Ben Winter's
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is an interesting take on Jane Austen's first published novel. It mostly sticks to the original. Marianne is passionate and romantic, and she quickly falls in love with Willoughby. Elinor is sensible and logical. When she finds out that Lucy Steele is engaged to her love interest, Edward Ferrars she never lets on her disappointment to her family even though it is constantly weighing her down. She even gets her friend, Colonel Brandon, to help Edward when he is cast out from his family for being engaged to Lucy who is of a lower class. The only new introduction is of course the sea monsters.
Margaret, the youngest Dashwood sister, has a much larger presence in this than in the original. She is constantly shouting "K'yaloh D'argesh F'ah" which no one seems to understand. This and Elinor's dreams and visions about a five pointed star and the searing pain that accompanies them are the main changes that made me want to finish the novel. I was glad to find out what they meant at the end, but it took me some time to get through the middle of the book.
My favorite change is Elinor's attitude. She becomes much more cheeky in this version. I really admire Winters for making this change because I always felt Elinor was a little cheekier than she comes across in the original. There is also a great concentration on the word monstrous, which is used frequently in the original but takes on new meaning when they are living in a world surrounded by sea monsters. Colonel Brandon becomes quite monstrous himself in this version because his face is covered with squishy tentacles. This exchange with Mrs. Jennings really got me into the book:
Mrs. Jenning soon came in. "Oh! Colonel," said she, with her usual noisy cheerfulness,"I am monstrous glad to see you--"
Elinor gasped audibly at the inauspicious word choice. Brandon looked at his hands, and even the usually imperturbable Mrs. Jennings blanched at her poor choice of words.
"Ah yes, sorry, I am very glad to see you--I didn't mean monstrous glad, as in--not to imply that you are--sorry--beg your pardon, but I have been forced to look about me a litle, and settle my matters; for it is a long while since I have been at home. But pray, Colonel, how came you to conjure out that I should be in the Sub-Station today?" (153).
There seems to be a lot of mixed feelings about Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and I can understand why. At times it doesn't feel like an adaption but more like poking fun at Austen and Victorian London. If you haven't read the original, do so. If I hadn't read the original I don't think I could have got through this book because my love for the original characters is what really kept me reading. Overall it was a nice break from other books I've read but I would only give a 3/5.
Pub. Date: September 2009
Publisher: Quirk Publishing
Format: Paperback, 343pp
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