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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
emotional
lighthearted
medium-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
Everyone who purports to love the classics has read Jane Austen, right? Well, I hadn't, so I thought I'd better get on it. I started reading Sense and Sensibility about a year ago but couldn't get into it. The language of the time is so flowery that to describe one thought or action takes a great many words, and sentences can be so long that by the end of them I'd forgotten what was at the beginning. Austen is not someone you can skim. I put the book down for many months and read a ton of other books that I liked better.
A few months ago I read Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper (those are two separate works and not a treatise on Daisy Miller choosing yellow wallpaper for her domicile), and the flowery language of those got me back into the mindset where I could finish Sense and Sensibility. I will admit that I'm glad I've seen the 1996 movie (with Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, et al) a few times so I knew the basics of what was going to happen. However, I believe there are some differences between the book and movie. I'll have to watch the movie again just to see if my memory serves.
About this edition - I like the inclusion of the illustrations. They are rather small on the screen, but clicking them enlarges them somewhat, and you can zoom in to see more detail. There are a few typographical mistakes - I'm guessing that a printed page was scanned for digitization, because there were a few instances where the letter b was where an h should have been: "bas" instead of "has" and the like. There aren't many of those, and they shouldn't interfere with your enjoyment of Elinor and Marianne's trials and tribulations and eventual... nah, I'm not going to post any spoilers just in case you're one of the very few people who don't know the story.
The main question I am left with is: Will I read another of Jane Austen's books? Yes, I believe I will, but I'm going to take a break and read some more straightforward books first to clear my head.
A few months ago I read Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper (those are two separate works and not a treatise on Daisy Miller choosing yellow wallpaper for her domicile), and the flowery language of those got me back into the mindset where I could finish Sense and Sensibility. I will admit that I'm glad I've seen the 1996 movie (with Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, et al) a few times so I knew the basics of what was going to happen. However, I believe there are some differences between the book and movie. I'll have to watch the movie again just to see if my memory serves.
About this edition - I like the inclusion of the illustrations. They are rather small on the screen, but clicking them enlarges them somewhat, and you can zoom in to see more detail. There are a few typographical mistakes - I'm guessing that a printed page was scanned for digitization, because there were a few instances where the letter b was where an h should have been: "bas" instead of "has" and the like. There aren't many of those, and they shouldn't interfere with your enjoyment of Elinor and Marianne's trials and tribulations and eventual... nah, I'm not going to post any spoilers just in case you're one of the very few people who don't know the story.
The main question I am left with is: Will I read another of Jane Austen's books? Yes, I believe I will, but I'm going to take a break and read some more straightforward books first to clear my head.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Personally I did not love it as much as Pride and Prejudice, Emma or Persuasion, all 3 of which I loved for different reasons. With all three above, I found that half way through there was some sort of switch where the pacing kicked up a gear and I was fully absorbed with everything that was going on which did not happen here. I'd argue that the ending is the weakest out of the four and feels rather abrupt. However, I did enjoy spending time with many of the characters and do not regret reading it at all.
★★★★☆
Jane Austen es una de esas escritoras que más necesidad tenía de leer, llevaba años posponiendo la lectura de «Orgullo y prejuicio» por no querer comenzar por su obra más aclamada y popular. Así que, tras conseguir un boxset con su obra completa, decidí leer sus libros en orden de publicación.
«Sentido y sensibilidad», es la primera novela de la autora que firmó como “By a Lady”, en ella conoceremos la familia Dashwood. La forman la madre y viuda del señor Dashwood y sus tres hijas: Elinor, Marianne y Margaret. Las dos primeras serán quien se lleven el peso protagónico de la historia, por lo tanto viviremos de su mano el cambio en sus vidas y la adaptación a un nuevo hogar y a sus vecinos.
A través de descripciones con un potencial altamente sensible y descriptivo, Jane nos transporta a esas casas, en medio de la nada, rodeadas de bosques y arbustos en lugares entrañables. Además debo elogiar la profundización en los personajes principales, en sus diálogos elocuentes, irónicos y llenos de momentos cómicos a la par que agradables.
Leer a Jane ha supuesto ser un reposo, un descanso de lectura armoniosa y tranquila pero también aporta momentos dramáticos, que hacen de este, un texto complejo y completo. El vocabulario utilizado es delicado, la narración es una auténtica joya que vale la pena admirar y pararse a disfrutar largamente.
En definitiva, lo único que me ha resultado menos encantador, es su final. Me ha resultado algo precipitado, con pequeños detalles que no han terminado de convencerme. Por lo demás, solo puedo admirar la capacidad de escritura de Austen y deleitarme con la idea de seguir leyendo sus otros libros.
Jane Austen es una de esas escritoras que más necesidad tenía de leer, llevaba años posponiendo la lectura de «Orgullo y prejuicio» por no querer comenzar por su obra más aclamada y popular. Así que, tras conseguir un boxset con su obra completa, decidí leer sus libros en orden de publicación.
«Sentido y sensibilidad», es la primera novela de la autora que firmó como “By a Lady”, en ella conoceremos la familia Dashwood. La forman la madre y viuda del señor Dashwood y sus tres hijas: Elinor, Marianne y Margaret. Las dos primeras serán quien se lleven el peso protagónico de la historia, por lo tanto viviremos de su mano el cambio en sus vidas y la adaptación a un nuevo hogar y a sus vecinos.
A través de descripciones con un potencial altamente sensible y descriptivo, Jane nos transporta a esas casas, en medio de la nada, rodeadas de bosques y arbustos en lugares entrañables. Además debo elogiar la profundización en los personajes principales, en sus diálogos elocuentes, irónicos y llenos de momentos cómicos a la par que agradables.
Leer a Jane ha supuesto ser un reposo, un descanso de lectura armoniosa y tranquila pero también aporta momentos dramáticos, que hacen de este, un texto complejo y completo. El vocabulario utilizado es delicado, la narración es una auténtica joya que vale la pena admirar y pararse a disfrutar largamente.
En definitiva, lo único que me ha resultado menos encantador, es su final. Me ha resultado algo precipitado, con pequeños detalles que no han terminado de convencerme. Por lo demás, solo puedo admirar la capacidad de escritura de Austen y deleitarme con la idea de seguir leyendo sus otros libros.
I love Jane Austen!!!! Not as fun as Pride and Prejudice. More of a cautionary tale than a fairytale
“I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way.”
Look, when it was good, it was great, but when it was annoying, it was infuriating.
3.5 stars, via audiobook.
Look, when it was good, it was great, but when it was annoying, it was infuriating.
3.5 stars, via audiobook.