Jane Austen’s Debut Novel Is Another Masterclass in Character Building and Realism

I keep thinking that Jane Austen’s work isn’t going to be for me, just because I ignorantly continue to think that her plotlines of romantic drama amongst 19th century English gentry isn’t something that’s going to get my motor running.

But, of course, just as “Pride and Prejudice” turned out to be every bit as terrific as everyone says it is, this, too, turned out to be spectacular.

It’s not as good as “P&P,” but that is a pretty unfair comparison to attempt to make for any book, really, as “P&P” is legit one of the best books ever. But it still has a lot of the pieces that made “P&P” so great, and that made Austen such an excellent, freakishly talented author. (She was writing these books in her twenties, I mean wtf.) Her approach to diligently and thoroughly building out emotionally and psychologically real characters, and the complex relationships between them, is sincerely almost unmatched by another author alive or dead. These feel like real ass people dealing with real ass issues and going about them in real ass, imperfect ways.

This might actually be thematically deeper than “Pride” too, specifically regarding its handling of social themes. While “P&P” is a masterclass in the psychology of relationships, “Sense and Sensibility” more so seeks to drive home points on feminism and the bullshit that comes with a vicious adherence to wealth and tradition.

Substantially more of a slow burn than “Pride,” this nevertheless has some excellent payoffs and one again shows how dumb I am for underestimating the universality of Austen’s work.