Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility is the third Jane Austen novel I have read. I have previously enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Emma, so I was looking forward to reading Sense and Sensibility.

If you have read Jane Austen before, you will recognize the clever social satire, well-written characters, humor, emotion, and heart that characterize her works. I quickly became invested in the lives of the two main characters, sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, and thoroughly enjoyed reading about their family, friends, and acquaintances. One thing that I did not expect is the level of mystery that persists throughout the book. There is not any murder or crime, but characters tend to act in unexpected ways that kept me guessing. Some of the twists and turns left me genuinely shocked!

Although the book has plenty of positive elements, certain things detracted from my enjoyment. The plot became too convoluted at times, and the ending felt far too rushed and unearned. I also would have liked to see Elinor have more character development throughout the book.

I would recommend this book to people who have already read and enjoyed one or more of Jane Austen’s novels, but suggest that people new to her works start with Emma or Pride and Prejudice.

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toffishay's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really loved this book! Elinor and Marianne have such a fun relationship and their different approaches to love and relationships were very engaging. I loved Elinor too! She is maybe my favorite Austen character now, with Anne from Persuasion as a close second. But Elinor is so strong and funny and interesting. All of her inner dialogue and her willingness to be sharp when she needs to be, made me glad that she is who we follow. I also liked Marianne though and I think she gets shorted in the book a bit. Yes, she engages in flights of fancy but she is 17! I liked the moments where Elinor was able to be there for her though and support her; how they were really able to support each other. Like all Austen books, the end seems to wrap up a little too quickly to me and there is a point in the second volume where things really slow down. Some of the back-and-forths and misunderstandings could have been cut, especially because some are resolved so quickly that they don't impact the plot at all. But I had a good time reading this one and could see myself revisiting it before some others from Austen :)

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grets_reads's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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mindins's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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tigeryear's review against another edition

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lighthearted sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Everyone was opp in this book. Rough read -- not that it was hard to comprehend, but in that it was boring drudgery. It didn't work for me as a satire, after my first read I'm not convinced the characters even had development, and if you have to say "we're not really blood related [insert whine]" -- you failed!

Mash that up with some early 1800s pedophilia and you've pretty much got the plot of this.

Disappointing!

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jadziaaudrey's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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boglord's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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nickoliver's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I rather enjoyed this! It was technically my third Jane Austen book, after "Emma" and "Pride & Prejudice", but those two I had read a) as a teen (so about a decade ago), and b) not in English but in German, so I didn't know if I would like this or not. After all, my taste has changed dramatically, and teen me was definitely not what you'd call a critical reader.

Unfortunately, this past week has been really bad for me (both mental health-wise and physically), so I never read as much as I wanted and never properly lost myself in this book. But especially in the last few days, I got really into it! There was some drama and even some genuine laugh-out-loud-moments, which I didn't expect from a classic, so I had a lot of fun. The only thing about this book that I heavily disliked were the age gaps of the couples - it was disturbing to see it so normalised that a 35-year-old man wanted to marry a 17-year-old girl. And the ending felt a bit rushed. Other than that, though, it was a good time.

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