Great Works of Jane Austen

I’ve been ‘flipping through’ the pages of the free e-books since we started with our online Jane Austen Book Club. However, I didn’t think twice when I saw this Austen pack containing Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice. The 25% price slash was too strong to resist. After all, this contains Austen’s most known novels (and had film adaptions, too). And I know you would agree that the real book is still better.

This month’s novel, Sense and Sensibility is among the books that you can judge by its title. The striking chapters all happened with the comparison between sisters Elinor and Marianne, on how they dealt with life and emotions in particular. The writing was good, but I was not comfortable with the story line’s predictability. In the first few pages, the clues were explicitly mentioned that Elinor had the sense,

Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counselor of her mother, and enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to imprudence. She had an excellent heart; her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.

While sensibility is more depicted in Marianne’s part,

Marianne’s abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to Elinor’s. She was sensible and clever; but eager in everything: her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation. She was generous, amiable, interesting: she was everything but prudent. The resemblance between her and her mother was strikingly great.

In the some parts though, Elinor’s sensibility screamed especially when she found out Edward’s engagement with Lucy. I’m not going to divulge much as I’d like to hear your thoughts (and review) about this.

In real life, I think it’s real hard work to balance sense and sensibility. In one way or another, each one of us made not so wise decisions. And when we look back at these, we can’t believe we’ve been like that. That makes us say, ‘I’m glad I’m back to my senses’.

You may check here the reading schedule.

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