Book #34: Sense and Sensibility
I wasn't exactly thrilled with this book, but it was better than I first expected. Unfortunately Sense and Sensibility seems lik Pride and Prejudice an Emma, in the fact that you have beautiful girls/women, who wish to marry or relations wish them to marry, but they have little to recommend them and small, if any, dowries. I Emma, you have poor Harriet, who has no living relation and whose father was a merchant. I Pride and Prejudice, ou have the Bennet sisters who are very beautiful, but poor and have a rather obtuse family, including a cousin who will swoop in upon their father's death to claim their own possessions. I Sense and Sensibility, you have the Miss Dashwoods who are very pretty, well liked, well-mannered (even if Marianne is a bit of a recluse), and who have been wiped off the slate by their half-brother and his wife. How unfortunate.
There was one thing that made me like this story, however, and that was a connection with the main character, Elinor. I feel like there is a lot of myself in Elinor, or rather Elinor is in me (whichever way you prefer to look at it). She is extremely kind and feels obligated to be kind and patient, often over-exerting herself and going out of her way to make people feel appreciated. She easily feels guilt and is often hurt by Marianne's dislike of and impatience with others. Elinor also bears things very well, often concealing her true emotions. She feels for everybody, including herself, but she is very adept at putting others before herself (I'm not saying this is a good thing). She bears her yoke in life with fortitude, courage, and generosity and is thankful for what she has, rather than what she has lost.
I believe Miss Austen did very well in making Elinor her main character rather than Marianne. If that had been the case, I would have dropped the book within the first one hundred pages and never picked it up again. Marianne is a selfish, melodramatic brat who I believe deserves the lot she received from Willoughby (though he is no better, really) and does not deserve such a good man as the Colonel Brandon.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Kelly <3