Sense and Sensibility

Rating:
Summary: Splendidly entertaining
Review: "Sense and Sensibility" is a witty, diverting book that was a pleasure to read. I was eager to read another novel by Jane Austen after so thoroughly enjoying "Pride and Prejudice", and was far from disappointed. Austen creates wonderful stories full of depth, elegance and an endless supply of witticisms. There are so many terrific quotes in her novels that it gets hard to pick a favorite. Don't be hesitant to pick this book up - a year ago I would have laughed if someone had told me that I would be a Jane Austen fan. I'll never regret giving it a chance, so I hope that you will too.

Rating:
Summary: Splendidly entertaining
Review: "Sense and Sensibility" is a witty, diverting book that was a pleasure to read. I was eager to read another novel by Jane Austen after so thoroughly enjoying "Pride and Prejudice", and was far from disappointed. Austen creates wonderful stories full of depth, elegance and an endless supply of witticisms. There are so many terrific quotes in her novels that it gets hard to pick a favorite. Don't be hesitant to pick this book up - a year ago I would have laughed if someone had told me that I would be a Jane Austen fan. I'll never regret giving it a chance, so I hope that you will too.

Rating:
Summary: Austen City Limits
Review: There are two schools of Austen. The first, her ardent admirers, adore everything she does; the second find the snobby world her characters inhabit a perpetual turnoff. Belonging to neither category myself, this book strikes me as somewhat tentative, in regards to Austen's development as a writer. This opinion I'm sure won't endear me to the legions of Austen fans who treasure every word she wrote. But though the story itself is a fine one, the novel as a whole lacks the attention to detail, character, and metaphor that Austen would perfect in her later novels (particularly "Mansfield Park," which never seems to get the accolades this novel and "Pride and Prejudice" do). Though Austen compensates for this with various literary techniques (creating an opposite foil for all of her characters, constructing parallels for various scenes, etc.), when it comes right down to it, this is the work of a beginner, a writer just beginning to get her bearings. I know "S&S" has its passionate proponents, mostly on the basis of its romantic plot, and heartfelt depiction of the love lives of two very different sisters. But on the whole, this book derives its strength mostly from straightforward storytelling, rather than imaginative and poetic writing. Not a bad beginning, but Austen definitely improved her game with her future novels. (...)