Sense and Sensibility

For a long time now, I've always thought of Austen as commenting on the precarious situation of women, and their utter dependence on men to build a life for themselves. And that's true, but reading this I realized she's almost as concerned about the situation of men. I get the sense that she saw the entire system as deeply fucked up, and that men were *almost* as badly abused by it as women were. Even for the men, their whole livelihood -- including their ability to marry and raise a family -- can be determined by the whim of some distant relative.

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This is the story of two very different sisters: Elinor is a sensible (yet secretly passionate) young woman who must continuously reign in the wild passions of her mother and sisters - especially Marianne whose head is filled with romantic notions of one-true-love and tragedy. When their father suddenly dies with their newly-acquired estate entailed away to their half-brother John, the sisters are left destitute. John and his wife Fanny descend upon the mourning family within a fortnight and make the sisters and mother feel like unwelcome guests in their beloved home. Elinor soon forms an attachment with Fanny's brother Edward, but Fanny doesn't approve of Elinor's lack-of-fortune-or-name. So the family moves away to a cottage, leaving show more Edward behind. Poor Elinor must struggle with her own worries about Edward while at the same time monitoring the expensive of the house and trying to reign in the wild, all-consuming attachment of Marianne to the dashing young Willoughby. The romantic hopes of both girls spiral downwards as more and more obstacles appear.

I love this story because I've always admired Elinor for both her passion and her ability to handle all problems that come her way. I also admire Colonel Brandon for his devotion to Marianne despite her ecstatic preference for the younger, handsomer, and less reserved Willoughby. This time around, I also really appreciated Marianne's character. Her youthful ideas about love were cute - and realistic for many girls of 16. :) Her development throughout the story was extraordinary. I loved the way she slowly, cluelessly, began to understand the world around her. I don't admire her, but I think she's cute and very funny. And, frankly, a more interesting character than Elinor (due to her development-of-character).

To be honest, this book is just as much a favorite as Pride and Prejudice. Yes. That is right. I ADMIT that I like this book just as much (possibly a little more) than the beloved P&P. show less

Re-reading this book just solidified my opinion that it is the best of the Jane Austen novels. I know everyone has their hearts set on Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Darcy, but I believe that her first novel is raw and real and much more relatable. It truly remains as fresh a cautionary tale today as it ever was. The Dashwood sisters learn that the path to love isn't always straight and narrow and sometimes you're heart has to be broken for you to appreciate how whole a heart can be. Filled with memorable characters, witty dialogue, and unforgettable romance, this is a book readers won't soon forget.

I really enjoyed discussing the book with my library Jane Austen Book and Film Club, we talked about how societal obligations have changed show more but the heart has remained the same and then we watched the Masterpiece Theater version. Overall, a must read. And if you haven't watch the 1995 movie version. It's amazing and you won't regret it. show less

Re-reading this book just solidified my opinion that it is the best of the Jane Austen novels. I know everyone has their hearts set on Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Darcy, but I believe that her first novel is raw and real and much more relatable. It truly remains as fresh a cautionary tale today as it ever was. The Dashwood sisters learn that the path to love isn't always straight and narrow and sometimes you're heart has to be broken for you to appreciate how whole a heart can be. Filled with memorable characters, witty dialogue, and unforgettable romance, this is a book readers won't soon forget.

I really enjoyed discussing the book with my library Jane Austen Book and Film Club, we talked about how societal obligations have changed show more but the heart has remained the same and then we watched the Masterpiece Theater version. Overall, a must read. And if you haven't watch the 1995 movie version. It's amazing and you won't regret it. show less

I have always loved Sense and Sensibility best out of all of Jane Austen's novels, no doubt partly because it features the three Dashwood sisters (however invisible young Margaret may be), and I am one of three sisters myself. This tale of sensible Elinor and romantic Marianne, whose differing approaches to life and love are tested throughout the book, features the same sort of contest between desire and duty that gives Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre such power. It is a fitting tribute to Austen's powers as a writer, that although Elinor's "sense" is clearly meant to triumph, Marianne's "sensibility" is portrayed with such loving fondness.

The story of a family of dependent women, whose fate is entirely in the hands of their male show more relatives, I have always found Sense and Sensibility to contain some of Austen's sharpest social criticism. The Dashwood women find themselves unwelcome guests in their own home when John Dashwood inherits the estate at Norland, and are only saved from the unpleasantness of the horrible Fanny by the kindness of Mrs. Dashwood's (male) cousin, Sir John Middleton. I have always found it fascinating that while Austen clearly endorses the more passive role that Elinor stakes out for herself, vis-a-vis romance, she simultaneously offers a very pointed critique of the enforced passivity of women, when it comes to economic activities and inheritance law.

In the end though, for all its philosophical framework and subtle social commentary, Sense an Sensibility is most successful because Austen understands the complicated relations between women, particularly the bond between sisters. show less

There is a lot of joy in rereading Jane Austen - again, and again, and again. The language and the sharp wit are always there, and so is the comfort her books bring. There are also new discoveries every time. "Sense and Sensibility" has not been my favourite Austen, and I have not read it as many times as her other books. The narrative threads are not as finely put together here as in later novels, the ending is rushed. But I am still glad I decided to come back again.
So, discoveries:
- I remember liking Marianne so much... But she is really insufferable! (Yes, I know, it does get better.) Teenage angst galore, anyone? Yet, oh, how she burns... I suspect there are only ashes left. The narrator may insist on her happiness in the end, but show more I found the words "what could she do?" quite chilling.
- Elinor sometimes comes across as a rather superior know-it-all. It is easy enough to forgive her, though. When you seem to be the only reasonable person in your family, constantly surrounded by people whose goal in life is, as we would say today "TO GET IN TOUCH WITH MY EMOTIONS AND ACKNOWLEDGE MY FEEEEELINGS (OR ELSE)". Elinor, you have my sympathies and deserve every happiness.
- My goodness, Edward is a geek. Lovely.
- I read between the lines as Colonel Brandon told Eliza's story. There are hints buried there that I failed to notice before.
- I noticed and enjoyed the secondary characters a lot more this time, Mrs Jennings and the Palmers in particular. show less

For a novel that is two hundred years old, it hasn't lost its shine. Granted, I'd introduce the central characters more clearly at the start and update some of the language (probable reasons why practical jokers who submit it to publishers today find the manuscript rejected), but it all moves right along. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer are standouts, such a hilarious couple - her silliness and his grumpiness - I could read their dialogue all day, and I've certainly seen echoes of it in other works that came after.

I'm on the 'sense' side of the divide, personality-wise, but even I have to admit it's Elinor's behaviour that has fallen by the wayside in the two centuries since. What sister now who cared for her sibling's welfare would only apply for show more her mother to inquire what was wrong? Or not share that she too was experiencing a similar disappointment, so they might commiserate, instead of feeling bound by promise to a stranger? I also have a melancholy feeling about Marianne's harnessing of her sensibility, and her being surprisingly denied a fairy-tale ending (however much Austen tries to dress up the one she assigns while moralizing.) To me it sounds like all the wind has gone out of her sails, a woman surrendering her life's pleasures to a nunnery. This is the template that Thakeray so blatantly defied with Becky Sharp a few decades later. show less