Rebecca

Sense & Sensibility

A much smaller S&S collection, but so beautiful.
A dear friend procured the Italian version.

In keeping with my plans to make this A Very Jane Year, and my goal of completing the Canterbury Classics Jane Austen Reading Challenge, March was all about Sense and Sensibility.

In the past, S&S has been a comfort read for me, I even read it during the “downtime” while taking the Praxis subject exams. The 2008 BBC miniseries is hands-down my favorite on-screen adaptation and is definitely on the list of comfort watches. It has been many years since I last visited the book however – I listened to it on audio early on in my library tenure, so let’s say 9 or 10 years? – and I found myself eager to return to the residents of Barton Cottage.

Friends, it pains me to confess that this one didn’t land with the same magic as the Pride & Prejudice reread. I’ve always found Marianne to be tedious and frustrating {I’m more an Elinor}, and at this point in life and time, her melodrama was particularly bothersome. Many of the characters have such exaggerated personalities, Jane’s social commentary is very pointed in this story. Also, can we take a moment to appreciate how awful the Ferrars women and Lucy Steele are? If ever a set of people deserved each other … I digress. Excessive eye-rolling aside, S&S is worth the reading {and rereading}, and I continue to think Barton Cottage would be a darling spot to vacation.

This Page Petal bookmark was such a perfect fit.

Maybe it is because I myself am older now, but I am fascinated by the older characters in Jane’s novels. Lady Catherine in P&P. Mrs. Jennings here in S&S. They are absolutely polar opposites, and yet they’re equally ridiculous. Personally, I’d love to see them forced into a dinner party together – that would be high entertainment. Throw Mrs. Ferrars in the mix and it would be explosive. {I love coming up with scenarios where various Austen characters mingle, and love the Austenesque novels that fulfill those imaginings}.

As with P&P, I’m including some of the S&S-centered retellings and/or adaptations available for your reading pleasure. Some I have read, others are on my never-ending TBR.

Even though this was not as “fulfilling” a reread, I still enjoyed the experience. It’d been so long since I read the book, I noticed things this time that I am missed before – that’s the beauty of Jane Austen {and so many of the classics}: you can always find something new. And down the road, when I reread again, it will likely hit still different – so much of the way we read things, especially when we read things over and over, is impacted by the things going on in our lives and/or our life experiences. {Maybe this means there’s hope for Mansfield Park when I get to it this summer!}

Jane signs off on this prompt complete!

All in all, I have successfully completed the first 3 months of the year-long challenge, and am feeling excited for the rest of the prompts. I’m already making plans for May’s adaptation viewing and June’s summer picnic.

Have you read Sense & Sensibility? Who do you relate to the most? What is your favorite movie adaptation or novel retelling?

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15 comments

  4. I’m sorry this reread didn’t go as well as the previous one, I’m glad you managed to spot new things though and enjoyed some elements of it. Also that daisy edition of it is gorgeous 😍 I think I’ve only heard of two of those retellings as well and I have to admit that not only have I not read this one but I haven’t even seen an adaptation 🙈 actually I somehow don’t think I’ve seen any Jane adaptations besides P&P. Guess I’m even further behind than I realised. I hope Mansfield Park goes better than you’re expecting too 🤞

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    • It was definitely a worthwhile reread, even if Marianne was more annoying than usual. If you want to watch a movie version, I know everyone loves the Emma Thompson/Hugh Grant one best, but honestly? No. The more recent BBC version with Dan Stevens is gold, and I’ll probably be rewatching it in the next week, lol … It’s simply gorgeous, and the music is perfect, and the acting is also very on point. Reading this time, I was noticing how much dialogue was lifted straight from the page. 🙂

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      • Ooh well I hope you enjoy your rewatch of it then. It sounds like they’ve done a fantastic job with stating true to the book. I’ll probably try and check out both versions tbh (spaced out somewhat) as long as I can find them. I imagine the BBC one will be easy enough to find though.

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        • To be fair, there’s something to be gained from all the versions that exist, haha. But then, I just love watching/collecting multiple versions of book-based movies and seeing how they all work.

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            • Oooh, yes, that’s a book with so many movie versions! I think I’ve seen just about all of them, including some really old b&w versions, and they all offer such a different experience 🙂 Definitely a book worth reading too 😉 lol

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