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Welcome to the final Online Book Club discussion of Sense and Sensibility.

Did you enjoy the ending of the book? Do you feel like the ending was satisfying? I was glad that the characters ended up happy, but I thought the ending, particularly with Marianne’s story, was a little disappointing. I felt like we spent the whole book hearing about Marianne and her thoughts and troubles, and then her ending was explained quickly and casually in the last two pages. Did you feel like the last bits of the story were wrapped up too quickly? 

Edward goes through a lot of change in this last section. He starts off the section being engaged to Lucy Steele, then he’s disowned by his mother and decides to join the clergy, then he becomes engaged to Elinor, then gets reinstated with his mother and is given 10,000 pounds. That’s a lot to happen to one character in just a few chapters! Why do you think Jane Austen decided to have all of those things happen to Edward at the end of the book? I was glad when he was released from his relationship to Lucy–it didn’t seem like she was the best match for him, and she definitely shows that at the end of the book when she quickly marries his brother. I thought the fact that Robert and Lucy got married was very surprising. I thought it was good that Edward learned to stand up to his mother a little bit, and it wad nice that she didn’t stay angry at him forever. What do you think it would be like to have Mrs. Ferrars as a mother-in-law? I can’t imagine she’s terribly easy to get along with. 

What did you think about the fact that Willoughby came to apologize? I thought it was good that he tried to apologize for his actions, but I was really surprised by the fact that Elinor was to taken by his apology. She really seemed to forgive him completely and was able to look at him with fondness. What did you think of Willoughby’s explanation of the beginning of his relationship with Marianne? I think he did develop true feelings for Marianne, but I didn’t like how it felt like he was blaming Marianne for the predicament they found themselves in. He didn’t plan on falling in love with her, and it was almost her fault that he did because no man would have been able to resist the tenderness and kindess that she showed him. What did you think of the fact that he sent Marianne the rejection letter that his fiancee dictated to him? That shows what kind of man he really was that he was willing to hurt Marianne so deeply to save himself. I was glad in the last pages how it said that he always looked at Marianne with regret. I think that’s what he deserved for his actions. But, I definitely think Marianne ended up with the better man. 

Do you think Marianne and Colonel Brandon will have a happy life together? It seems like they grow to love each other, even though we don’t see that play out on the page. He was a really good man, and I’m glad Marianne finally gave him a chance. I do think their age difference is a little concerning, but I bet it wasn’t as odd in the time period in which they lived. 

I always think it’s so interesting to read about marriages in this time period because it doesn’t seem like any of the couples really spent that much time together. I think Edward and Elinor were around each other for only a couple of weeks before deciding to marry. Dating and courtship have definitely changed a lot since Jane Austen’s time! Do you ever wish you had lived during Jane Austen’s life time? If you’d like to pretend you lived during that time, you could always travel to England and participate in the Jane Austen Festival! Don’t forget to pack your Regency costumes!

Did you enjoy the book as a whole? Do you think you would tell other people to read it? Do you want to read more books by Jane Austen after reading this one? 

Did you know that Emma Thompson won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for her screenplay adaptation of this movie? Check out her acceptance speech for the Golden Globes below if you’d like to see how she incorporated Jane Austen into her speech!

If you enjoyed this book and would like to read and watch similar titles, check out this list I created. Please make sure to let me know if you check out anything on the list!

Thanks so much for following along this month! I hope you’ll leave your thoughts about Sense and Sensibility in the comments below. Finally, I hope you’ll join us again next month as we read Absolute Power by David Baldacci. 

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of Sense and Sensibility.

Did this section go as you thought it would? I thought that Willoughby wasn’t a very great guy, but I was really surprised when he sent that letter to Marianne telling her that he never had feelings for her. That was so cruel. On top of all of that, now he’s engaged to a wealthy woman since he squandered all of his fortune. That was just incredible. Do you think Colonel Brandon has a chance with Marianne now? At this point, it seems like Marianne will never recover from her heartbreak, so I don’t really know what her future holds. 

At the beginning of this section, Elinor gets pulled into helping Lucy with Edward, even though Elinor is still in love with him. I felt so sorry for Elinor that she was in that position. Elinor tried very hard to find things that would disprove Edward and Lucy’s relationship. She suggested that they had fallen out of love due to the fact that they’ve hidden the relationship for so long, and she tries to tell herself that Lucy and Edward must not have a connection of the heart. What do you think? Do you think Lucy and Edward have a real connection? Do you think he has feelings for Elinor? Lucy ends up asking Elinor to talk to her brother and ask if Edward can live there to have enough money to marry Lucy. Was that fair of Lucy to ask that of Elinor? Do you think Lucy has any idea that Elinor has feelings for Edward? I think that Lucy is so concerned about herself that she has no idea that Elinor has any feelings for Edward. 

Colonel Brandon has some big revelations about Willoughby in this section. I can’t say I was surprised by what he had to say. Did you think that Willoughby’s storyline in this part was very similar to George Wickham in Pride and Prejudice? And, Colonel Brandon had a very similar role to Mr. Darcy in the way that he was responsible to save the young women from a rogue. Did you see the Pride and Prejudice similarities? I really think that Marianne is so much better off without Willoughby. He is such a horrible man. I couldn’t believe how he treated women in the past, and I couldn’t believe how he treated Marianne. I can’t imagine that the marriage he’s entering into will be a happy one. 

I felt like this section was not a happy section. All of the characters are so sad, and there wasn’t any good news. There was just a lot of heartbreak. What did you think about this volume? What do you hope happens to the characters in the next section? How will everything be resolved? I hope there’s a little bit of levity in the next part of the book!

I didn’t feel like much else really happened in this volume. There wasn’t as much action as there was in the first section. Did I miss any parts that you really enjoyed? Do you have a favorite character that you’re excited to read about in the final section? 

Before you go, check out the interview below in which Hugh Grant talks about filming the movie version. Do you think it sounds like it was a very fun set? 

Thanks for following along this week! I hope you’re able to finish the book for next week! Don’t forget to leave me a comment to let me know what you thought of this section!

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. 

Did you enjoy reading the first part of the book this week? I have to confess that older books like this are not my preferred type of book, but I am trying hard to take my time while reading and enjoy the language and characters!

Are you a big Jane Austen fan? I think it’s so interesting that her books have stayed so popular for hundreds of years. That’s a big testament to how great her writing and characters are! Have any of you traveled to England and seen her house in person? In case a trip isn’t in your future, you can check out a tour of her house here.  

I did enjoy most of the characters I met in the first section. Do you have a favorite character? I like how steadfast Elinor is, but I also enjoy how dramatic Marianne is. I was glad that the Dashwood women were able to band together and make the best of things after they were treated so horribly by John Dashwood and his wife. Could you believe how scheming Fanny Dashwood was? It was so horrible how she was able to convince her husband to not give the money that he promised to give. I couldn’t believe how easily swayed John was. I was really disappointed in him throughout the first chapters. What do you think of Edward Ferrars and John Willoughby? I think I like Edward more than Willoughby, but I don’t think I’m really a fan of either of them. I don’t think either man has proven to be very trustworthy. At the end of this first section, Willoughby leaves the country–do you think he’ll be back, or will he continue to leave Marianne in the lurch? He was so public with is courtship of her that it seems odd that he would leave her side. What about Edward? Why is he being so friendly to Elinor if he has commitments elsewhere? I think he is just completely kowtowed by his mother. I don’t know if he makes any decisions for himself. 

What did you think once the family moved to the country? I think they ended up in a really great space. The Middleton’s seemed to be nice people, and it was kind that they wanted to include the Dashwoods in everything and introduce them to people. What do you think of Colonel Brandon? It’s kind of sad that he’s so interested in Marianne, but she doesn’t give him the time of day. What about the Steele sisters? They don’t seem to be very kind. How surprised were you when Lucy revealed that she had been engaged to Edward Ferrars for the past year? I was shocked. I don’t understand why Edward would spend time with Elinor if he was in love with another woman. Do you think he really loves Lucy? Is she really telling the truth about their attachment to each other? His betrothal to Lucy did explain his hair ring. What did you think about all of the references to keeping a piece of hair from a loved one? Willoughby took hair from Marianne, and Edward took hair from Lucy. Are you glad that custom is not still a part of our daily lives? 

What do you think is going to happen in the next section? Are the Dashwood sisters going to find lasting love? Are they going to have to interact with their brother again? 

Before you go, check out the video clip below of Lucy Steele telling Elinor about her engagement to Edward. Is that the way you pictured the scene playing out? 

Thanks for following along this week! I can’t wait to hear all of your thoughts about this section in the comments. Make sure you read Volume 2 for next week!

Welcome to Week 1 of the Online Book Club discussion of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. 

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

Sense and Sensibility follows Elinor and Marianne Dashwood as they become young women and experience romance and heartbreak. At the beginning of the book, the Dashwoods are forced to move to the country after Mr. Dashwood dies, but while they’re in the country, they meet very interesting people and grow and change and learn. 

If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie version starring Emma Thompson. Check out the trailer above for the movie version if you want to get a feel for the series. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the movie and not reading the book.

We’ll read Volume 1 of the book for next week, so make sure to read that before checking on the next blog post. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments!

Welcome to the final discussion of Kindred.

How did you feel about this last section? It was a really intense book–I’m glad I read it, but there were definitely parts that were hard to read!

What do you think of Rufus’s life? He was not a happy man, and he did not have a happy life. Do you think his life had to go the way it did, or did he have times where he could have changed paths and made different, better choices? Do you think Dana made any difference in his life? I guess he wouldn’t have made it to adulthood if it weren’t for her. I just got to the end of the book and felt like his life was completely meaningless–all he was good for was making a daughter who went on to be one of Dana’s ancestors. 

I think I was frustrated that there wasn’t any kind of happy ending, but I think it would have been really unrealistic for this book to have a happy ending. Enslaved people did not have happy lives, and it would have been really unrealistic for the ones in this book to have really rosy experiences. Alice’s life as Rufus’s personal slave was horrible, but she represents so many real people who had the same experience. That’s a really hard thing to think about, but it’s an important thing to think about. 

In “The Storm,” Rufus punishes Dana by having her work in the fields. Do you think he really blamed her for his father’s death, or did he just want to exert control over her? Later, he wants her to take care of his mother. Why does he keep putting Dana in those sorts of situations? Does he trust her more than he trusts everyone else in his house? 

After Hagar is born, Dana believes that her job with Rufus is done. However, that’s not true, and she ends up traveling back to Rufus one more time. Why do you think she has to travel back to Rufus even after her “job” is finished? In “The Storm,” Dana doesn’t wait to travel back home–she takes matters into her own hands and slits her wrists. Why do you think she did such a drastic thing? Do you think she does this because Rufus breaks her trust and hits her? Is that the last straw for her in regards to Rufus? 

In “The Rope,” Rufus is despicable. He pretended to sell his children, causing Alice to kill herself, he refuses to free all of his slaves, and he makes advances towards Dana. Did you have any sympathy for Rufus by the end of the book, or did you agree with Kevin, thinking that Dana needed to kill Rufus? 

Rufus refuses to let Dana go and grabs her as she’s traveling, causing her arm to be left in the past. Do you think losing her arm was a small price to pay for being able to come and stay home? In the epilogue, we find out that Rufus died, and it seems like a fire was set in the house to cover up the fact that Rufus was stabbed. We also find out that all of the slaves were sold. Do you feel like Dana accomplished what she was supposed to accomplish in the past? How do you think she will be able to move on in her regular life after experiencing all of that trauma? Why do you think Dana had such tender and forgiving feelings towards Rufus throughout the whole book?

What are your final thoughts about the book? Did you enjoy reading it? Do you think you’ll check out any of Octavia E. Butler’s other titles? 

If you enjoyed this book and are interested in reading and watching similar titles, check out this list I created. Make sure to let me know if you check out anything on the list! 

Before you go, check out the video clip below if you’d like to see how the television version compares to the book version. Let me know if you watched and enjoyed the television adaptation.

 I hope you enjoyed the book this month and are excited to join us again next month as we read Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I can’t wait to hear all of your thoughts in the comments section!

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of Kindred.

Did you enjoy reading this section? It was interesting to see how Dana reacted being in the past for so long. This was definitely her longest time traveling trip. Were you stressed wondering whether or not she would find Kevin? I couldn’t believe how long they were separated in his world. Five years is a long time to be apart from a spouse! Did any part of you think that Kevin might stay at the plantation? It sure would have made it easier to find him again if he had just stayed in one place, but I don’t blame him for moving North. 

At the beginning of this section, Alice and Rufus and Alice’s husband are all fighting, and it is not a good situation. Naively, I hoped that the union between Rufus and Alice was a pleasant one. I hoped that Dana’s interactions with Rufus might have helped him to grow up to be more kind, but I guess she really didn’t spend that much time with him, so it makes sense that she wasn’t able to completely change him out of the views of the time. 

Did you ever believe that Rufus would send letters to Kevin? I thought it was pretty obvious that Rufus had no desire to see Dana leave. He belittled her in this section and said he would never want to be with her, but he also seems like he can’t live without her. I was so relieved when we found out that Kevin was going to come and get Dana. I was really afraid that they were going to continue to be separated from each other. Did you think that Weylin showed himself to be more honorable than Rufus in this section when he was willing to write to Kevin? It was interesting that Weylin has not shown himself to be a kind man, but he still thought that Rufus should honor his promise to write to Kevin, even if that meant the plantation was going to lose Dana and all of the work she was doing. Why do you think it was so important to him that Rufus keep his promise? 

Were you surprised by how much Rufus’s actions towards Dana have changed since the beginning of the book? He is so cruel to her, even while showing that he does love her and depends on her. I was really surprised by the way that Rufus changed as he grew. I thought he was a little bit of a likeable character in the beginning of the book, but as the narrative goes on, he loses any likeability. I don’t blame Dana for wanting to escape the plantation, and I think the fact that she was caught and whipped was important because it showcased the true experience of enslaved people. It was sad to see her rebellious spirit leave after she was whipped. 

Do you think it was right when Dana convinced Alice to be with Rufus? I think going to Rufus peacefully was Alice’s only real option–he would have taken her either way, so she might as well not get beaten to a pulp in the process, but do you think Dana had an invested interest since she wouldn’t exist if Rufus and Alice had never had children together? 

At the end of the section, Kevin and Dana are reunited, and presumably, they are going to travel back to the future together because something heavy lands on Dana right before she loses consciousness. I think that has to be Kevin, right? How do you think Dana and Kevin are going to be able to be together in the present time after all that Kevin has experienced without Dana in the past? Do you think their relationship will survive? 

Before you go, check out the video below in which Octavia E. Butler talks about Science Fiction. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6vRGQQ45I

Thanks for following along this week! I hope you’re able to finish the book for next week. I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments. 

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. 

How did you like the reading experience this week? Wasn’t the beginning of this story so crazy? This is definitely a different type of story than what I normally read, but I am really enjoying it. I like the time travel aspect since I don’t usually read books with that element. 

The prologue really sucked me in, especially since it started by telling us that Dana loses her arm. I’m so curious to see how that plays out as the book progresses. That’s a pretty crazy place to start, so I can’t imagine what else the book has in store for us!

The first time Dana time travels, she ends up at the river and saves Rufus from drowning. This time traveling experience is pretty short, but still, it’s terrifying. I can’t even imagine being placed in that sort of scenario. It seems, as we move through the book, that Dana travels through time to help Rufus and save his life, but, it’s not clear how she can manipulate things to come back home. I can’t imagine the stress of not knowing when the time traveling is going to begin. It was sad to see how the uncertainty affected Dana, even when she was at home. She couldn’t drive or leave the house for fear that she was going to travel. It was smart of her to think that she shouldn’t drive because it would be pretty scary for her to be sucked into the past and leave a driverless car in the present. 

The second time she time travels, she saves Rufus after he burns the draperies. At first, I was as confused as Dana and didn’t know if the person she was helping was Rufus or an older brother. It’s interesting that he remembered her, and it seems like he can hear her before she fully emerges in his world. Rufus appears to have a really sad life. His dad is not kind, and Rufus acts out a lot. What do you think his life would be like if he didn’t have Dana to rescue him? While in Rufus’s world this time, Dana realizes that she is distantly related to Rufus, and it appears that she must save him in order to keep her family tree intact. Were you surprised by that revelation? What did you think of the part where Dana was traveling to Alice’s cabin? That part was really scary, and the slave traders were really terrifying. I’m glad Dana made it out alive, but I don’t have terribly high hopes for what will happen to her in the future. 

In the last section, “The Fall,” Rufus falls out of a tree and breaks his leg. This time travel is different because Dana ties a bag of supplies to herself and that travels with her, and Kevin travels with her, too. I think I was most surprised how quickly they acclimated to the time period. And, I was a little surprised by how much leeway Dana had in the house. It was interesting that they let her live in Kevin’s room. If you were Rufus would you have believed Dana and Kevin when they explained that they were from the future? It was a good thing that they had some coins to corroborate their story. I would have a really hard time believing someone who said that they were a time traveler, but maybe, I would be more likely to believe them if I saw them drop from the sky unexpectedly. 

At the end of the section, Dana is beaten by Rufus’s dad since she was teaching other enslaved people to read. Before Kevin is able to make it to her, she transports back home, leaving him behind. Do you think they will be able to find each other again? Time will move so much more quickly for him than her–I don’t know how they will manage to find each other again. Do you think staying in the past will affect Kevin? Do you think he will still want to be with Dana after being submerged in the antiquated ideas of the time period for so long? 

What will happen in the next section? How will Rufus change as the years pass? 

Before you go, check out this link and peruse some of Octavia E. Butler’s papers. I think it’s facinating all of the things she wrote down–it definitely shows that she was really determined to make it as a writer. 

Make sure you just read the next section, “The Fight,” before you check back next week! I can’t wait to hear all of the things you thought about this first section!

Welcome to Week 1 of the Online Book Club discussion of Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

Kindred is a time travel historical novel in which a woman living in the 1970s gets pulled backwards in time to the antebellum South. Dana, the modern woman, is summoned to this time period to save the son of a plantation owner, and after this first time travel, she is pulled back again and again against her will. Each journey back in time is more dangerous than the last, and soon, Dana doesn’t know if she will survive long enough to make it back to her regular life. 

If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the television adaptation which runs on Hulu. Make sure to put a hold on one of our Roku sticks to catch the series if you don’t have Hulu at home. Check out the trailer above for the television adaptation if you want to get a feel for the series. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the series and not reading the book.

We’ll read through the section entitled, “The Fall,” so make sure to check those out before reading the next blog post. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments!