Review: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen
Published by Oxford University Press: April 24th 2004 (originally 1811)
Paperback: 327 pages
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Star Rating: 3/5










Synopsis from Goodreads:

In her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen presents us with the subtle portraits of two contrasting but equally compelling heroines. For sensible Elinor Dashwood and her impetuous younger sister Marianne the prospect of marrying the men they love appears remote. In a world ruled by money and self-interest, the Dashwood sisters have neither fortune neither connections. Concerned for others and for social propieties, Elinor is ill-equipped to compete with self-centred fortune-hunters like Lucy Steele, while Marianne's unswerving belief in the truth of her own feelings makes her more dangerously susceptible to the designs of unscrupulous men. Through her heroines' parallel experiences of love, loss, and hope, Jane Austen offers a powerful analysis of the ways in which women's lives were shaped by the claustrophobic society in which they had to survive.


My review:

This was the third of my Jane Austen reads (although I have now read four) and unfortunately it was my least favourite. The synopsis was definitely something I was looking forward to and I honestly expected this to be one of my favourites, but I didn't like many of the main characters so there it fell flat for me.

Elinor Dashwood was the only character I enjoyed reading about; she's a charming, polite, helpful woman with bags of potential and so much love to give. She's super sensible and she cares deeply about her family. If this book had only her in it, I would have adored it! Funnily enough, I think she's one of my favourite Austen protagonist's even though the book definitely wasn't!

My main problem with this book was the character of Marianne Dashwood. I couldn't find her likeable and as Jane Austen mainly writes very character driven plots, this made the book feel heavily out of balance. I wanted to like her so much more than I did and therefore I was more and more disappointed as the book went on.

If you are looking for an action-packed book with lots of backward and forwards between the characters, this is the one for you. Lots happens but it does sometimes feel a bit lacklustre in my opinion. There's lots of talk in this particular novel about societal expectations at the time of this book and that is something I adore most about Jane Austen's stories. It's amazing the pressures that young women had at that time; and I think that this is very well discussed in Sense and Sensibility.

I will also say that the sisterly relationship in this book is much more accomplished and interesting than the romantic ones. I found the male counterparts in this book to be irritating and altogether uninteresting. They were all over the place and I didn't enjoy the uneasiness I felt when they were involved. Something about them was just not as successful as the others in her repertoire. However this is also the first of Jane Austen's published novels so I think she got better as she wrote more and more books.

Altogether this was an enjoyable read just not quite as successful as her other works. I am still very much looking forward to reading the other two of her novels that I have left.

Until next time, happy reading!