Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Sense and Sensibility

Whilst not among my favourites of Austen's novels, this was a compelling and interesting read. As my reading partner put it "it's as if everyone is in a romance novel except for Elinor and Lucy, who are both in a social intrigue novel". It blends the two genres well and manages to display the merits of acting sensibly and with good judgement without coming off as haughty or moralising. Attention is given to the insipidity of the gentry, the financial troubles of women, and the importance of patience and calculation.

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cleotheo's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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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anna_wa's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

I was wary of leaving a review because I started this on September 25th, then after completing the second volume on October 9th, I stopped reading because the class was moving on to Pride & Prjeudice, and then I didn't approach it again until November 30th (after I had finished Persuasion, the final novel of the semester).

However, I know Catherine is going to want to know what I thought of the book since it's one of her favorites of all time, so here I go...

Well, I'm glad that I read this book as part of a class instead of on my own because if I had read it on my own I probably would have taken it too seriously and not caught a lot of the humor/irony Austen was aiming for. The way she sets up the entire novel as a satire of sentimental novels of the time was wonderful, and I love knowing that this entire novel was basically a callout of her brother: the one who got all the inheritence and left his sisters with nothing, forcing them and their mother to live in poverty. Like heck yes, you better call him out for being terrible to you all.

What I love the most about this book (other than her @'ing her brother through the characters of John and Fanny Dashwood) is that it is a story about the love between two sisters. People can say all they want about the love between the heterosexual couples that marry at the end of the book, but the heart of the book for me is how Elinor and Marianne comfort each other and grow both as individuals and as sisters.

When our teacher first told us that the message of the book was you can't have "too much sense and not enough sensibility" and you also can't have "too much sensibility and not enough sense" because both will end in disaster, I thought "duh, doesn't everyone know that?" but no, they didn't actually and they still don't (I'm looking at certain people who think there is one objective way of thinking that is not inherently emotional, especially music critics). So thank you Jane Austen for spreading that message, and I hope it reaches the people in the 21st century who still need to see it.

All in all I loved this book and I hope that in the future I will read it again, without such a big lag in between when I start and when I finish, so that I may appreciate it to its fullest extent.

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aqtbenz's review against another edition

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funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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