Sense and Sensibility
discussion
Is that book boring or what ?(NO OFFense )
I love Jane Austen but Sense and Sensibility was boring. I liked the movie but it seemed like all the scenes in the movie were either not in the book or were barely mentioned.
Lol, no offense taken! It was SO DULL. I finally just read the end to see who married whom. It just wasn't as well written as Pride and Prejudice.
I have tried to read it a few times and couldn't do it. However, I loved Pride and Prejudice.
I fell asleep in the movie the book was worse. It was dry and dull. But her other books were Great!
I watched the movie but never finished the book. BORING!
Well, I have to disagree. I didn't think this book was boring at all. I am a big fan of all of Austen's work although, Pride and Prejudice is my favorite.
I find it funny that the majority doesn't like it! I really did. It was slow (not as slow as Persuasion in my opinion) but I really relate to both of the main characters and love this story line. Rich characters that go on a long road to becoming who they were meant to be.I'm really not a philosophical person, that's just why I personally like it. But I do have one beef that has always puzzled me: Why didn't Col.Brandon go for the mom? They were more age-appropriate. Kinda creepy when you think about it ;)
I liked the book...NOT boring, but not my favorite Austen. Persuasion was my favorite, or maybe Mansfield Park. P & P above it too. I thought Northanger Abbey was a little weird. Still liked though.
I liked the book...NOT boring, but not my favorite Austen. Persuasion was my favorite, or maybe Mansfield Park. P & P above it too. I thought Northanger Abbey was a little weird. Still liked though.
I liked the book...NOT boring, but not my favorite Austen. Persuasion was my favorite, or maybe Mansfield Park. P & P above it too. I thought Northanger Abbey was a little weird. Still liked though.
I liked the book...NOT boring, but not my favorite Austen. Persuasion was my favorite, or maybe Mansfield Park. P & P above it too. I thought Northanger Abbey was a little weird. Still liked though.
Lopita wrote: "I only read two books S&s and Northanger abbey but I liked the abbey better and I found sense and sensibility really boring, it drove me crazy and I don't remember it Thank God cause it's about two..."i feel the total opposite to that! i'm reading my way through all austen's novels now, started with northanger and now i'm reading S&S and i just can't put it down! northanger although more about adventure and novels and gothic, i felt so bored reading it, it had no events and the characters were so naiive and young and silly. S&S has a depth that i instantly fell into, the characters are portrayed amazingly, and i feel for them, i connected to them, i'm just filled with many emotions reading it. i think this book is goin to be my favorite. it is about two sisters, but it is about the diversity and contrast in their characters, how they react and respond to things differently, it's like they're real, i can totally picture them.. it helps if you saw the movie too, the 1995 one, it's amusing and serves the book well.
That's ok, I don't offend easy. But in my opinion S&S is one of the best Jane Austen books. As a matter of fact, it's my favorite!
I will admit that after I read P&P in high school and allowing for a little time to bask in the afterglow, I tried to jump into S&S. It didn't take. I distinctly remember thinking (deep within my subconscious) "This book is so BORING." I wouldn't have said it allowed however because I silly and young and loved P&P so much at the time. Fast forward six or seven years. I bought it (and the others) at a book fair and chose to read S&S first after watching the ITV specials (all of them...) and the various movie adaptations (of all the books) and this time around I really liked it! Did not find it boring and was definitely emotionally invested. :)
quick recommendation: ITV's Lost in Austen. Freakin' hilarious. I almost love it more than the '95 P&P. :o
I totally agree with you Sara about Lost in Austen. I love it better than '95 P&P it was so boring and everyone was too stiff and unright for ages....
Sense and Sensibility is one of my favorite Austens. I like that the stakes are higher than in other Austens. In P&P, the Bennet girls all worry about what will happen when their father dies and they're turned out of their house. In S&S, it has actually happened. So much of that book is about the duties we owe to people who save us. It's not a sexy message, but it's an interesting one, and beautifully rendered. The Emma Thompson movie is lovely, too.And Fanny Dashwood is HILARIOUS. I love/hate her.
(My least favorite is Mansfield Park. I don't think it's boring exactly, but slower than it needs to be, and also all the "good" characters are prigs.)
Northanger Abbey is her comic send-up of Gothics.I loved Sense and Sensibility, though either Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion is my favorite, depending on mood. I didn't find it boring at all.
As for Mrs. Dashwood being more "age-appropriate" for Colonel Brandon--no, not by the standards of the day, and the age difference between him and Marianne wouldn't have been considered "creepy" at all. He was still a fit and active man, and he had no children; Mrs. Dashwood, on the other hand, was well past child-bearing, and apart from her own apparent lack of interest in marrying again (after, remember, a long marriage to a man she loved, with whom she had three children), wouldn't be considered a "marriage prospect" for any man who didn't already have children.
Also, remember, though a good woman and not stupid, she shows every sign of not having the same level of intellect as either of her two older daughters. Colonel Brandon would have run screaming in the other direction at the prospect of the Widow Dashwood as his life's companion.
Sense and Sensibility was my first Austen novel and I absolutely loved it. I might have to re-read it because it was a while ago I read it, but I really enjoyed it.Persuasion and Emma are the two most boring reads for me...Emma probably wins out as the most boring Austen novel in my opinion. I just didn't like her and didn't care for anything that happened to any of the characters.
I really like Sense and Sensibility - I agree with the comments that the Emma Thompson film was great. I love her acting when Edward proposes (Dawn French mimicked it in Vicar of Dibley, which is also a great scene!)
The book starts off with the death of the father and the talk is mostly of money and how much is in the will for the sisters and the mother to subsist on. I found that part boring, but as you read further it does get interesting with Marianne and Elinor's relationship, and how they both evolve and become softened by their experiences in life.
Well, it's definitely not a Stephen Hunter novel or anything like that, but I liked it and didn't find it boring. It's actually probably my favorite Austen novel.
better watch the movie than to read S&S. kinda boring!
The book is a literary piece of work and have to read patiently. I like Emma and Pride and Prejudice but Sense and sensibility is best work of JaneAustin
I love Jane Austin but sometimes her books are difficult to read. Nothing seems to happen and the humor is very dry. Also the books were written 200 years ago and tastes change. Don't give up on her because Sense and Sensiblilty is boring for you. She has other books. My favorite is Northanger Abby.
Yes. S&S was sort of boring, although Jane was and still is amazing.
Even though this one was quite a bit slower than some of Austen's other work, it's still my favorite. The ending was a little drawn out when you compare it to the movie, but when you think about it, things like where Edward and Elinor were going to live was a very important thing, especially during the era when it was written.
I always tell my college students never to say of a book, "It's boring." Instead, they should say, "I was bored by it." In other words, take responsibility for failing the author?Shelley
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I think the book is boring. There is no novelty or vitality in it compared to her other novels.
It is written in a very old-fashioned style. I could not believe, when I first read the novel after watching the Ang Lee film, how long it took Austen to get to the point. And I say that despite having enjoyed every zinger that Austen launched—her gift for characterization is astonishing, even now. But it is worth recognizing that styles have changed. Austen, classic or not, could not publish her books as is today (as proven by one wag a few years ago, who sent out Pride and Prejudice under its original title and received numerous rejections from agents and editors).
(as proven by one wag a few years ago, who sent out Pride and Prejudice under its original title and received numerous rejections from agents and editors). Surely it was rejected because any agent or editor would have recognised it as Pride and Prejudice. I'm not sure I'd want to work with an agent or editor who didn't recognise the classics!
I don't know when 'not written in a style that I'm used to' became 'boring.' It is not the fault of the book if you didn't like it. The book is wonderful. Many of us enjoy it immensely.Also, "[getting] to the point" is not the point. Austen's works are character studies. Watching the characters interact IS the point.
Erin wrote: "I don't know when 'not written in a style that I'm used to' became 'boring.' It is not the fault of the book if you didn't like it. The book is wonderful. Many of us enjoy it immensely.Hear hear!
I actually don't think it's slow at all!! Some of the characters I liked even better than Pride & Prejudice. I'm sure a lot of people have at least one Jane Austen that's not their favorite, for me that's Northanger Abbey. I liked it, but it seemed a little dry. I'll have to read it again to really know what I think of it though.
No offense taken, however I have to disagree. I read Pride & Prejudice first and loved it; when I went to pick up Sense & Sensibility I was not expecting much because I had heard it was the worst book. I guess I couldn't get the comments out of my head and I put it down for a long time. I decided to read it again and I loved it!!! It takes a bit, but it was great to read parts that weren't included in the movie (which I love). So I don't think S&S was bad, Emma on the other hand is sooo slow...I have no idea when I will decide to finish that book. It is mind-numbingly boring, and it doesn't help that I'm not a big fan of her character either!
Funny how 'mileage varies'. I find Emma (pure coincidence!) the most engrossing, funny and charming of all Austen's books. Emma herself is not perhaps likeable, but at that age most of us screw up, think ourselves more important than we are, and get everything wrong!
I Love Emma AND Sense and Sensibilities. With S&S I watched the movie (which I found very well made) then read the book. I loved quirky Edward and shy Elinor. Marianne (if that's how you spell it) Was a hard character to really like but I did after a while. I loved it (like all the other Jane Austen books I've read) *Nobody's mentioned the sneaky, captivating, devious, charming Willoughby!
its interesting to see how divided we all are , i liked sense and sensibility although persuassion is my fav . and i didnt like emma , i liked all the other chatacters but emma drove me up the wall ... incidentally i found mansfield park boring so i guess we all have out own views
Andy wrote: "The comments here leave me wondering whether I should give Austen another try. Sense and Sensibility was my only attempt and this was the second book I ever failed to finish, having enjoyed much 19th century literature. "I would say that you haven't really "tried" Jane Austen if you haven't read Pride and Prejudice. It is a superlative novel -- so much more than just another romance.
I just read S&S after trying (and failing) to get through Emma. I loved P&P but the beginning of Emma was hard for me to get into, but I loved the character. She is nothing like me and I (of course) would not want to be her friend (well, at least in the beginning of the book, I don't know if she changes) but I did like her- I found her entertaining. I also enjoyed S&S and I plan on going back to Emma after I take a short break. I liked the relationships in S&S- especially between the sisters. They were so different- and often frustrated with each other but they loved each other (and I liked the contrast between them and the Steele sisters- can you imagine Marianne, although a bit selfish, is not like Lucy)
@Lauren and @Rebecca: the first time I read Emma, the first half of the book took me about two months to read. The second half took me three days. That is definitely a slow-starter but it gets going, and is totally worth it when you get there.
S&S is my favorite Austen book. I just love the simpleness and accurate painting of the times in it. It's slow and quiet and not overly dramatic, but I just love it.
I loved the book, especially because it was about two sisters and two romances are more interesting than one. Maybe i enjoyed it so much because i hadn't seen the film so the plot was a surprise and i did not know what would happen next. I love all of Austens books but the one i liked the least was Persuasion.
I also loved Lost in Austen, after watching it i decided to read all of Jane Austen's books because before then, i had only ever seen the film of Pride and Prejudice. So really if i had not seen that film i would not have read 6 of my most favorite books. :)
I love S & S. Reread it all the time. Not particularly fond of the female characters but Colonel Brandon is wonderful. Even though he's older and not as dashing or handsome as Austen's other romantic interests, he's one of her best.
Andy wrote: "will give it a go.I have enjoyed Austen adapted for TV ..."Good for you, Andy. I know you'll enjoy it. And after P&P, perhaps you'll try Persuasion, which is actually my favorite Austen. It's more somber and sedate than P&P, but it's a beautiful romance with the greatest love letter you'll ever read.
I dearly love Austen, but Sense & Sensibility is my least favorite of her books. Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion are my favorites for sure. And I do enjoy Emma, too.
Lady Wesley wrote: "Andy wrote: "will give it a go.I have enjoyed Austen adapted for TV ..."Good for you, Andy. I know you'll enjoy it. And after P&P, perhaps you'll try Persuasion, which is actually my favorite Aus..."
That letter......sigh
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I'll keep reading the rest of the books but Really tell me do anyone find that book boring too ???