Book Club: Sense and Sensibility
Welcome to the first official Book Club post! Over the last month we’ve been encouraging you to read the Jane Austen classic Sense and Sensibility and share your thoughts with us.
I’ve been going through a bit of a classics phase lately, particularly focusing on the Brontes and Austen, and your vote for S&S gave me the perfect excuse to invest in a copy – it’s one of the few I hadn’t gotten around to reading yet. I should say up front (and I’m not proud of this) that I had seen the Emma Thompson film version before I read the book. Now I usually go out of my way to avoid seeing a film based on a book I want to read, but it was one of those lazy weekend afternoons and there was nothing else on. I really enjoyed it but when it came to reading the book I was totally biased towards certain characters and as I knew where plotlines where going, there was no element of intrigue or surprise. I won’t be making that mistake again!
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For those of you who haven’t read it yet (and I do genuinely recommend it), Sense and Sensibility is about the Dashwood family and how they adjust to live in the country after their father dies, leaving most of his fortune to his first-born son. Elinor and Marianne are our heroines and we follow them over the course of a year or so as they fall in love with men who are entirely unsuitable, given that they are now almost poor.
I’m always in two minds when it comes to Jane Austen’s novels, mainly because of how dated they are now. S&S was first published in 1811 (over 200 years ago), so things are bound to have changed since then. Women are a lot more independent today, they have careers, live a lot longer and don’t (usually) marry for money. In Austen-land, mothers are quick to marry off their teenage daughters to the highest bidder in order to secure finances for their future. Heaven forbid they marry for love! In fact, in Austen-land, women not much older than me were deemd ‘past it’!
“A woman of seven and twenty, said Marianne, after pausing a moment, can never hope to feel or inspire affection again.”
Of course, the dating scene has come a long way in the last 200 years too, yet it’s still possible to get swept away by the romance of the idea of meeting someone, falling in love and getting married within a matter of months.
“It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;—it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”
What I love most about Austen’s heroines is, despite their seeming need to be married and settle by the age of 20, they are still incredibly feisty and headstrong. Marianne, in particular, has high standards and requires a man who has identical interests to her own.
“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much! … I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter in all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both.”
It was Marianne I liked the most while reading the book, despite the fact that she had to take to her bed when she found out that the man she was in love with was cheating on her. That seemed a tad dramatic for my liking! But here is where seeing the film first ruined it for me – I was rooting for the Colonel all the way! I didn’t give a crap about her relationship with Willoughby; I only cared that she was being a complete and utter cow to Brandon! Plus the film really played up their blossoming relationship towards the end – he saved her life after all! Yet in the book, her feelings towards him came out of nowhere, and that’s what I found hard to believe. I’m not one for changing storylines for the screen (don’t get me started on My Sister’s Keeper!) but I thought Emma Thompson’s screenplay was pretty damn good! And the film was, of course, beautifully directed by Ang Lee.
My fellow aliljoy writer Emily has also both read the book and seen the film, and has noted differences in the relationships.
“The relationship between Edward and Elinor is set up so well in the book, something the film didn’t achieve. Also Marianne in the film tends to be broken and resolved to Brandon, whereas in the book she almost has a epiphany and decides to be more sensible. There’s the usual Austen stock characters: the strong women and noble men (a few rogues) but I guess S&S is intertwined so much with the politics and social expectations of the time that it doesn’t resonate as strongly with a modern audience. Side note: Alan Rickman’s voice – dreamy!!! If you see the film first you can’t help but imagine him saying the words.”
Emily , aliljoy & aslummymummy.wordpress.com
There are so many great lines in both the book and the screenplay, that I was often tempted to highlight my favourite passages to re-read at a later day. But then I would never dare mark a book as gorgeous as the Penguin Clothbound Classics! Maybe I should invest in some more of those little page markers. But there is one line from the book that will stick with me and that I will try to live by: “know your own happiness”, and I encourage you to do the same!
So, what did you make of Sense and Sensibility? Have you read any other Jane Austen novels? Are you even a fan of period romance? Let me know in the comments sections below.
The votes are in for the next Book Club title and, from the aliljoy authors’ list of faves, you’ve picked… The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Give it a read/re-read over the next month and don’t forget to tweet us me your thoughts @EmsLF. Also, vote for the next title. I’m looking for any excuse to read the latest Bridget Jones instalment (but don’t let me influence your decision!) Take your pick from the following titles:
Happy reading!
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Categories: Book Club Emma's Book Club