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Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen,

Tony Tanner (Introduction),

Ros Ballaster (Introduction/Editor)

4.08 · Rating details · 988,128 ratings · 17,719 reviews

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141439662

'The more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!'

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her ...more

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Paperback, Penguin Classics, 409 pages

Published April 29th 2003 by Penguin Books (first published October 30th 1811)

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Apr 23, 2010 Stephen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, romantical, classics, audiobook, love-those-words, classics-european, 1800s, easton-press

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 across a desert in bloomers and a parasol to read M ...more

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Dec 22, 2008 A. rated it did not like it

Here is this book in a nutshell:
Marianne and Elinor: 'O, why are we not married yet?'
Hot Guy #1: 'Let's get married.'
Elinor: 'Yes, let's.'
Hot Guy #1: 'Nah, forget it.'
Elinor: (pines)
Old Guy: 'Let's get married.'
Marianne: 'No, let's not.'
Hot Guy #2: 'Let's get married.'
Marianne: 'Yes, let's.'
Hot Guy #2: 'Nah, forget it.'
Marianne: (pines)
Hot Guy #1: 'Hey, let's get married.'
Elinor: 'Hark! Now I may stop pining!'
Marianne: 'This sucks. I am way hotter than her.'
Old Guy: 'Let's get married.'
Marianne: ...more

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Oct 04, 2017 Sean Barrs rated it it was amazing

Shelves: love-and-romance, romantic-movement

Money. It's all about the money. I mean, why else would you marry someone?

In Sense and Sensibility there are three major factors beyond the usual considerations of appearance, personality and character conduct when looking for a marriage in 19th century England. Indeed, what the Dashwood sisters look for- well Elinor really because she has more refined tastes and is far more discerning in regards to men- is a man’s opinion on literature and his understanding of natural beauty. What most people l ...more

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Jan 29, 2021 Ruby Granger rated it really liked it

I'm not a fan of Jane Austen. I've given her many chances, and do really want to like her work, but am always let down -- until now, that is! I enjoyed Sense and Sensibility so much more than I was expecting to! I still wouldn't rank it on the same level as the Bronte sisters, but the story is sardonically funny, clever and surprisingly gripping for one with such a slow pace!

I thought the characters were really believable. Those characters who seemed more 2D at the beginning, grew out of later- ...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: regency, classics

Jane Austen’s first published work, Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, is more straightforward than most of her later works. The story focuses on two sisters, ages 17 and 19, and how their romantic interests and relationships epitomize their different approaches to life. The older sister Elinor embodies sense, good judgment and discretion.
description

Her sister Marianne is emotional and volatile, following her heart with a supreme disregard for what society might – and does – think.
description

Elinor is pretty m ...more

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Oct 13, 2019 Reading_ Tam_ Ishly rated it really liked it

*life goals: to be an Eleanor
*reality: being a Marianne

⬇️

*Classic example of men being gold diggers: John Willdoughy
Not all gold diggers are women

*Classic character reference of mean girls and vanity: Lucy Steele

*Most underrated character reference in history:
Colonel Brandon

*Most unsettling romance main man character of all times: Edward Ferrars

*Classic reference of being in a group project where your name is there but you are always absent to the point of being creepy: Margaret Dashwood

(The mer ...more

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Dec 26, 2013 Barry Pierce rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century, read-in-2015

Sense and Sensibility is dense with inactivity.

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Nov 06, 2016 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, listening, literature, british, fiction, romance, 19th-century

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1811. Henry Dashwood, his second wife, and their three daughters live for many years with Henry's wealthy bachelor uncle. That uncle decides, in late life, to will the use and income only of his property first to Henry, then to Henry's first son John Dashwood (by his first marriage), so that the property should pass intact to John's three-year-old son Harry.

The uncle dies, but Henry lives just a year ...more

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Nov 06, 2013 Carmen rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Fans of Classic Literature

Shelves: favorites, published1811, fiction, classics, traditionally-published, she-says

RE-READ January 30, 2019 - Do you ever notice how Colonel Brandon is a man, who steps up and takes care of things like a man? Edward is kind of useless, I think Marianne got the real prize here.

Also fascinating just how much Austen is saying in this novel. She's saying A LOT and more and more becomes clear to me on every re-read. The scene where Willoughby shows up to confess to Elinor when Marianne is ill was particularly striking to me this time. What does this say about 'bad people' and the n ...more

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Jun 02, 2008 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fiction, literature, romance, 19th-century, british, 1001-book

(940 From 1001 Books) Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; By A Lady appears on the title page where the author's name might have been.

The novel follows the three Dashwood sisters as they move with their widowed mother from the estate on which they grew up, Norland Park, to their new home, Barton Cottage. The four women must move to a meagre cottage on the property of a distant relative, where they ex (940 From 1001 Books) Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; By A Lady appears on the title page where the author's name might have been.

The novel follows the three Dashwood sisters as they move with their widowed mother from the estate on which they grew up, Norland Park, to their new home, Barton Cottage. The four women must move to a meagre cottage on the property of a distant relative, where they experience love, romance, and heartbreak. The novel is likely set in southwest England, London and Sussex between 1792 and 1797.

عنوانها: «حس و احساس»؛ «دلباخته ( حس و حساسیت)»؛ «شور و شوریدگی»؛ «عقل و احساس»؛ نویسنده: جین اوستین؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز ششم ماه نوامبر سال 2001میلادی و بار دوم ماه فوریه سال 2006میلادی

عنوان: حس و احساس؛ نویسنده: جین اوستین؛ مترجم: حسین خسروی؛ تهران، گلشائی، مطهر، 1363؛ در 460ص؛

عنوان: دلباخته (حس و حساسیت)؛ نویسنده: جین اوستین؛ مترجم: عباس کرمی فر؛ تهران، جاوید، 1363؛ در 412ص؛

عنوان: عقل و احساس؛ نویسنده: جین اوستین؛ مترجم: رضا رضایی؛ تهران، نشر نی، 1385؛ در 407ص؛ چاپ دوم و سوم 1386؛ شابک 9643128199؛ چاپ ششم 1389؛

عنوان: عقل و احساس؛ نویسنده: جین اوستین؛ مترجم: وحید منوچهری واحد؛ تهران، جامی، 1390؛ در 344ص؛ شابک 9786001760198؛

عنوان: حس و حساسیت؛ نویسنده: جین اوستین؛ مترجم: آرمانوش باباخانیانس؛ 1392؛ در 426ص؛ شابک 9789642201570؛

نخستین اثر «جین آستین»؛ نویسنده ی بریتانیایی است، گویا نویسنده، رمان را، در سن بیست سالگی خویش، در سال 1795میلادی بنگاشته است، نخست نام دیگری داشته «الینور و ماریان»، سپس آن را بازنویسی کرده، عنوانش را همان عنوان انگلیسی بالا برگزیده است؛ عنوان کتاب در ترجمه ی فارسی «عقل و احساس» با ترجمه ی جناب آقای «رضا رضایی»؛ و نسخه ی دیگر با ترجمه جناب آقای «وحید منوچهری واحد»؛ و با عنوان «شور و شوریدگی» با ترجمه ی جناب آقای «جمشید اسکندانی»؛ و با عنوان «حس و احساس» با ترجمه ی جناب آقای «حسین خسروی»؛ و با عنوان «حس و حساسیت» با ترجمه ی جناب آقای «جمشید اسکندانی»؛ و نسخه دیگر با ترجمه ی سرکار خانم «آرمانوش باباخانیانس»؛ و با عنوان «دلباخته» توسط جناب آقای «عباس کرمی فر» ترجمه شده است

داستان «عقل و احساس» در فاصله ی سال‌های 1792میلادی تا سال 1797میلادی در منطقه‌ ای در جنوب غربی انگلستان می‌گذرد؛ شخصیت‌های اصلی، دو خواهر به نام‌های «الینور» و «ماریان دشوود» هستند؛ که به خانه‌ ای تازه نقل مکان می‌کنند؛ و در گیرودار ماجراهای عاطفیشان، عشق و دلشکستگی را تجربه می‌کنند؛ عنوان این کتاب را می‌توان بازتابی از دو شیوه ی تفکر و رفتار، در جریان‌های فلسفی، و سایر جریان‌های فکری رایج در سده هجدهم میلادی دانست؛ که یکی متأثر از فلسفه ی «دکارت» و عصر روشنگری بود، و دیگری برآمده از آثار ادبی نویسندگانی؛ همچون: «جان میلتون»، و فیلسوفانی نظیر «جان لاک»؛ در برداشت نخست، انسان موجودی میان فرشته و حیوان ست، که با قدرت عقلانیت، و با مهار غرایز جسمانی، می‌تواند خود را به جایگاه فرشته ها نزدیک کند؛ در دومی، بدن انسان (و امیال و غرایزش) اعتباری دوباره یافت؛ بر مبنای این شیوه ی تفکر، عقلانیت و در نتیجه اخلاق، تنها از مسیر تجارب جسمانی میسر می‌شد؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 07/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Sep 14, 2012 s.penkevich rated it really liked it

Recommended to s.penkevich by: Meredith Holley

Shelves: classics, love, austen

'Know your own happiness. Want for nothing but patience -- or give it a more fascinating name: Call it hope.'

What does it mean for one to be 'sensible'? As we are all individuals, with our own needs, is it sensible to always act according to our countenance (to steal a lovely phrase from Austen), to keep true to ourselves, or is there a code of manners that we should adhere to in order to maintain a proper course of action? Austen’s aptly titled Sense and Sensibility, a staggeringly impressive f 'Know your own happiness. Want for nothing but patience -- or give it a more fascinating name: Call it hope.'

What does it mean for one to be 'sensible'? As we are all individuals, with our own needs, is it sensible to always act according to our countenance (to steal a lovely phrase from Austen), to keep true to ourselves, or is there a code of manners that we should adhere to in order to maintain a proper course of action? Austen’s aptly titled Sense and Sensibility, a staggeringly impressive first publication from 19 year old Austen, probes the very ideas of it’s title. Told through the juxtaposition of two sisters forging their own sensible rationalities as they find themselves in a society fueled by social standings and money, they discover that love does not always fit pleasantly into such a world.

An impressive feature of the Jane Austen novels is her ability to construct a broad scale society to immerse her heroines. She juggles a large cast of characters, each with a uniquely rounded personality and varied level of likeability, which gives a realistic scope and portrayal to the story. Just like in our own lives, we see Elinor and Marianne dealing with friends, rivals, busybodies and outright scoundrels. Austen manages to flesh her characters out with positive and negative traits, giving even the despicable ones a moment to plead their case. The reader is left to either accept or reject such justifications on their own terms, and, in a way, if even the ‘villainous’ act in what they see to be a sensible manner, Austen calls into question our own ideals and interpretations on the matter. She is clever at keeping an ironic flair to her characters, offering a dark side to ones you initially thought amiable, and bestowing grief of less-than-Prince-Charming characteristics to those who should be the true champion of hearts.

The actions of each character show the variety of ways one can interact and react within society, offering a wide number of actions to decide between when declaring what is ‘truly sensible’. The two sisters experience near-mirrored heartbreak and respond in polarizing manners. Is it more sensible to keep your feelings buried, suffering in solitude, always appearing calm and collect at the risk of seeming cold, or more sensible to wear one’s heart on their sleeve, falling into self-pity while drawing the attention of those who can care and offer support? Even the smallest characters can be looked at in this ways. Is sensibility, to toy with hearts, to stick your nose in another’s business, to marry for love with no money or for money with no love?

Perhaps a proper title could have also been Cents and Sensibility, as Austen takes careful aim at the dominating social constructs. The opinions on money, and it’s unavoidable, necessary power over society and the not-so-well-off Dashwood’s particularly, is a crucial element to what is sensible. The social commentary is thick and delicious. We witness many broken hearts in the name of money, and many hearts set on love faced with crippling financial consequences. The final results of the novel however, goes to prove the lyrics 'you can't always get what you want, but when you try sometimes, you'll find you get what you need.'

While I began reading the Austen/Bronte novels feeling like it is something I should know going into a literature degree, thinking ‘oh well, I guess I should know these’, I’ve come to discover I really enjoy them. Especially reading them alongside so many post-modernist works of genius; Austen has been the anchor keeping me from being lost in the Zone. Occasionally it is nice to escape the bells and whistles of modern lit, to step out of the multi-layered metafiction and swirling narratives that I so love, and read a novel that is just as incredible on a powerful but elegant voice, ironic wit, and an acute sense of society alone. I highly recommend Jane Austen to anyone. I want to show up with flowers for Elinor and spend all day sipping tea with her from dainty cups and sighing about weather and society. However, I would be doing a great disservice to you and two the two fine reviewers I am about to speak of, to continue keeping your time and not sending you to these two outstanding reviews: Liberty’s, who I’ve come to consider my professor in all that is Austen/Bronte/Woolf, etc, and the wonderful Kelly, who has said everything I wanted to say and more, but far better. Austen’s world makes us all question our morality and actions, and the world is a better place for it.
4/5 ...more

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Jul 24, 2013 Henry Avila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The story of two teenage girls with romantic troubles, caused by unreliable men (they have dark secrets, but who doesn't ? ) in 1790's England, calm Elinor Dashwood 19 and her younger sibling , by a couple of years the emotional Marianne, 17. When their father is no longer living, all the family including the mother, Mrs. Dashwood and third sister Margaret 13 must vacate their mansion in Sussex, Norland Park a large estate which many generations of the quiet respectable Dashwoods have resided. O The story of two teenage girls with romantic troubles, caused by unreliable men (they have dark secrets, but who doesn't ? ) in 1790's England, calm Elinor Dashwood 19 and her younger sibling , by a couple of years the emotional Marianne, 17. When their father is no longer living, all the family including the mother, Mrs. Dashwood and third sister Margaret 13 must vacate their mansion in Sussex, Norland Park a large estate which many generations of the quiet respectable Dashwoods have resided. Only men can inherit this property says the law then, ( a rich uncle, they received it originally from, insisted in his will this provision) and relatives can be greedy. John Dashwood their half - brother has little family feelings and his cold-heart wife Fanny none, take over. Breaking his promise to his dying father to help his sisters and stepmother financially, selfish Fanny persuades him with not too much effort, that these women can survive very well without any assistance, she tells her wealthy husband ... And money is money and promises just words (otherwise, the couple's child, " poor little Harry", would starve ! ). Sir John Middleton a kindly cousin of the mother's offers the Dashwood's a small cottage low rent to live, close to his big house. Desperately wanting to leave the hostile environment of their former home they relocate there in far away Devonshire, by Allenham village. Being very pretty women the sisters soon attract admirers, the shy Mr. Edward Ferrars the eldest brother of Fanny who likes Elinor, unlike his sister, Miss Dashwood thinks, but she can never be sure he doesn't speak much. On a rainy day the two girls imprudently are walking outside, over the country hills they enjoy exploring the beautiful area, but the weather becomes too much, running for shelter Marianne takes a tumble hurts her leg and unable to go any further and still some distance from Barton Cottage . What to do ? Elinor can't get her home, Mr. John Willoughby hunting with his dog in the rain, comes along and carries Marianne back to the cottage. The amazed mother Margaret and the whole family are speechless. Handsome, charming well spoken Mr. Willoughby visits the injured girl every day to see that everything's all right ... But he doesn't fool anybody ... the youngest sister falls madly in love and he appears also to experience the same emotion. He's a good fun loving friend of Sir John's, well known and liked in the neighborhood with a rich old relative he wisely sees often nearby, Mrs. Smith. The perfect man has a rival Colonel Brandon more than ten years older at 35, with a huge house, a lonely honorable gentleman but Marianne has eyes only for Mr. Willoughby ( a secret libertine). And Mr. Ferrars has a fiancee, he never mentions ... Even the Colonel, might have skeletons in his closet... A great book by the incomparable Jane Austen, her likes will never arise again years go by relentlessly, customs and technology changes the Earth either for better or worse, but there will always be her words. ...more

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Jul 15, 2015 Maureen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is the third Jane Austen book I've read and it's by far my favorite. I love the story, love the heroines, love the MEN I just love everything about this. There was so much happening that it never felt slow or boring and the SUSPENSE and REVELATIONS at the end of the book were so fantastically done. AGH JUST SO GOOD.
TIME TO GO WATCH THE MOVIE.

Reread mid-Jan to early Feb 2016 for Austentatious

STILL MY FAVORITE ...more

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May 19, 2020 Merphy Napier rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult, classics, four-stars

4.5

Despite this being Jane Austen's first published book, it was still filled with her trademark gorgeous writing, hilarious characters, adorable romance, and constant enjoyment. I love these books so much ...more

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Apr 05, 2016 L A i N E Y ~back in a bit~ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: marvelous-writing, regency, audiobook, reviewed, historical-fiction, reread

[reread] 01.29.18: added another star this time round

My penultimate Jane Austen novel. (nooooooo!)

For me, it took too long to get going. Not until they arrived in London that I started to get curious about how the story will unfold and what will happen to the Dashwood sisters. Elinor, I liked well enough but I found Marianne to be too self-righteous and annoying. She did turn a new leaf in the end but I think it came too late for me to start liking her at that point.

Owning to the fact that bec ...more

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Jul 23, 2020 Greta rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, best-reviews

Marriage Money Manners...

Sense and Sensibility is the first novel Austen published and pictures perfectly how women of the British high society lived their lives, only being concerned with marriage, money and manners. The story focuses on the two Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, who are members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry. As their family must deal with circumstances of financial loss, they are forced to move and seek financial security through marriage. Consequently the e ...more

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Nov 15, 2008 Anne rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, audio, read-in-2019, classics

This is a great story and very interesting, but neither of the heroines is a favorite of mine.
And I'm not really crazy about the boys, either.

description

I'm not saying Austen wrote them incorrectly, but these were different times, and not all the stuff they did translates all that well into most people's version of what a modern-day heroine (or hero) should look like.
So. If you're a new-to-Austen reader, just keep that in mind.

description

The general gist of this one is that two sisters, who have recently fallen on ha ...more

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Aug 05, 2008 Kerry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fromthelibrary, chick_lit, romance, about-a-woman

This is 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' houses! And I enjoyed figuring out ...more

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Jun 14, 2016 Amalia Gkavea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: british-literature, britain, 19th-century, england, classics, united-kingdom, jane-austen, european-culture, european-heritage

“I have not wanted syllables where actions have spoken so plainly.”

Jane Austen’s first published novel is loved, widely loved. Yet, in the absence of a dashing figure like Darcy, it is a tiny fraction less adored than Pride and Prejudice. Let’s face it, we are a little superficial at heart, it’s natural, understandable and unavoidable. But for me, the power of Sense and Sensibility lies in the wonderful duality and antithesis that characterizes the work of our beloved Jane Austen, an antith ...more

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Jul 26, 2016 Piyangie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-library, brittish-lit, favorite-classic

After this second read, I'm compelled to amend my first review, for my perspective of the book is quite altered. This debut publication of Jane Austen is, in my view, a complete book in itself, an excellent introduction of Jane Austen to the world of classical literature.

On this second read, the first surprise I was in for is the dramatic quality of the book on the whole. I've certainly missed that. The actions, the suspense, the wealth of emotions it arouses are beyond comparison. It is powerf After this second read, I'm compelled to amend my first review, for my perspective of the book is quite altered. This debut publication of Jane Austen is, in my view, a complete book in itself, an excellent introduction of Jane Austen to the world of classical literature.

On this second read, the first surprise I was in for is the dramatic quality of the book on the whole. I've certainly missed that. The actions, the suspense, the wealth of emotions it arouses are beyond comparison. It is powerful and strong, and also theatrical. The reading experience was very satisfying and rewarding, for it was not mere reading, it was also seeing the story come alive before you. I didn't read, I lived it.

The story is, of course, focused on the lives, loves, desires, longings, and characters of the Dashwood sisters. Elinor is the kind, devoted and reasonable sort with rare strength and fortitude. Marianne, on the other hand, although kind and devoted, is impulsive, emotional, and opinionated. The popular and accepted character interpretation of Elinor and Marianne is that former representing sense and the latter sensibility. However, I doubt whether such a strict distinction is possible. It wouldn't be fair to say that Elinor is not sensible nor Marianne has no sense. I believe the distinction lies in the degree.

The main focus of the story is on Elinor and Marianne's love stories. Elinor's and Edward's love and attachment to each other were very subtle in its presentation, unlike Marianne's and Willoughby's which was very expressive. This is why I felt Elinor's and Edward's love was forced, not felt but only stated. I'm glad my misunderstanding was rectified with this reading.

Sense and Sensibility however is more than a love story. It addresses many other deeper issues such as vanity, self-realization, class difference, and human nature. Jane Austen is well known for her social criticism and commentary of the regency period and her brilliancy in human observation.

Jane Austen's hero in Sense and Sensibility is an unusual choice compared with her later choices of heroes. Colonel Brandon is not a young man but a man in his prime. This choice was somewhat a puzzle to me earlier, but now I comprehend that it was essential to the story. A man with good sense, kind-hearted, strong, and benevolent, a man who has an unhappy past, a man who himself has suffered so that he could empathize with another had to be chosen to be the hero. I highly commend Austen for her excellent choice and giving us a lifelong loving character.

The rest of the characters which sets the story in motion has the usual Austen flavour. The oppressed and misunderstood Edward, naive mother Dahswood, the silly but kind Mrs. Jennings, her daughter Charlotte and son-in-law Sir John, the prim and proper Lady Middleton, the greedy, selfish and wicked lot of John Dashwood, Fanny and Willoughby, the artful Lucy Steel, the vain Robert Ferrars, and the despot Mrs. Ferrars are variation enough to keep the readers interested, engaged and absorbed.

Jane Austen’s beautiful language, her witty writing and humour, and the engaging flow made the reading so enjoyable. I love her amazing ability to draw you into the setting of the story and to make you part of it. Her characters are so real that the good ones become your friends while wicked ones become your enemies! This element of realism is one of the strongest reasons for the popularity of her work over the years.

Sense and Sensibility is undoubtedly a brilliant piece of work by Jane Austen, and the reading experience was highly gratifying. ...more

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Apr 26, 2018 Luffy rated it really liked it

This book nearly failed the Bechdel test. There were an equal assortment of men and women, only the men seem to have a lemming like migratory bent, and fly from the nest for some reason or other.

Elinor is a blueprint for heroines that are strong. At least we can agree on the fact that most strong heroines in films are indistinguishable from men. But here there cannot be such confusion.

I was not immune to the charms of Sense and sensibility. It was very tough for me to read. At least I was now pr ...more

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Jul 09, 2007 Eric Althoff rated it it was ok

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 Austen, much like a concer ...more

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Jun 12, 2007 Kelly rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Austen fans, women

Shelves: brit-lit, fiction, 19th-century, regency, its-the-quiet-ones, mawwiageiswhatbringsustogethertoday, owned

New review to come eventually. Can't quite put it all into words yet.
* * *
ORIGINAL: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 t New review to come eventually. Can't quite put it all into words yet.
* * *
ORIGINAL: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 idealistically want in Pride and Prejudice, but the ones here are more realistic and would have a better chance of lasting in real life. Colonel Brandon and Marianne are one of my favorite flawed couples of any piece of literature. This book finds faith in romances that are less than perfect, heroes who don't act like heroes (Colonel Brandon wins over the romantic figure of Willoughby in the end), and heroines who are at times geniunely ridiculous in the things they choose to do. Not because Austen writes them ridiculously. All women do things like that, and these girls find their way to love anyway. And not with the people conventional plotlines or even gothic strangeness would normally put them with either. By all rights, Eleanor and Colonel Brandon should make a quietly sensible couple, if one thinks about it. But that's not how this ends. There's enough romance left in it for some poetry to how the story ends. None of the men are one or even two dimensional, either. They don't merely serve as the means to the narcissitic heroine's end. No cardboard Prince Charmings with one ridiculous flaw here. They're very believable. I've always thought one of the strengths of Austen is that she writes novels that are undoubtably marketed to women, but men can still see themselves in her heroes if they read them.

The movie is my favorite Jane Austen movie, as a side note. And one of my favorites in general. I've been watching it since I was about 13. It's beautiful. So is the soundtrack. Emma Thompson's performance alone is worth the viewing. Ang Lee.. before he switched over to gay cowboys. Yes, he did period pieces. Who would have known, right? ...more

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Oct 30, 2014 Melindam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: jane-austen-related, classics, favourites

CRACKING THE AUSTEN CODE! :)
...
...
... OR ATTEMPTING IT (Review still under construction)

"Many of Jane Austen's admirers, it is true, read her novels as a means of escape into a cozy sort of Old English nirvana, but they find this escape in her pages only because, as E. M. Foster has written, the devout "Janeite" "like all regular churchgoers ... scarcely notices what is being said."
(...)
Nor do we need such a great deal of ingenuity to see that all, or nearly all, the great issues in human li ...more

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Jun 11, 2012 lily ☁️ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 2020-favorites, best-romance, beautiful-prose, favorites, impressions, best-bfs, historical

“The more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.”

If this quote doesn’t sum up the entirety of my twenty-something years on this earth …

Blog | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter ...more

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Jan 26, 2021 Itzel rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2021-reviews, classics

“I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way.”

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's first published novel, centers around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, whose father has recently passed away and has left them, along with their mother and younger sister, with a small inheritance and no residence. They move to Barton cottage, courtesy of a distant relative and this change of location introduces many new characters into the ...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Ariel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I DID IT. WOOOOOOOOOO! ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!

Not going to lie, the middle was rough.. quite tedious and slow, BUT, the character development in this book was just fabulous; Austen truly understands the human condition.

Next? PRIDE AND PREJUDICE!

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Sep 26, 2010 Jason Koivu rated it really liked it

Shelves: vagina-soliloquies

Call me Elinor.

Being the older sibling, while growing up I often felt like I was shoved into the role of being the sensible one, the reasonable one, the responsible one. That is how I was seen. That is what people believed of me. Underneath the skin of the rational, reserved tut-tutter writhed an often non-sensical, unreasonable, irresponsible being. But it took the occurrence of extreme circumstances for others to see it.

Such is the life of Elinor Dashwood, the elder sister in a small, displac ...more

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Jan 31, 2020 Dilushani Jayalath rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Am I even befitting to write a review on such a literary excellence? Do I even attempt to?

No instead I shall divulge on the greatness of The literature master-woman Jane Austen. It is still a wonder on how she managed to produce such stories that even centuries later would be loved? That at such an age she managed to write such female characters that they would be of a constant pillar for women even now? It is of much wonder. There is no testimony anywhere that can deter her being one of the gre ...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Madeline rated it it was ok

Shelves: the-list, ugh

I hate romantic comedies.

I hate them for a wide variety of reasons - I hate their formulaic plots, their repeated character tropes that never seem to change (hmm, will this one have a sassy best friend who only exists to dispense advice?), I hate their consistent failing of the the Bechdel test, and I hate the way they try to make me believe that a skinny and gorgeous woman is incapable of finding a man because she's clumsy or has a job or something.

But mostly, I hate them because their plots I hate romantic comedies.

I hate them for a wide variety of reasons - I hate their formulaic plots, their repeated character tropes that never seem to change (hmm, will this one have a sassy best friend who only exists to dispense advice?), I hate their consistent failing of the the Bechdel test, and I hate the way they try to make me believe that a skinny and gorgeous woman is incapable of finding a man because she's clumsy or has a job or something.

But mostly, I hate them because their plots revolve entirely around what boy likes what girl and vice versa, and nothing else ever happens. Sure, there can be subplots, and yes, brilliant romantic comedies do exist, but I want my movie protagonists to do more than worry about who they're going to marry.

Reading Sense and Sensibility made me realize why I don't like Jane Austen's books, and probably never will: she was a brilliant author, and her novels are funny and well-written, but at the end of the day, her characters spend 90% of their time talking about boys. Nothing else happens: they go to a ball, where they worry about which boy isn't dancing with them; they have tea, where they talk about which girls have snagged which boys; and they write letters about which girls have done scandalous things with boys. It's just pages and pages of "I like you but you hate me!" "No, I really love you, you were just misinformed!" "My, what a silly misunderstanding!" "I agree! Let's get married!" and all its variations and it bores me to death. I love the humor, and I love the characters, I just want them to do something interesting. This is probably why Pride and Prejudice and Zombies resonated so well with me - finally, the Bennett sisters got to do something besides sit around and mope about the various boys who weren't talking to them for whatever reason!

Sense and Sensibility is one long slog of "I love this boy! But oh no, he's engaged to someone else!" and "This boy acted like he loved me but he really didn't and now I am sad and will ignore the other boy who has clearly been meant to marry me all along!" It's for this reason that, when faced with the prospect of reading the last 70 pages of this book in order to finish it, I was filled with dread and realized that I do not give a single flying fuck who the Dashwood sisters end up marrying. The only thing that would make me want to finish the book is if the story ends with Elinor and Marianne deciding to go off to college or travel to China or fight zombies or do something besides get married. But I know they won't, because this is an Austen novel, and things only end one way here.

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with romantic comedies - they're funny, lighthearted entertainment where everyone is beautiful and nothing hurts, and the people who get unhappy endings were mean people and deserved it anyway. I do not begrudge anyone for liking this kind of entertainment - it's just not my taste, and I won't waste any time feeling bad about this.

Sorry, Ms. Austen. I gave it my all, but it's just not going to work out. But don't worry: it's not you, it's me. ...more

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About Jane Austen

Jane Austen

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Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed gentr ...more