!! I'm so cultured!!!
Review: I had to read this book for my college novel course. It hooked me on Jane Austen. I am currently reading Persuasions, which is the last book I have to read to have finished all her books! And then I can go around showing off how cultured and well-read I am. Blah blah blah.

Anyway, this book has a really great heroine, Elinor, who is perhaps my favorite heroine because she's so much like me, introspective and cautious, and carefully controlled. Her sister Marianne, who is said to be the `life of the novel' and `more likeable', is actually a silly, foolishly romantic girl who is passionate and loving. Sure, you love her, but you don't really like her (at least I didn't) and you certainly don't respect her. Elinor however, earns your respect and admiration for her steady character and sense. If you don't know, `sensibility' is the opposite of sense, it means emotionality and imprudence etc. (I learned that in college!!!) It isn't a common word nowadays, so I thought I'd let you in on the plot. Elinor is sense, Marianne sensibility, and you should be more like Elinor etc. It's a story with a moral, you see, like Pride and Prejudice (Elizabeth is prejudice and Mr. Darcy pride).

The mother, Mrs. Dashwood, is really weird; she isn't always after her daughters to marry well. She is looking for romance as much as her girls are, as opposed to Mrs. Burton from Pride and Prejudice, who rejoices even when her daughter marries a good for nothing, simply because she's married. It was a good book, with surprising and unexpected plot twists that are pretty complicated, plus loveable characters and a good romance. It almost had me in tears at the end which is a miracle because I never cry, and almost never am moved to tears by a book or movie. Great book, try it out!!





Rating:
Summary: Enjoy 19th century society? Read this book!
Review: If you are not interested in 19th century society and the roles of women, this story is not for you. The plot is excellent, with many unexpected twists and turns, but the way in which Austen goes about presenting this dramatic story is occasionally hard to follow. Although her descriptions of society in the 19th century are very interesting, they are different than society today, so they are sometimes difficult to understand.
Austen presents the roles of women in 19th century society in a new and interesting way. In her book, women were expected to stay at home with the children, and they were not even offered the option of working out of the home. The women in the novel longed only to fall in love, get married, and have children. If they did not get married, they employed themselves in matching younger women with eligible men.
The love stories are very intriguing as well. Elinor loves Edward, but hardly shows it, while Marianne falls in love with Willoughby and, through her actions, announces it to the town. Both eventually reach a happy medium where Elinor learns that, in order to win Edward, she has to show her emotions more. Marianne, on the other hand, realizes that she needs to be a little more reserved with her emotions.
Overall this is a very interesting book though the language is sometimes hard to follow.


Rating:
Summary: Very Similar to Pride but Holds Its Own by the End
Review: In Sense and Sensible the storyline dwells on the two elder sisters of the Dashwood family, Elinor and Mariane. Elinor is always in control of her emotions and is governed primarily by prudence (sense). Her younger sister, Marianne, is an emotional whirlwind whose sensibilities dictate that those who do not evidence wholly encompassing emotions are without them entirely. As in Pride & Prejudice, the family home of the Dashwoods has been willed to another member of the family not in the immediate nuclear family. In Pride & Prejudice, the home was entailed to Mr. Collins, a distant cousin. Where there was only an overshadowing of the loss of the estate in that book, in Sense & Sensibility, the house is actually lost to the half brother whose wife, a Ferrar, not only talks her husband out of the generous support to his half sisters that he promised (albeit vaguely) his dying father but makes life in general unpleasant for the Dashwood ladies until they find a situation with a cousin, John Middleton. Part of the unpleasantness surrounds an apparent but unprofessed affection of her brother, Edward Ferrars, for the eldest Dashwood, Elinor.

It would seem that the move has quashed the supposed attraction, leaving Elinor attempting to contain her disappointment. Marianne meanwhile strikes up an intense relationship with equally extroverted Willoughby. When Willoughby suddenly disappears, the two girls come together to support each other emotionally through a storm of discoveries, pleasant and unpleasant.

Sense and Sensibility develops into its own independent storyline after many similarities with Pride & Prejudice. Although this novel holds its own and is an enjoyable book, I still feel that Pride & Prejudice is its superior in pace, story line and general feel. Sense came out well before Pride and it almost feels that the same idea is being worked out in both - an idea that got clearer and was better communicated in Pride. Pride had a much more natural (believable) feeling to the events where Sense does require a little suspension of disbelief in some of the contrivances to get to a happy ending (specifically referring to the actions of Robert Ferrar). If you liked Pride and want more Austen, this is your book. If you are choosing between the two, choose Pride ... than come back for this one.

Rating:
Summary: Very Similar to Pride but Holds Its Own by the End
Review: In Sense and Sensible the storyline dwells on the two elder sisters of the Dashwood family, Elinor and Mariane. Elinor is always in control of her emotions and is governed primarily by prudence (sense). Her younger sister, Marianne, is an emotional whirlwind whose sensibilities dictate that those who do not evidence wholly encompassing emotions are without them entirely. As in Pride & Prejudice, the family home of the Dashwoods has been willed to another member of the family not in the immediate nuclear family. In Pride & Prejudice, the home was entailed to Mr. Collins, a distant cousin. Where there was only an overshadowing of the loss of the estate in that book, in Sense & Sensibility, the house is actually lost to the half brother whose wife, a Ferrar, not only talks her husband out of the generous support to his half sisters that he promised (albeit vaguely) his dying father but makes life in general unpleasant for the Dashwood ladies until they find a situation with a cousin, John Middleton. Part of the unpleasantness surrounds an apparent but unprofessed affection of her brother, Edward Ferrars, for the eldest Dashwood, Elinor.

It would seem that the move has quashed the supposed attraction, leaving Elinor attempting to contain her disappointment. Marianne meanwhile strikes up an intense relationship with equally extroverted Willoughby. When Willoughby suddenly disappears, the two girls come together to support each other emotionally through a storm of discoveries, pleasant and unpleasant.

Sense and Sensibility develops into its own independent storyline after many similarities with Pride & Prejudice. Although this novel holds its own and is an enjoyable book, I still feel that Pride & Prejudice is its superior in pace, story line and general feel. Sense came out well before Pride and it almost feels that the same idea is being worked out in both - an idea that got clearer and was better communicated in Pride. Pride had a much more natural (believable) feeling to the events where Sense does require a little suspension of disbelief in some of the contrivances to get to a happy ending (specifically referring to the actions of Robert Ferrar). If you liked Pride and want more Austen, this is your book. If you are choosing between the two, choose Pride ... than come back for this one.

Rating:
Summary: The epitome of a perfect novel
Review: Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility was a wonderful debut from the author who gave us Pride and Prejudice. Here we follow the adventures of the Dashwood sisters as they find love in an class-conscious Regency England.

The Dashwoods, impoverished when their father dies, are forced to live in a small house in the coutry on 500 pounds a year. With such unfortunate pospects as those, it will be difficult for the elder two, Elinor and Marianne, to find good marriage prospects. Marianne finds herself falling in love with the dashing Willoughby, who ends up being not all that he appears. Elinor, the more sensible of the two, falls for Edward Ferras, a match that seems much more suitable. But again, things are not what they seem, in this delicious tale of love. The young women must use their sense to see what is really there, and their sensibility to see what will be (unfortunately, Marianne uses neither, much to the detriment of the family). Colonel Brandon is the unassuming, unlikely hero who falls in love with Marianne and saves her from death.

Having read this book several times, I can safely say that it gets better and better with every reading. I also recommend the 1995 film starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and others.

Rating:
Summary: Love in the 19th century
Review: Sense and Sensibility is a book that describes the adventures of falling in love in the 19th century. Love back then wasn't as simple a thing as falling in love today is. Women and men had to abide by the rules their society presented- marrying based on money and status- as the main characters of this book had to do.
The book follows sisters Elinor Dashwood, a sensible young woman who does not let her emotions rule her behavior, and Marianne Dashwood, a person who exaggerates and acts on her many emotions constantly. Their journey starts off when their father dies and they are forced to move out to the country to live on a very small allowance. At their new home, they meet a numerous amount of people who turn their life into a whirlwind. Willoughby, a suave and prominent young man, steals the attention of Marianne and an old love of Elinor's returns. Both of these relationships turn out differently than anyone can expect, through many twists and turns.
This is a wonderful book that holds your attention through the end. The beginning pages that describe different relations, deaths, and monetary concerns were difficult to follow, as well as some of the different situations throughout the book. But Jane Austins ability to portray the hardships, and results, that both of these sisters had to endure, through different situations of love in the unruly 19th century, was without compare.


Rating:
Summary: Still rings with truth
Review: Sense and Sensibility is more than 200 years old. The world was a dramatically different place in the early 1800s. The culture was different, the language was different, the governments were different. The entire state of mankind was completely different.

So the question is, does a 200 year old book still pack a punch in 2005? Or has it become an archaic, dusty tome that alienates any reader with its unintelligable prose and mindless story? The answer, I believe, is a little bit of both.

Clearly, the pre-Victorian writing style varies greatly from the Hemingway-esque brevity that is encountered so often in modern times. Often, Austen's writing is confused and cluttered. It can seem overly pedantic, trivial, and circumlocutious. There are entire paragraphs that can, and should have been, omitted because they are utterly flippant and redundant. The writing style was, for me, a barrier.

The society in which the story unfolds; that is, the cultural background, is also quite distant from our own. If anything, Sense and Sensibility is a study in history. We see what life was like back then. We hear it from a primary source. And, for the most part, the petty pursuits of the luxurious upper-class, the countless balls and parties, and the mindless squabblings of money grubbing lords are fine. The reader accepts it as part of the history.

The story itself is where the true beauty of the book is revealed. The story is timeless. It proves, refreshingly, that one does not need a massive war or wrenching poverty to create a good yarn. Yes, Elinor and Marianne live ridiculously priveleged lives (and often complain about their "misfortune"), but we all can identify with the romantic aspects of the tale. We can identify with the characters, the people, who inhabit Austen's world. And the characters are, quite simply, incredibly colorful and richly created. The characterization is where Austen shines.

So the main drawback to this story is its age. If you can get past the age of the book or even enjoy it intellectually, you will uncover a gem of a novel. Austen's subject (unlike her prose) does not alienate us at all. Instead, it reacquaints us with the yearnings and struggles of love and friendship. If you can slog through some of the more clunky passages, there is a lot of insight and beauty in this book, as well as a fairly good story.