Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics) | Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics) | Jane Austen | My first Austen Book!

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Sense and Sensibil...

	Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics) Jane Austen Penguin Classics, 2003 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 40 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent Read

I have read all of Jane Austen's novels and this my second favorite, after Pride and Prejudice. I've heard from others that they found the language used in this book hard to understand. I didn't have any problems but this was not my first J.A. novel. These books aren't for everyone but I definitely recommend at least giving them a try.

My first Austen Book!

I read Sense and Sensibility for my English IV Course. This novel was written by Jane Austen. This book is for a romantic person, adult or young adult. If you are someone who is interested in 19th Century society and the roles of women, this story is for you. Sense and Sensibility is a classic novel. The author is well known and the quality of literature is world class, because it is so well known.
Sense and Sensibility describes the adventures of two young ladies (Marianne and Elinor) falling in love. Elinor is always in control of her emotions and senses. Marianne is an emotional whirlwind whose sensibilities dictate that those who have no evidence of wholly encompassing emotions or are without them entirely. She ultimately marries her long standing admirer, Colonel Brandon. Also Elinor is the heroin of the story. The mother, Mrs. Dashwood, is weird; she is always after her daughters minding their business. She is the opposite of Mrs. Burton from Pride and Prejudice. She has inherited no fortune of her own but wants the best for her daughters and shares Marianne's romantic sensibilities. The love stories are very intriguing as well. Elinor loves Edward and Marianne falls in love with Willoughby.
The conflict of the ideas about marriage between parents and daughters is the main theme of this book. If the girls were not yet married, their mothers employed themselves in matching the younger women with eligible men.
I recommend Jane Austen's work to all readers who are fascinated with love. This is an excellent book for those who enjoy 19th Century Literature. Even though I missed some details because of the language, I identified with one the girls in the story.

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Nice..

Great book! I saw the film before I read the book, but the book didn't let me down one bit. I love how Jane Austin describes the band between the sisters, and how she talks about how they are in love. The chosen words are beautiful too, but you vocabulary has to be in order to understand this book, so that you don't have to grab a dictionary everytime.

"She Can Never Be More Lost to You than She is Now..."

One thing needs to be made clear before reading this book; the words "sense" and "sensibility" do not mean the same things today as they did in Jane Austen's time. Though `sense' referred to intelligence and the ability to judge situations well, `sensibility' had connotations to having appropriate sensitivity toward moral and artistic issues, linked with the superiority of a person's aesthetical `senses'. As such, there is room for debate over which sister represents which trait, something seemingly obvious from the outset of the book, but which dramatically changes by its conclusion (which amusingly mirrors the ongoing debate over which traits Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy embody in the title of their story "Pride and Prejudice").

"Sense and Sensibility" was Austen's first novel, and as such is considered her weakest by the critics, though this also means it is also the most accessible and easy-to-read novel. First novels are almost always the most amateurish, and as such it is a much simpler work, from the storyline to the sentence structure, which leads to an easier reading experience than her more complex novels ("Emma" and the aforementioned "Pride and Prejudice"). Anyone new to the world of Austen is best to start here as the easiest book with which to ease into her range of novels.

The sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are extreme opposites; oldest sibling Elinor uses her head, whilst the younger Marianne follows her heart; but for all of this, the two are very close. After the death of their father, Elinor and Marianne - along with their mother and younger sister - are forced to give up their comfortable estate to their stepbrother (the product of their father's first marriage) and sister-in-law due to the inheritance law. But before relocating to Barton Cottage, Elinor forms an attachment with Fanny Dashwood's brother Edward Ferrars, a shy and awkward, but good-hearted man. Hoping that her feelings are returned, but unable to make any advances, Elinor travels to Barton Cottage in the hopes that he will return to her there in the near future.

At Barton Cottage, the girls make many new acquaintances, in particular the loud and bustling matriarch Mrs Jennings who is determined to marry the girls off as quickly as can be, and the quiet and gentlemanly Colonel Brandon. As for the romantic and dreamy Marianne, she's fallen hopelessly in love with the dashing John Willoughby after he rescues her from a rainy day and a twisted ankle whilst out walking in the countryside - much to the dismay of the smitten Colonel Brandon. Already concerned at Marianne's overly romantic disillusions, Elinor is concerned at her rather wanton behaviour in the presence of her new beau, but is then has her attention drastically diverted on being introduced to a Miss Lucy Steele who has a secret to share about Edward Ferrars...

The story winds its way through the girls' negotiations with the society they live in, the restrictions held upon them and the individuals which hold power over them - not with the same deftness that Austen displays in later novels, but still with much thought-provoking commentary. The family's plight in being reduced to guests in their own home at Norland, at the mercy of their somewhat dim-witted brother is particularly revealing as to the social injustices of the time, and though the frustrations of the girls' status is never explicitly stated, it is readily evident for anyone willing to read between the lines. At the end of the day, all they have is each other and the fervent hope that they will find both happiness and security in marriage. Their trials in love are perhaps the most heart-rending experiences of any other Austen heroines, (where romances are either touched by irony or poignancy) in the fact that a happy ending is not guaranteed for the sisters and that their future happiness depends on a good match - it particular it is hard not to feel your heart break for Marianne, whose unswerving belief in her own feelings and the raptures of her heart are so cruelly put to the test.

The characters of Elinor and Marianne are utterly irresistible. Elinor is the sort of person you would desperately wish for in your life in order to benefit from her good sense and protective nature, whilst Marianne is utterly charming in her romantic flights of fancy (in fact she's so winsome and dreamy that it's almost a shame when she gains some `sense' at the novel's end - one would have been contented to have her indulge in her dreaming forever). Though the novel is told almost solely through Elinor's eyes, in several ways Marianne is the main protagonist, who goes through the most trials and changes. Whatever your own opinions, the two provide an excellent foil for each other, and at all times the sisterly bond between them is apparent.

There have been so many adaptations of Jane Austen novels throughout the years, though to my mind none is better than Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. As I was reading the novel, I often found myself switching on the DVD in order to compare the two. It is a beautiful film, loyal to the themes, storyline and characters of the novel and in some cases improve upon it, and so comes very highly recommended as a companion piece to Austen's first novel.

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Redemption

This novel may not by Austen's most famous, but it is certainly worth reading.

In Sense and Sensibility, we are given several characters that appear to be static. You have the good and bad sister and they are destined to remain so for the rest of the story. But are they? I thought the way the so called "bad" sister changed her character by the end of the story was inspiring.

The catch to this story is you have to read the whole thing in order to get to the good stuff at the end. Don't worry, it is time well spent.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8

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