"The dinner was a grand one, the servants were numerous, and every thing bespoke the Mistress’s inclination for show, and the Master’s ability to support it. In spite of the improvements and additions which they were making to the Norland estate, and in spite of its owner having once been within some thousand pounds of being obliged to sell out at a loss, nothing gave any symptom of that indigence which he had tried to infer from it;—no poverty of any kind, except of conversation, appeared—but there, the deficiency was considerable".
I have read Pride and Prejudice twice in my life and loved the novel both times and when I get around to reading it again I know I will be just as enthralled. That said, in recent years I have also read Jane Austen's Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. I was underwhelmed and so I approached Sense and Sensibility with trepidation.
But I am pleased to say I really enjoyed this book. The writing as always with Jane Austen is excellent and there was humor and the relationship between the two sisters at the center of this novel for me was the highlight of the book. Elinor Dashwood representing rationality, decorum and common sense and her younger sister Marianne Dashwood representing heart on her sleeve romantic feeling was a nice contrast.
And I think Austen was making a point in Sense and Sensibility that in matters of the heart common sense and decorum are important but the courage to express one's emotions, what one is really feeling, is also needed, maybe not to the extent that Marianne does it but keeping everything bottled up as Elinor does throughout most of the book can have its drawbacks as well.
Of course this is Jane Austen so I don't think I am giving away much of the plot when I say that it all ends happily. And though a part of me wishes that Austen would have taken more risks in her books, I must remember the era in which she lived, the early 19th century. Jane Austen died in 1817 and never lived to see the arrival of railroad travel or the industrialization age. What she knew was the world of the landed gentry in Britain and the families just a rung or two below. As Austen once wrote to her niece: "Three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on".
Sense and Sensibility (2011) is my choice for the 2022 Back to the Classics category -choose a classic by a woman author
Interesting that you never got into Persuasion and Northanger Abbey - I love both of them, and I also like the movie versions (the Amanda Root / Ciaran Hinds version of the former and the Felicity Jones / JJ Feild version of the latter). But it's a good thing we're all different, isn't it! As for S & S, the novel has some weaknesses when it comes to character development (Mrs Jennings, for example, mutates from a gossipy overbearing woman into a kind-hearted, friendly substitute mother), but I still love it. I think what also comes out very clearly in this novel is how much time women spent waiting for things to happen. They had very few possibilities other than that - if they became active themselves, they were quickly labeled as impudent and 'inappropriate'.
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing and I did like the film version of Persuasion or at least the end of it with Captain Wentworth's powerful letter to Anne. That really got to me in the novel as well. Agree about women waiting around in Sense and Sensibility. The one exception I think is Lucy Steele. She is not a likeable character but boy does she go after what she wants in this novel and gets it!
DeleteApologies for the 'anonymous' reply, by the way. I had some issues with google / blogger not letting me log in. Anyway! The 'waiting around' thing is a big issue in Austen's books in general, I think. We see that in all her novels - girls waiting to be asked for a dance, girls waiting to be invited to a ball, girls waiting for being asked to get married... In the end, a lot is about financial security (the Bennet daughters have to find husbands, otherwise they'll end in poverty - and their mother has a vital interest in that, too, since she'll lose her home when Mr Bennet dies - which is what happens to Mrs Dashwood! Along goes a 'climb-down' in society. - Lucy Steele is a cunning girl, isn't she. The way Imogen Stubbs portrays her in the movie version is well done, too!
DeleteThanks Ginnette and glad to hear from you. I know what you mean about difficulties signing into google. I have them too. The early 19th century was a very difficult one for young women agree. The pressure to get married was intense because most women of that time or any time are not wealthy and so what happens if they didn't get married. Jane Austen understood this. And Mrs Bennett on the one hand is portrayed as a silly woman and Mr Bennett more easygoing but as critics have said Mrs Bennett is living in reality whereas Mr. Bennett is not showing the concern for his daughters' welfare that he should
DeleteThis isn't my favorite Jane Austen novel, and I've only read it once. But I do really love Emma Thompson's version of this book. I think Elinor is a great character. And I like the contrast between her and Marianne, and how they each have qualities in them to admire.
ReplyDeleteHi Lark, I guess for me I would say it's my second favorite Austen novel but I have yet to read Emma or Mansfield Park. I did like Elinor and Marianne for me gave the book excitement the way she wore her heart on her sleeve. Austen is so talented.
DeleteMansfield Park and Emma are novels I found difficult as I didn't like the main protagonists all that much. However... they are great as 'ensemble novels' as the cast of characters as whole is fun. Happy reading :-)
DeleteThanks
DeleteVery nice review. I liked that you pointed out the time she lived in and the things she never saw or experienced, railroad travel and such. I never thought about that much but it puts her books and views into perspective.
ReplyDeleteI really had a hard time with Marianne, but had forgotten that she was so young. Possibly it was the fact that it took so long to resolve things, even though it was a comparatively short book, that caused me to lose patience. Or maybe it was my mood at the time.
Thanks Tracy, At times I have gotten frustrated with Austen and why she couldn't take the risks the Brontes or Elizabeth Gaskell took in their books. But a writer has to write what they know and what they are most passionate about and Austen did it beautifully. Regarding Marianne she was very young and that makes her different than the other Austen heroines I have encountered. By the time they reach Elinor's age (which is only 19) they already know where the lines are in terms of their behavior.
ReplyDeleteLydia Bennet is 16, I think (not a heroine, but an important character, obviously!). She's a complete airhead, I thought. - Marianne in S & S drove me bonkers when I read the book for the first time many moons ago, but I didn't realise back then how young she really was - basically a teenager (and I reckon many of us remember that they were moody and swoony and had a love for 'drama' at that age!)!
DeleteShe was young. I have 2 Austen classics left to read Emma and Mansfield Park.
DeleteI haven't read this one for years, but it's in my top two Jane Austen novels, also. It's sometimes hard to remember that these characters are "real people" who were prone to make all the mistakes most of us made, or came near making, in our own lives and times.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam, so glad you liked Sense and Sensibility. I did too. Agree, It is sometimes hard to remember these characters are fictional. The great writers breathe life into them and so we get emotionally invested.
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