My favourite of all Austen's novels. The emotion created through the relationship of the two eldest Dashwood girls is the living thread that binds the novel together. A truly beautiful novel that alone should have Austen declared a national treasure. ( )

I liked this book just as much as Pride and Prejudice. It took me forever to read, but it was well worth it. The story was very sweet and a little romantic. Typical Austen. I would reccomend it to anyone who enjoyed her other books or classics. ( )

I did not enjoy Sense and Sensibility anywhere close to as much as I loved Austen's other works. It must confess that I believe it had to do much more with the person reading the audio-book than it did with Austen's actual writing. It took me 15 chapters to figure out which character was talking, thinking or musing at any given point and it took another 15 chapters for me to even feel sorry for the women who were getting their hearts broken. I have read that this is considered one of Austen's lesser works and I can see why. It is still a solid book and an amusing read, none the less. ( )

My favorite Austen story. I know it's suppose to be P&P BUT it's not! ( )

I think two things about this novel have made it second to only "Pride and Prejudice" in the general appreciation of Jane Austen's work. One, that the main characters are two loving sisters with diverse, relateable personalities, and two, that these young women are struggling against the world: kicked out of their home, with poor marriage prospects, and vulnerable. The differences between sisters Elinor and Marianne tempers each other's reactions to this major change: Serious Elinor strives to make herself and her family comfortable and live within budget in their new home, but lest she becomes too somber, there's dreamy Marianne, whose sentimental side reveals the hurt the Dashwood family feels in their change of situation.

For all their poor marriageability, the sisters do not wait long for romantic attachments. Elinor falls for her sister-in-law's brother, Edward Ferrars, while Marianne is swept away by poetry-loving neighbor Willoughby, while pined after by the more appropriate, but older, Colonel Brandon. The novel progresses to show how each sister is deceived by her crush, and the different ways they bear it. Elinor hides her pain and remains stoic on the outside, even bearing the imposed friendship of Edward's secret betrothed, a waspish Lucy Steele. Marianne, however, wears her heartbreak on her sleeve and endangers her life for it. Eventaully, the two sisters learn to appreciate each other more, and learn that they are not so different after all.

Like most Austen novels, the story is sprinkled with wit, skewering the upper classes and their hypocrisy. In this novel, ambitious people are unlikeable: from scheming Lucy to the younger Mrs. Dashwood, who convinces her husband to dishonor his father's dying wishes and cheat his stepmother and sisters out of their inheritance, to Mrs. Ferrars, who uses her family's wealth to manipulate her sons' marriage plans and show favor upon them. The likeable characters are the ones content with their lives and can appreciate their own worth without putting down others in the process. Sir John Middleton and Mrs. Jennings are an example of this lot; though wealthy, they inject kindness and humor into the less-fortunate Dashwoods' lives. ( )