Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

 

Title:  Sense and Sensibility

Author:  Jane Austen

Narrated by:  Rosamund Pike

Publisher: Audible Studios

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 25 minutes

Source: Included with my Audible membership

What is your favorite book featuring sisters?  I feel like Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and the Little House series are my favorite books featuring sisters.

In Regency England, the Dashwood sisters; Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret have just lost their faither.  Their half brother inherited the entire family estate and now the sisters and their mother must start a new and reduced life.  Luckily, Mrs. Dashwood’s cousin, Sir John Middleton, has a cottage for them to live in.  With their reduced circumstances, will they be able to find love?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Rosamund Pike was a lovely narrator.  I enjoyed this audiobook so much!  Rosamund Pike played Jane in the 2005 Pride & Prejudice which made it extra fun to have her as a narrator.

·       I read Sense and Sensibility in April for the @dees.reads Classic Buddy Read.  There was good discussion in the Instagram buddy read group that focused on how the novel was very much Elinor’s story and that Marianne was underdeveloped and very emotional.

·       I am also trying to reread all of Austen’s novels this year to celebrate her 250^th birthday I am running a bit behind!

·       John and Fanny Dashwood are so detestable.  I love how Austen masterfully wrote this scene with Fanny talking John down to giving his sisters nothing.

·       It was interesting look into who you can count on in life.  Sir John is a distance relation, but he is very helpful to the family.  John Dashwood is their half-brother, but he does nothing.  Mrs. Ferrars cuts Edward out of her will, but not her other son, Robert, for the same “sin.”

·       I thought it was interesting how Mrs. Dashwood and Marianne share many of the same qualities.

·       I always feel like Elinor is my spirit heroine as the oldest sister trying to keep it all together to help her family.

·       Willoughby is such an intriguing villain.  I always find myself loving him although he is a terrible person.  His last visit to explain himself to Elinor is very self-serving, but it also makes me understand his love for money is more than his love for anything else.  It makes me feel sorry for his wife!

Overall, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen is a beautifully written classic novel with unforgettable characters.  The audiobook narrated by Rosamund Pike was an excellent edition to listen to.