Scan barcode
A review by courtknees
Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope
2.0
This is a pointless and unnecessary adaptation. The first sign of trouble is that it's set in the present day, but the characters all still live at grand country estates in England, and spend their time drinking tea or popping up to London for parties.
The problem is, most of the plot points in S&S don't hold up in the present day, but little to no attempt has been made to modernise them. Money is terribly tight for the Dashwoods (what with only two hundred thousand pounds in the bank), yet it doesn't seem to occur to Mrs Dashwood that, this not being the early 1800s, she can get a job. Instead, Elinor has to drop out of university to support the family. What a horrible mother.
For some reason, inheritance is still a very big deal, as is marrying into a wealthy family. Fanny's horror at the thought of her brother Edward hooking up with the disgustingly poor Elinor (see earlier point re: only two hundred thousand pounds in the bank) just doesn't make any sense in a modern context. Perhaps most bizarrely, the book still ends with an engagement, despite the characters in question having not so much as been on a date.
Elinor drawing architectural sketches instead of portraits, Marianne playing the guitar instead of the piano, and Margaret having an iPod do not make this an interesting update of a classic story. I think I've been spoiled when it comes to Austen adaptations - the youtube series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries updated Pride & Prejudice so beautifully, so cleverly, that I'm still gushing about it a couple of years after it ended. This book, on the other hand, just didn't need to be written. I gave it two stars instead of one as it would be passable reading material on the beach, by the pool, while sleep deprived on a plane, or while sick and unable to get off the couch - any time you aren't up for dealing with difficult concepts, and are ideally too sleepy to work up a rage at the use of the word "amazeballs".
The problem is, most of the plot points in S&S don't hold up in the present day, but little to no attempt has been made to modernise them. Money is terribly tight for the Dashwoods (what with only two hundred thousand pounds in the bank), yet it doesn't seem to occur to Mrs Dashwood that, this not being the early 1800s, she can get a job. Instead, Elinor has to drop out of university to support the family. What a horrible mother.
For some reason, inheritance is still a very big deal, as is marrying into a wealthy family. Fanny's horror at the thought of her brother Edward hooking up with the disgustingly poor Elinor (see earlier point re: only two hundred thousand pounds in the bank) just doesn't make any sense in a modern context. Perhaps most bizarrely, the book still ends with an engagement, despite the characters in question having not so much as been on a date.
Elinor drawing architectural sketches instead of portraits, Marianne playing the guitar instead of the piano, and Margaret having an iPod do not make this an interesting update of a classic story. I think I've been spoiled when it comes to Austen adaptations - the youtube series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries updated Pride & Prejudice so beautifully, so cleverly, that I'm still gushing about it a couple of years after it ended. This book, on the other hand, just didn't need to be written. I gave it two stars instead of one as it would be passable reading material on the beach, by the pool, while sleep deprived on a plane, or while sick and unable to get off the couch - any time you aren't up for dealing with difficult concepts, and are ideally too sleepy to work up a rage at the use of the word "amazeballs".