I’m a big Jane Austen fan, but S&S is my least favourite of her books, so I hadn’t read it in quite a few years. But, partly spurred by reading her letters, I decided it was definitely time for a reread, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was much better than my memory had given it credit for! Sure, I still don’t care about the characters the way I do in my favourites (Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion), but Austen’s sparkling wit is alive and well!

I’ve decided that the best way to ‘review’ this book is to let that wit speak for itself. So here are my favourite passages, and why!

Here’s Marianne, with all of her sixteen-year-old idealism, describing her hypothetical future husband:

“I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both.”

Doesn’t that just remind you of being a teenager, with all of that passion?! It also made me giggle because of that article that went around the blogsophere recently about dumping boyfriends who didn’t have the literary taste as you. Throughout the book, Austen treats Marianne with a gentle but definite mockery that was quite refreshing.

And here’s a scene when Marianne is talking with her potential new beau, Willoughby:

Encouraged by this to a further examination of his opinions, she proceeded to question him on the subject of books; her favourite authors were brought forth and dwelt upon with so rapturous a delight, that any young man of five and twenty must be insensibile indeed, not to become an immediate convert to the excellence of such works, however disregarded before. Their taste was strikingly alike.

More of that gentle mockery she does so well!

Here’s another quote from Marianne…apparently, I love it when she’s making a bit of a fool of herself! Remember that’s she’s sixteen:

“Undoubtedly. At my time of life opinions are tolerably fixed. It is not likely that I should now see or hear anything to change them.

I feel that Marianne’s character is just an exaggeration of traits we all had in our teens! I remember talking with a college professor when I was a sophomore (and eighteen), and he said: “I hope you remember this-how much fire you used to have for everything. Because one day you’ll mellow out.” At the time, I just kind of laughed, but even the space of four years I have calmed down quite a bit. Obviously, I still have things I’m passionate about, but I don’t get as worked up over little things as I used to. And that’s probably a good thing.

This last passage is a quote from Lucy. Lucy is a delicious little manipulative minx, in the tradition of Becky Sharp, who has it in for Elinor, and Austen caught her perfectly.

Elinor only was sorry to see them [Lucy and her sister]. Their presence always gave her pain, and she hardly knew how to make a very gracious return to the overpowering delight of Lucy in finding her still in town.
“I should have been quite disappoitned if I had not found you here still,” said she repeatedly, with a strong emphasis on the word. “But I always thought I should. I was almost sure you would not leave London yet awhile; though you told me, you know, at Barton, that you should not stay above a month. But I thought, at the time, that you would most likely change your mind when it came to the point. It would have been such a great pity to have went away before your brother and sister came. And now to be sure you will be in no hurry to be gone. I am amazingly glad you did not keep to your word.”

I love Lucy’s judicious employment of italics, and even though I’m a bit annoyed with Austen for not allowing her to be ladylike as well as vicious, I suppose it can’t be helped!

All in all, this is a wonderful book, but probably not what I’d recommend to people as their first taste of Jane. For that, you should go to her own favourite: Pride and Prejudice.