Review - 'Sense and Sensibility' by Jane Austen

Here I was, thinking I was going to have to run out and buy every single Jane Austen novel, to the consternation of my wallet. So it's with relief to realize that I can safely strike Sense and Sensibility off my list.

Coming off of Pride and Prejudice, I couldn't wait to dive into more Jane Austen, and Sense and Sensibility had always been high on my list. But from the very start, this book felt like the more lackluster and spiritless cousin of its more famous successor, and it never really picked up from there.

I think my biggest problem is that the vast majority of this book comes off as a lecture. It's essentially a monologue of social commentary, but camouflaged as dialogue. A character would expound at length about a certain view, then another character would take their leisurely turn on the opposite view. And so they'd go back and forth, back and forth, explaining every facet of the argument in overwhelming detail until I had no choice but to cry submission.

I don't know what to say except there are two things which annoy me to no end in writing—all tell no show, and overexplaining—and this book somehow managed to achieve both. And it did so for almost the entire length of this book.

There were moments when the story came alive, but it never lasted longer than a few paragraphs before the dreaded overexplaining was back. It was almost impossible to concentrate and lose myself in the story, for every time I did, I was immediately yanked out by more unnecessary yakking.

Where was the spark? Where was the wit? The characters were so flat, it was hard to imagine them falling in love or really feeling anything at all. I wanted to adore Elinor and Marianne and Edward and Colonel Brandon, but they were so bland on the pages, my imagination could not supply the necessary emotions.

This was a particularly bitter disappointment for me because the film adaptation (directed by Ang Lee and starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet) is one of my favorites of all time. Where the film was suffused with so much emotion and such dynamic characters, the book was but a watered down facsimile.

Is it possible that my love and previous experiences with the film colored my perspectives of the book? I mean, it's certainly possible. But it's hard to say which way it swayed me. Maybe the film set my expectations of the book so high it was bound to fall short. But it's just as likely that without having already adored the characters going in, I would've found the book even more lifeless than I already did.

As I understand it, this was Jane Austen's first full length novel, so it's possible she was using this to refine the social commentary and insightful wit that would bring her so much fame in her later works. And while I can see bits of them here and there, she hadn't quite gotten there yet with this book.

So if you haven't read Sense and Sensibility, I recommend skipping it altogether and just going straight to the film, because this is the rare case where the film is better. And if you haven't read any Jane Austen at all, I definitely don't recommend starting with this one.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars