Cheap Sense and Sensibility (Classic Books on Cassettes Collection) [UNABRIDGED] (Book) (Jane Austen, Flo Gibson) Price

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Customer Reviews of Sense and Sensibility (Classic Books on Cassettes Collection) [UNABRIDGED]

Austen's First: Limited in View But Still Entertaining
In SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, Jane Austen begins in her first novel what for her was to be her life long concern: what is the proper role that society should take in the relationship between men and women? In this novel at least, her response is that potential lovers must strike a balance between accepting the limitations upon romance imposed by a society that was ruled by a complex web of social, political, and legal restrictions and rejecting or at least tactfully ignoring those restrictions and thus incurring the wrath of an outraged society that does not easily suffer its laws flouted. In her later novels, Austen implies that wit may be a leavening agent (as in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) that may succeed where pure sense comes up short or raw emotion may be used (as in PERSUASION) for the same purpose. <
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>Unlike in her later novels, Austen divides her heroine into two psychologically different young women. There is Elinor Dashwood, who possesses sense in abundance, and then there is her sister Marianne, who cultivates sensibility. In the context of 18th century English genteel society "sense" refers not to what we would call today as common sense but the unspoken assumption that single women realize that they do not live in a cultural vacuum. The rules concerning the legal distribution of inherited property, the social rules concerning who may dance with whom at approved balls, and the need to marry "upward" all interlocked to place a velvet-gloved bear hug on women who had some very real and serious decisions to make concerning marriage if they did not want to end up as the next generation's spinster aunt. There is Marianne Dashwood, who is more than willing to make such daunting choices not based on the sense that guides her sister but on the trashy and sensational pulp romance novels of the day. Where Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, a man of honor, if not of the hidden type, she makes her choice based on premises of which society could approve. Where Marianne has an infatuation with the roguish John Willoughby, a man with clear character flaws, she makes her choice based on her own artificially heightened sensibility of dime-store romance books. The basic thrust of the novel is that both sisters slowly and painfully grow to accept that a life based solely on the one or the other philosophy is unworkable. Austen implies that there is a golden middle, albeit one which probably is more closely allied to sense than to sensibility. <
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>In SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, Jane Austen limits her view of the often convoluted knots of human relationships into a deceptively smooth and flattened perspective in a manner that would slowly change in her later books to include a more realistic, if not more necessarily complex vision that would allow women and men to interact in a forthright way of which even an entrenched society might approve. Though SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is not Austen's most popular book, it clearly shows in a restricted way the limits that her culture placed on the rights of women to call their own shots. <
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Sense and Sensibility
Perhaps one of my favorite Jane Austen books. It's perfect in every way!

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An Excellent Introduction to Jane Austen
Although SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is not Jane Austen's best novel, it is nonetheless a major novel, with the author's then-young talent in full display. Its publication in 1811 marked Austen as a huge literary talent, and its significance reverberates even today as contemporary readers re-discover the works of this author so adept at uncovering the foibles of nineteenth century aristocracy. <
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>The title refers to the two eldest Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, one of whom (Elinor) embraces practicality and restraint while the other (Marianne) gives her whole heart to every endeavor. When the Dashwoods - mother Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor, Marianne, and youngest sister Margaret - are sent, almost impoverished, to a small cottage in Devonshire after the death of their father and the machinations of their brother's wife, they accept their new circumstances with as much cheer as they can muster even though their brother and his wife have taken over the family estate and fortune. Their characters, albeit wildly different in their approaches to life, are impeccably honest and intelligent - and their suitors take notice. Elinor falls in love with the shy, awkward Edward, while Marianne's affections are lavished on the dashing hunter Willoughby. As in all Austen's books, love and marriage don't come easily, as affections aren't always returned and social jockeying sometimes takes precedence to true love. In an interestingly twist, the end of this novel brings into question which sister represents which part of the title. <
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>SENSE AND SENSIBILITY only hints at the social skewering Austen would use to such great effect in her later novels, and the humor here is only occasional and slight, as this novel adopts a generally serious tone. Parody is largely limited to the gossipy Mrs. Jenkins, who jumps to wild conclusions about situations she knows nothing about. Though arranged marriage and true love figure prominently in all of Austen's novels, this novel focuses almost exclusivity on the prospects of the two main characters, making it less complex than the novels that followed. Reserved Elinor and exuberant Marianne are expertly drawn, with Edward, Willoughby, and Colonel Brandon (whose lovesick hopes for Marianne are dashed again and again) also engaging creations. Except for the first page or two where the circumstances of the Dashwoods are set up through a series of deaths and relations, possibly causing some confusion, this novel is exceedingly easy to follow for contemporary readers. <
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>This novel is an excellent introduction to Jane Austen's works because of its relative simplicity (though readers should not dismiss it as simple) and the use of typical themes and social situations. Book clubs and students might want to explore the influence of money on nineteenth century British society as well as the meaning of the title as it applies to both the sisters and the other characters. It is also interesting to note both the helplessness and the extraordinary power of women in different circumstances. <
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>Even though this is not Austen's best novel, I could not take away a single star because it is such a delightful book. I highly recommend this novel for all readers. -- Debbie Lee Wesselmann