56.
Title: Sense and Sensibility
Author: Jane Austen
Pages: 368
Genre: Classic
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Free download on Austen's birthday
Date Completed: July 28, 2012
Rating: ***

Austen's characters have never before inspired such a great sense of loathing.  I detest Willoughby, am repulsed by Lucy and her idiotic sister, and couldn't even enjoy the satire of their brother and sister-in-law in the face of the couple's hideous natures.  The difficulty is that, though the antagonists are so easily detested, the protagonists are not truly sympathetic. I appreciate Miss Dashwood, but am annoyed by Marianne; I cannot forgive the former for her easy forgiveness, and cannot accept the latter's "romance." 

This is one of the rare instances where I have seen a film version of the text before reading it (having watched the BBC miniseries before), so I was relatively familiar with plot points before I even began.  However, I find that I prefer the characters of the film far more than those of the text, perhaps because they are more appealing when one can't hear their thoughts. 


*Side Note* I have never seen a more ridiculous cover for this text.