"My Two Sense" - Book Review #2

Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen

261 Pages

Dover Publications, Inc.

$2.00

My Two Sense

By Rachael Montgomery

  

 Photo from film "Sense and          Portrait by James Andrews

Sensibility" directed by 

Ang Lee                                        

In the opening scene of this book, a man dies of a sudden illness and the majority his estate and fortune are bequeathed to his son, Mr. Dashwood, through his will; however, he has three other daughters and wife who are left at the mercy of how much their half brother feels generous enough to share with them. What makes this scene interesting is that Mr. Dashwood’s wife is against him giving any money to his sisters, so when he asks for her advice about how much he should give them, she  persuades him to give them 500 pounds a year as opposed to the 7000 he had first wanted to give them. The extent of Mrs. Dashwood’s dislike for the half siblings of her husband was truly incredible because she would reduce them to poverty and have no qualms about it. I can’t imagine living as a woman in a time period, in which your living situation is dependent solely on what your husband leaves you and never your own income.

Jane Austen was uniquely qualified to write this book because she was writing about the time period from which she based all of her writing on. Furthermore, I would posit that many of the stories her books are based on probably are stories from her own previous experiences.

Since this book was written in the 19^th century, it does not really have any public relations appeal, however, if it could be meant as a representation of Jane Austen’s character, I would say that it helps shed her in a good light.

Austen’s writing style is humorous, organized and her characters are most fitting for the situations in which they are put in. She uses descriptive imagery to describe vividly detailed scenes and her commentary on social class and women’s roles during the time period is insightful and witty.

I learned a lot from this book, namely about what it is to be sensible and although being sensible of your choices and decisions is always a good thing, there are times when you need not so much rely on your sense as you should on your heart. I would definitely recommend this book to any young woman growing up and questioning every move she makes and wanting to find confidence. I would also recommend it to the woman in the prime of her life who has found love and needs to be reminded of the time when they were first experiencing it and believed they were at their happiest.  This book is a great, entertaining and addicting read.