About this title: In SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, Jane Austen writes about two ways of looking at the world in the personalities of two sisters, Elinor the determinedly practical and Marianne the madly romantic. Forced to live in reduced circumstances with their widowed mother and younger sister, the Dashwood girls must rely on marrying well if they are to survive in the world, and the way in which this goal is eventually accomplished provides the plot of this delightful novel, the first of Jane Austen's to be published (1811). As SENSE AND SENSIBILITY progresses to the requisite happy ending, Elinor and Marianne ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Signet Classics
Date Published: 1961
ISBN-13:9780451524195ISBN:0451524195
Description: Good. Good to very good cond. Bottom front left cover corner chewed; corners lightly bumped; sm. ding at back bottom edge. Interior pristine--appears unused. Clean pages. Sharp corners. Tight Spine. See my website for cover image. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Book
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780451187901ISBN:0451187903
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Light edge and corner wear. Previous owner's name inside. Tight binding. Tanning pages. Remnants from sticker removal on front cover. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 320 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Signet, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1980
Description: Fair. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Cover is worn at hinge and edges with some creasing on front cover and a bit of soiling. Name written on first page. Pages have some soiling and bumping to edges, text bright and clean, no tears to pages. Spine is solid, straight and uncreased. SYNOPSIS: Two sisters of opposing temperaments share the pangs of tragic love in nineteenth-century middle-class England. Mutual suffering brings them closer-and true love finally triumphs. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, Great Britain
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780192827616ISBN:0192827618
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover shows minor wear at corners & back, spine uncreased; pages appear unmarked, faintly tanned. Oxford World's Classics read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780553213348ISBN:0553213342
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Good to fair condition. Spine creasing and cover wear. Still a good reading copy. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 352 p. Bantam Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780553213348ISBN:0553213342
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Spine creasing and slight cover wear. A nice reading copy. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 352 p. Bantam Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1982-12-01
ISBN-13:9780553213348ISBN:0553213342
Description: Very Good. Clean copy with normal wear for condition. Spine condition is normal or better for the condition. May have book store stamp, price marking or former owner name. read more
"This might be shameful for an English literature student like me, but yup, this is the first Austen's novel I read. For me personally, I still prefer Charlotte Bronte's works, however now I understand why many people become such huge fans of Miss Austen. Her female characters are remarkable for their era. They're oppresed but somehow they have their own ways to struggle. I gave three stars for Sense and Sensibility not because it's so-so, but because I think it's quite flat compared to the film. Some scenes could have been more exciting if they're narrated through dialogues, but unfortunately they just appeared only through descriptions. It's too bad. Yet I do not blame Miss Austen's way of writing (perhaps that's how people express and feel at that time), I blame myself for watching the film before getting to the book. I must say that Emma Thompson has done a great job in adapting the novel. Yet without this novel by Jane Austen, there wouldn't be that film by Emma Thompson, right? So, in my own way, I must salute Miss Austen *bows*."
"Of all Austen's works, this one improved most on long acquaintance.
I remember liking it less than the others when I read it for - I thought - the first time, was surprised to find something I'd written about it some years earlier.
So it made no impression on the first reading, and little (for an Austen) on the 2nd. I was more like passionate Marianne than like restrained Elinor, but Marianne's relentless seriousness made her hard to relate to also.
The heroes' characters really are less developed than Austen's others - frankly, I was never able to make much of Edward until Hugh Grant played him. And Colonel Brandon seemed old and dull to me.
Of course, Austen's witty observations and foible-revealing dialog make even this more austere book very enjoyable.
On subsequent readings, I more heartily admired Elinor's unglamorous virtues, felt greater compassion for foolish Marianne, and relished the girls' sound matches.The intervening years had taught me the importance of weighing character over other qualities in potential mates, and the benefits of impulse control.
After an easier sell (Pride & Prejudice or Emma) gives them a taste for Austen, passionate young ladies should read Sense and Sensibility - perhaps at least three times before embarking on love lives. You never know, it could help."
"I would like to rank this higher than Pride & Prejudice, because I enjoyed it more, but I just can't bring myself to give it a 4. So consider it a 3.5 for now. I may change my mind later, as I did with Wuthering Heights (which I recently upgraded to a 4 based on the long-term impression it has left on me.) Although I appreciate Jane Austen for what it is and find that it raises interesting questions and topics of discussion and analysis, I find that her work lacks the depth of character and overall literary quality that I demand as a reader. In some ways it isn't fair to compare it to works of varying genres and time periods, but alas, this is just one pitfall of the 5-star rating system. So, like Elinor, I will say that I "highly esteem" this book but my heart just isn't in it to praise it with more "sensibility.""
"My expectations of this book were greatly tainted by the 1995 movie and by the opinions of it from the book The Jane Austen Book Club. And honestly I took very little from the reading that I didn't already think/have.
Sense and Sensibility is the story of the Dashwood girls who's father has died, leaving their livelihood to their half brother, who then does not take care of them as intended. The two eldest daughters, Elinor and Marianne then pursue love and marriage in their very different ways.
Elinor is the Sense -- witholding her emotions and expressing modesty in every way; Marianne is the Sensible one, but at this time 'sensible' had a different meaning, more emotional than sensible.
Elinor is in love with a boring but nice fellow named Edward. Marianne falls for the dashing Mr. Willoughby, who expresses his opinions and emotions as freely as she. As the tale progresses, both women lose their loves and are given lessons in being more like the other so that they may each be a balanced woman.
In my opinion, Elinor benefits from learning to express her emotions, but Marianne seams to lose. Her over-exuberance is punished by (1) the loss of her true love, (2) a near-death experience, and finally (3) being married off to a man she mocked and never really loved. Yes, Colonel Brandon is a better person that Willoughby, and both loved her to some degree, and yes, she is better off with Brandon, but she never seems to really recover from the Willoughby affair.
Marianne, for as much as I sympathize with her, really annoyed me for the most part. I can only imagine how much more she annoyed readers two hundred years ago!
If it can be said that Jane Austen suspects handsome, rich men, it could also be said that she punishes those who do not adhere to the rules of propriety."
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