Book Review: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

I got invited to play fiddle for the Jane Austen Society of Middle Tennessee, so I thought I should read one of her books first.

I really enjoyed it! And this is coming from a guy who reads and writes swashbuckling adventures. You definitely have to read it in the context of the time it was written. There’s lots of verbose dialogue and compound sentences filled with multiple clauses, subtle tones, and implications that you have to stay on your toes.

I also noticed that much of the action happens off camera, which the characters then react to in dialogues set in parlors and countryside walks. In other words, there’s a lot of “tell don’t show” going on. I guess it’s because, unlike the modern reader, Jane Austen has never seen a blockbuster movie, she has only seen plays where the story unfolds this way because of the limits of the stage. The sitcoms of the 1970s and 1980s worked this way too.

The Wikipedia article about this novel said she originally wrote in epistolatory form, as in letters sent back and forth between the characters. This was a popular form for novels at the time. I think this also explains some narrative distance from the events and action. The characters often convey them in conversation to others like they would in a letter instead of Austen fleshing them out in real time.

As I said, you have to read this in the context and style of 1811, when she published it. For me, I found it to be an interesting window into a time that only one who had lived in, could convey. Bravo, Ms. Austen. Thank you for leaving this for us.

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