Book Review: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Posted on | June 8, 2010 | No Comments
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
http://www.quirkclassics.com
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The family of the late Mr Dashwood, consisting of his second wife and three daughters, are left with very little property after Mr Dashwood is torn to pieces by a hammerhead shark, and must remove themselves to a rattling shack on Pestilent Isle. Life settles down despite the continuing ravages of supernaturally malicious sea creatures, but the two elder daughters, the sensible Elinor and the romantic Marianne, are caught up in hopeless romances. They play out over a year of heartbreak, careful attention to propriety and the dire consequences of its lack. And some sea monsters.
One thing to be said for this novel is that it is better than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. In both novels the monsters are superfluous to the plot, tacked on rather than made an essential part of the story. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters at least attempts to tie the added elements to the plot and achieves some truly hilarious moments, where ladies beset with creatures and surrounded by death and disaster still manage to discuss prospective engagements.
I would not recommend this novel for any particular fan of the Regency period or Jane Austen, because the author seems to have transported the story to the other end of the 19th century. The first decade of that century had not yet even heard of bustles, and did not favour pointed heels. Then again this could be attributed to the author’s general lack of knowledge regarding period clothing; a gentleman would never refer to his trousers – should he indeed be wearing trousers rather than the more formal breeches – as “pants”. The technology described is also more reminiscent of late 19th century fiction but, then, they didn’t have underwater cities at that point either, so we can put that down to the novel being science fiction in the first place.
I might recommend it to people with very low expectations. The Lovecraftian mood is nicely set, the best parts involve mixing convoluted Austenian sentences and repressed propriety with scenes of bloody loss of life and limb, and there is, after all, something entertaining about bloody pirates and tentacled beasts. There was a great deal of potential here, but I just don’t think that potential will ever be realized before these re-writers are allowed to rip the original text apart even more. Until then, the monsters will be nothing but window-dressing and that, ultimately, doesn’t excuse their presence, and will never truly satisfy.
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