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Jul 09, 2011

Stephen rated it:

I love Jane Austen.
I LOVE Jane Austen.
I LOVE JANE AUSTEN!!
I…LOVE…JANE…AUSTEN!!
I……LOVE…..JANE..…AUSTEN!!

I still twitch a bit, but I'm getting more and more man-comfortable saying that because there no denying that it’s true. Normally, I am not much of a soapy, chick-flick, mani-pedi kinda guy. I don’t spritz my wine, rarely eat quiche and have never had anything waxed (though the list of things that need it grows by the hour).

But I would walk a More...

49 comments like (97 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

I was in an interesting discussion recently about sense versus sensibility. A reviewer had taken Jane Austen to task for being too clean and passionless. The complaints, heard often enough, are that she does not tackle sweeping vistas of emotion. She cares too much about money. Her lovers don't make great protestations of undying love. She does not write with poetry. She is too sharp and too unkind. She rewards the good and punishes the bad, and doesn't create a lot of gray.

The argum More...

63 comments like (89 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Eric rated it:

Hmmm, how to critique one of the most revered writers of romance literature? Now, before all of your Jane-ites get on my case for being unromantic or whatever, let me say only that unfortuantely, I read "Persuasion," Austen's last novel, and found it to be one of the best books I've ever read. Now having read "Sense and Sensibility," I will say that it truly doese feel like a first novel, as if the author was still trying to find her voice. So I've done the bookends of Aus More...

15 comments like (25 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2011

Patrizia rated it:

Taglia e cuci all'inglese…
Il pregio principale del libro è sicuramente lo stile ironico della Austen: ho spesso avuto la sensazione che l’autrice, con sguardo sornione e benevole, prendesse in giro i suoi personaggi, le loro manie futili e l’eccessiva importanza attribuita alle apparenze. L’ironia è la caratteristica dei romanzi della Austen che, secondo me, è più in sintonia con la sensibilità contemporanea.
La trama, invece, di questo romanzo è molto esile (in certi passaggi mi rico More...

9 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Tatiana rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Ah, the third member of the Holy Trinity of Austen. Also deservedly so. This is my intellectual favorite of the Austens. By that, I'm not calling it "intellectual" I'm just saying that taking emotional attachment to other books out of it, this is my objective favorite Austen. I actually believe that the story of the women is better than Pride and Prejudice. Go on, shoot me for that one. I've taken it before for that. The romance might be better, more tight, more like one would idealist More...

16 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2009

Daniel rated it:

It was poor timing on my part to read "Sense and Sensibility" soon after finishing "Middlemarch," a book I felt was, while not without flaws, a masterpiece. The two books, though written decades apart, invite comparisons: both have somewhat large casts of characters whose relations the reader is required to keep straight, both lean toward the satirical in their views of society, and both focus at least in part on young English women falling in love and arranging their marriag More...

5 comments like (7 people liked it)

Aug 20, 2008

Kerry rated it:

This my first Jane Austen.

Okay, I LOVED this book. I don't even know why. It's about . . . girls who like boys! Who are jerks! Um, the end! But it was funny. But clever funny, which is my favorite kind. And I enjoyed deciphering the late 18th century prose. It made me feel smart, just to figure out what she was saying half the time!

Also I love all the wacky British society stuff. Like sending notes! And walking places! And having breakfast at other peoples' hou More...

2 comments like (30 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2008

Joanna rated it:

While Ms. Austen has given us several entirely charming and personable characters, a lot of things simply did not work for me in this novel. I, however, did very much enjoy the coterie of profoundly annoying and conniving women personified in the Jennings and Middletons Palmers and Miss Steeles, respectively. Premium!

I, perhaps, need to read more about Regency-era etiquette and protocol to understand how Mr. Ferrar's actions are to be considered honourable rather than callow and weak More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Leanna rated it:

In anticipation of Masterpiece’s adaptation on Sunday, I reread Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. I hadn’t read the book in over ten years and had forgotten many of the details, but I liked it as much today as I did then.

Elinor and Marianne Dashwood each deal with the joys and heartaches of young love: Elinor is the more sedate of the two sisters, and Marianne the more passionate. Naturally, as an emotionless automaton, I always relate more with Elinor who loves quietly and endure More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2011

Dennis rated it:

This makes what, like four ladies books in a row for me? Yes. But is Jane Austen really for girls only? Sure, marriage and matchmaking are typically considered women's fare (seriously though, is it only women who marry? ...), and factor predominantly as themes throughout most of Jane Austen's writing, but sociologically she was the voice of realism commenting on her times where one's everything quite directly depended upon marrying well. So naturally such considerations as how many pounds pe More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2011

Malak rated it:

I'm really finding it hard to review this book for I have had different feelings through reading it. I mean at the very beginning of the story I thought I might give it four stars while in the middle of it I thought it would be 3 stars instead and at last I said this book deserves five!

There're things that I loved about it, things I hated and things I wished they were mentioned, so let me start from the beginning ..

Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen's first published work wr More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 15, 2008

Akemi rated it:

Despite the fact that I spent the last semester reading Victorian novels, I somehow felt the compulsion to finish this. I started it in January, but it got pushed aside for schoolwork.

I enjoyed it, but I don't think I'd rank it up there with Emma or Pride and Prejudice. Though, I haven't read P&P very recently, so I guess I'd have to re-read that to really compare. The storyline is rather similar, so it would be interesting to have a direct comparison. My experience with S&S might More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 25, 2008

Erin rated it:

When Ang Lee's version of the movie came out, which Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay for, I read that she said it was the most difficult Austen book to adapt. And I can see why. It was Austen's first book, and it's quite densely written. Not a lot of dialogue, so screenwriters had to make it up as they went along. Overall I liked it, but some things didn't work for me: Col. Brandon's young ward just HAPPENED to get knocked up by Willoughby of all people? Really?? And I've read that many More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2011

Mariel rated it:

It has been so many years since I've read Sense and Sensibility that I cannot bring to the surface what it felt like to be in Jane Austen's hands. It's on the tip of my tongue, or rather the tips of my fingers. Platonic love, romantic love, plutonic love (that's let's start our own planet because this one sucks love. Mickey's love of his dog Pluto love. I don't have a name for it 'cause it's out of this world love), platetonic love (food love, and erosion, and tectonics. Moving and turning into More...

5 comments like (19 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2007

Ann rated it:

I’ve finally finished it! It’s a little sad to admit that, despite it’s being – I believe – the shortest of the Jane Austen books I’ve read, I do think it’s taken me the longest to read. However, the extended reading time should not reflect the quality of the book, but instead simply my own lack of fortitude.<g> It is also, I think, partly because I already knew what happened, as I have seen – and loved – the movie with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet (which, if anyone wonders, I do thin More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Relyn rated it:

Jeffrey and I are hosting a summer book club for some of his recently graduated students. They decided to go with Jane Austen for the first book since Mr. Lawson loves her so much. We picked S&S instead of P&P because I am working my way though all the Janes and I've read P&P many times.

I'm actually listening to it on audiobook and loving it. I was so excited when I pulled it up and began because it is read by Donada Peters. She's one of my favorite recorded book readers. I kn More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2009

Erin rated it:

I would like to rank this higher than Pride & Prejudice, because I enjoyed it more, but I just can't bring myself to give it a 4. So consider it a 3.5 for now. I may change my mind later, as I did with Wuthering Heights (which I recently upgraded to a 4 based on the long-term impression it has left on me.) Although I appreciate Jane Austen for what it is and find that it raises interesting questions and topics of discussion and analysis, I find that her work lacks the depth of character and over More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Jessica rated it:

Realizing that I may be found and attacked by a mob of Austenites, I must confess I am not necessarily an Austen fan. I find that an analytical/comparative study of several of her works is much more entertaining than process of actually reading one.

That being said, I did actually enjoy Sense and Sensibility, and I may be the only person in the world who believes Colonel Brandon is perhaps the best romantic hero she created-- not as perfectly upstanding as Darcy, but more realistic More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2009

Ayu rated it:

This might be shameful for an English literature student like me, but yup, this is the first Austen’s novel I read. For me personally, I still prefer Charlotte Bronte’s works, however now I understand why many people become such huge fans of Miss Austen. Her female characters are remarkable for their era. They’re oppresed but somehow they have their own ways to struggle. I gave three stars for Sense and Sensibility not because it’s so-so, but because I think it’s quite flat compared to the film. More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Sara ♥ rated it:

4.5 stars! I just finished. It was really cute. I'm kinda sad that it didn't have that whole Elinor-bursting-into-hysterics scene in it. Well, she did, but not with Edward sitting right there. Jane Austen has this way of skipping over the happy parts... But then there were extra scenes, too. Like Willoughby comes to the Palmer's house while Marianne is sick? Holy cow! I was soooo surprised!

It was SO SO SO SO CUTE! I loved it!

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 14, 2011

Sherri rated it:

It is always delightful to me to read (and re-read) Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility. This annotated version just added to and expanded on that delight. The extensive notes, illustrations, and maps explain much -- in language, in social behavior, in culture and in period of time -- that either no longer exists in the 21st century or has altered greatly over 200 years. Here, at last, I understand the ideas behind the "Cult of Sensibility". I know now the significance of the word " More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2011

Dominic rated it:

On the title page of my copy of Sense and Sensibility, Eudora Welty declares, "As nearly flawless as any fiction could be." And I believe she was not overstating here for this book is a beautiful exercise in balance. The plot is pitch-perfect, and the characters teeter-totter back and forth but just ever so subtly and always maintaining balance. And oh, those characters are fantastic! Austen gives us a delicious handful to abhor (Fanny, you wretched witch!) but the rest are delicat More...

7 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 18, 2011

Pauline rated it:

Elinor and her family gets their fortune taken away when their father dies. You see the struggles that this has put them all in, and you watch Elinor and Marianne battle love and society. Elinor falls in love with Edward, but it becomes apparent that because of her family's situation the proposal may never come. Although on day Ms. Steele comes to town and tells Elinor of her secret engagement to Edward. Swearing Elinor to secrecy keeps her hurting inside, but cannot tell a soul. Marianne falls More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 29, 2011

Natalie rated it:

I just finished reading Sense and Sensibility and I first want to mention it exceeded all my expectations (which I have to admit were, at the start, rather low). I was particularly biased against Jane Austen and opposed to reading her works because, despite the fact that I loved the 1995 movie version of S&S as a kid, I abhorred the idea of reading the story because I assumed Austen had written it as some intense love story I wouldn't be able to sit through. I am unashamed to admit I was absolut More...

0 comments like

Jan 26, 2012

Richard rated it:

I joined the Jane Austen Book Club with this book. My edition is actually not the one listed; with over 600 editions to choose from, I selected this one as representative of my book. I actually read a Borders Classic edition; I've read several classics republished by Borders and have found them to be of high quality, with no typos or publishing errors.

Of course, the basics of this book are well known. This book was originally written in draft form by Jane Austen at the age of ninet More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 21, 2011

Laurel rated it:

Even though it has been two hundred years since the world was first introduced to sisters Marianne and Elinor Dashwood’s financial, social and romantic trials, their story remains for me, as fresh and vibrant as any contemporary story you might read of, experience yourself, or hear tell tale of today. I give full credit, of course, to Jane Austen. Her understanding of human nature and how to craft emotions and characters into an engaging story remains unparalleled. Add to that a delightful twelv More...

10 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 05, 2011

Mira rated it:

5.0 Huge Stars

I may have said this a million times, but indeed Miss Austen, you must allow me one more time to say that you're absolutely brilliant. This was the only one among your works that I didn't have the opportunity to read before, and now after finishing it, I'm proud to say that it certainly matched my high expectations.

Sense & Sensibility was hard to put down. It seems to me the most dramatic among Austen's novels, and the most surprising one. I cannot say much More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 04, 2010

Ben rated it:

Foremost in my mind while reading Sense and Sensibility was how much both society and the English language have changed in the nearly 200 years since this book's publication. Conduct that we would now find unremarkable, perhaps even laudable, earns Jane Austen's characters harsh opprobrium. All of the book's conflict stems from the tangled web of relationships influenced by the mores of early nineteenth century England. Readers who stubbornly persist in interpreting this book on twenty-first More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2009

Samantha rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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