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81st out of 182 books
—
65 voters
The Third Sister: A Continuation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
This imaginative continuation of Jane Austen's novel focuses on the third sister, Margaret Dashwood, underplayed in Austen's story, uplifted here to a young woman with shrewd and winning capabilities. While evoking Austen's style, characters, and ambience, Barrett puts her own spin on the girl Austen called "the other sister.'' From the author of Presumption, sequel to Pri...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
August 1st 1996
by Dutton Adult
(first published 1996)
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I loved Sense and Sensibility, so I read this sequel by Julia Barrett. It started off horribly. She spends the first several paragraphs insulting Jane Austen. That seems foolish to me since people who liked Jane Austen are the ones who would be most likely to read this book. If you erase the first 5 paragraphs, that would significantly improve the book.
Getting past that, she takes a few comments on Margaret Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility and expains how she grows and changes from watching...more
Getting past that, she takes a few comments on Margaret Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility and expains how she grows and changes from watching...more
I believe I mentioned in my other reviews of her works, that Julia Barrett is simply the best when it comes to writing “sequels” to Jane Austen novels. Her style of writing is spectacularly similar to the lovely Austen’s herself. Barrett’s wit is perfectly balanced with modesty, the type of gentle sarcasm that makes Austen’s characters so lovable.
This novel is no different than any other Barrett novel in quality. Now, Barrett has tackled “Sense and Sensibility” a story by Austen which is about t...more
This novel is no different than any other Barrett novel in quality. Now, Barrett has tackled “Sense and Sensibility” a story by Austen which is about t...more
The story itself was entertaining but the writing sytle is nowhere near as good as Jane Austen's. I think the author tries to hard and ends up coming out flat. Jane Austen would never refer to someone in her books as "the heroine". The author speaks to the reader too much instead of showing them and this results in a awful ending.
Almost 4 stars. A friend went out of her way to give this to me so I felt obliged to read it when I otherwise would have passed on it. Why do people try to write sequels to classics? However I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the story about Margaret--the third sister. The characters stayed true from the original and I liked the personalities of the new people too.
There was just a few parts that really annoyed me and that was when the author had a young boy around 6-8 year...more
There was just a few parts that really annoyed me and that was when the author had a young boy around 6-8 year...more
Dec 24, 2008
Megan
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
jane-austen-like,
fan-fic
This is (at least the only one I have found) the only sequel to Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility.” I thought overall it was pretty good. The most exciting parts were near the end- which is similar to most Jane Austen books. Julia Barrett had an interesting take on the heroine- Margaret Dashwood. Margaret Dashwood was almost traumatized by seeing her sisters brokenhearted by the ones that they had loved that she had resigned herself to being alone in the world, and very weary of men. There ar...more
I have to say I love the Jane Austen continuations so I was very excited to read one for Sense and Sensibility. However, I was very disappointed. Not that it wasn't "Jane Austen" enough but it just wasn't enough. It was quite short and quite shallow. There was very little plot or story at all. I could have written it, it was so lacking in story. I was sorry to have wasted my time. I won't read her other one, Presumption. If any of you have read Presumption and liked it let me know.
This book is supposed to tell the untold story of the third sister, Margaret, from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Obviously the author was writing to imitate the style of Austen, and while it was good it was still lacking the depth of wit found in a true Austen novel. I enjoyed it -- though at times the plot seemed to be too similar to the plot Marianne followed in the Sense and Sensibility. Still, I would recommend it to someone who enjoys the classic style of an Austen novel.
I made the mistake of reading this book straight after Sense and Sensibility! Don't do that. That only makes the differences in language and plot and character building so more obvious. Of course it is nice to hear a bit of "what happened afterwards", and the idea that hers sisters' difficult love affairs have in some way hindered Margaret's later love life is believable. But then all is said.
This book follows Margaret Dashwood, the sister Jane Austen rather dismisses. The author does a fairly good job at copying Austen's style, but the story is somewhat predictable and the reader is left somehow wanting a bit more. A good rainy day book for an Austenite, but likely not a permanent part of your book collection.
Maybe it was just my expectations, but I was surprised to like this book. Not that the writer compares with Jane Austen on any level, but it was enjoyable. I've read a few "sequals" that were so painful I couldn't get through much at all. This was fun for a day at the beach.
I dislike this so much that I'm not finishing it- I'm only half way through. Although the author writes in a manner similar to Jane Austen, she seems to not be overly well acquainted with Sense and Sensibility. She renames Colonel Brandon to be John, rather than Christopher. And apparently Margaret has been sorely neglected her whole life by her sisters, who care only for their own lives. Full of inconsistencies. So much about this is way off the mark in just the first three chapters, that I'm s...more
Another by this author that was a fun visit to Austen-land for me. It is quite a new focus--Marianne and Elinor don't figure in more than a handful of scenes--but Barrett still captures Jane's style of writing more closely than any other would-be sequelist.
Ugh. I attempted to read this because someone close to me thought I would enjoy it--being a fan of all things Austen. I think that once and for all I am done with attempted sequels. It was dull and to coin a favorite phrase of mine--full of "high-folluting mumbo jumbo."
Jan 23, 2012
Sue
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
sense-and-sensibility-related
I really enjoyed this book. Sense and sensibility isn't even my favorite Austen novel but I loved this sequel. It addresses Marianne's marriage, Elinor and Edward's relationship, the ferrar's bunch, some of the Dashwoods, all our familiar characters. Margaret's character is really developed and intriguing. I loved the two beaus interested in Margaret....they had me fooled for a few minutes. I really was just unsure which one was going to be the rogue. I twisted and turned directions a few times....more
A competent historical romance, a sequel to Sense and Sensibility that gives us a good view into the futures of most all the main characters.
The author was able to pretty closely capture Jane Austen's "voice" - the only problem was the story plodded a bit.
This book I did not care for too much. Honestly, I did not finish it at all. I found it hard to stay with it. Others might like it, but for me I could have lived without it.
I liked Sense and Sensiblity best, but she does seem to keep the characters the same.
Jun 10, 2008
V
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
writers who need encouragement that they at least don't write THIS badly
Recommended to V by:
Austen Book Club
Shelves:
throw-out
I love to read, and can usually force myself to get through a novel no matter how awful it is. This one is so bad I couldn't even finish it. Bad writing to bad character development and it might as well have just ignored Sense & Sensibility for all the attention it payed to Austen's wisdom in character & social setup, not to mention the horrid attempt at writing in Austen's style of grammar (uselessly flowery language and superfluous words do not count as Austen-esque). Do not even bothe...more
I did not like the beginning, middle or end. was so Mad at the end.
Obviously it's no Austen but a great read overall.
Not worth finishing.
This book felt tedious to me. I didn't even finish.
A mere shadow of Jane Austen. Overall the plot was fine, but something about the writing style just didn't click with me.
Rather a boring book. Atleast is was clean.
This is a continuation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility with Margaret Dashwood as the heroine. This author really stayed true to Austen's style in story and in prose. It was fun to see how things are going for Marianne and Elinor in their prospective marriages, and fun to see how Margaret has learned from her sisters and how she comes into her own.
It just isn't Austen. One keeps hoping...
This book has the honor of being the first placed on my newly created "Could Not Finish" shelf. I picked it up about 10 separate times, but just couldn't get into it. I loved the idea of it, but something in its execution was flawed for me.
Barrett can be in no way compared with Austen, but she does write well and I found myself still enjoying more of the characters I love so much and seeing how they may have evolved. Thankfully she did give us much a look at Maryanne and Elinor.
So, this book was very disappointing. I guess the author's ideas for Margaret Dashwood were decent, but very poorly executed. Not at all like Jane Austen. Too bad . . .
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