Review by girlebooks (2007-04-22)
The primary thing I took away from this book was what a great job Kate Winslet did with the character Marianne in Ang Lee's film adaptation. She was spot on, and her interpretation actually aided rather than hindered in reading the book.

The story is that of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, in their adventures in romance, society and economics. The sisters basically form a foil of one other in their distinct handling of similar situations. Elinor always acting "sense"ably and Marianne full of "sensibility" in her emotive reactions to whatever befalls her.

The book is definitely entertaining with its able writing and enough plot twists and revelations to keep your reading. But at some points it proves tiresome. You want to slap Elinor for being so darn good, and slap Marianne just the same for not being able to keep her cool. The ending is sometimes criticized for being too abbrupt and convenient, and I probably would have thought this had I read the book first. The movie works very nicely in solidifying and bringing to the story to a satisfying conclusion, thanks to the superb actors and script. This is one instance in which I would recommend to see the movie first!
Laura McDonald
http://www.girlebooks.com

Review by Tracy (2003-07-22)
I think this is about the worst of Jane Austen's books, although given her quality that still makes this a very worthwhile read. There are some great scenes such as the one where John Dashwood's wife argues him into breaking his promise to his father to take care of his sisters, or later in the book where Jane describes the conversation at the most boring of dinner parties. But too many of the characters are nasty without offering enough amusement to make up for their unpleasantness in a reader's time, and other ones are too ill-defined given the amount of time given to them. It lacks the lightness and sparkling of Pride and Prejudice, or the sort of autumnal pleasure of Persuasion, and doesn't offer as fascinating a heroine as Emma. It's worth reading, but don't start reading Austen with this book.

Review by azathoth (2003-03-10)
It's the story of two sisters born into a life in which they don't have to work, but their inheritance is not as much those of others. So they have to deal with being the "poor" rich people in their overclass society. Back then, marriage was the ultimate goal of women, and the sisters are particularly independent in a way, as they have outside interests such as music and drawing, but ultimately, they want the same thing as other women in their society. One sister is emotional ("sensible") and the other is more logical ("sense").

Austen's writing is clever and sometimes funny, but I get the feeling I didn't really fully grasp what's good about this book. The ending seemed too convenient to me.