I really enjoyed this - not quite as much as Pride & Prejudice - but it's a close second. Like the annotated P&P - the annotations in this book are a wonderful addition. The left page is the story - the right page contains annotations and illustrations that help define word usage, period customs, historical tidbits, and reminders for what transpired earlier in the story. I think what really strikes me about this book as well as P&P is how believable the characters are even though the stories are 200 years old. It's easy to understand how these stories can be used as a framework for a film that takes place in a more modern era. This story involves a couple of sisters - the older sister who takes a calmer and more logical approach to issues that arise, and the younger sister who takes a rather impractical romantic approach to everything (a cultural affectation of the time - and something Austin is quietly mocking in the book). The book's annotations do a nice job of explaining this juxtaposition of both sister's differing approaches to resolving issues.

As to the condition of my brand new paperback when I finished reading it - the book is over 700 pages and a tad unwieldy - and I had the unfortunate luck of buying an edition with inadequate glue in the spine: I'm afraid I had to chuck the disintegrating fluttering mess into the trash. ( )

The five stars are for Jane, not for the annotator. I bought this for my Kindle for one of those “need reading now” situations. Now I realize that Harvard University Press also has an annotated edition with a different editor which is probably the one I really wanted. Also, a book with what appear to be beautiful illustrations like this is really one you want in hardcover, not a screen. Finally, footnotes are something I’ve now thoroughly learned are things you really want to see on a physical page as well. The reading experience on Kindle was greatly marred by having to click footnotes – I am an old-school typist who hates “clicking” in general, persnickety clicking in particular, like when you have to cursor your mouse right in the middle of a tiny checkbox; or, in this case, position your fat fingertip precisely on the little superscript, else find yourself thrown onto the next page instead of into the footnote. That happened to me more than 50% of the time in the beginning, I’d say only a little less than 50% by the time I’d trained myself as best I could to hit the superscript. And the nasty icing on the cake, and the reason I am not thrilled with this annotated edition – half the footnotes are mere definitions of words and expressions that are pretty damn obvious to someone with more than an eighth-grade education. Once I’d clicked (with difficulty) a footnote on the word “amusing” which, I swear, did nothing more than define “amusing” as “entertaining” – then I had to train myself to identify which footnotes were most likely to be mere, stupid definitions vs. those which were likely to actually enrich my reading experience. End of the sentence was more likely to be worthwhile; middle of the sentence, on a word more than four letters long, was more likely to be a stupid definition.
Back to Jane! The inspiration for this purchase was that I’d recently read Reading Jane Austen which made me want to re-read Jane Austen. Even with all my complaints, annotations make a re-read much more fun. And re-reads of excellent, beloved books always bring some new discovery, feeling, or interpretation. I was surprised this time at how much I loved Marianne. Most touchingly, I loved her love for her sister. She makes clear upon first making Edward’s acquaintance that he is not her cup of tea; but once she understands that her sister loves him, she practically loves him even more on her behalf. When he pops in for a visit, she’s almost more thrilled than Elinor – well, she is more thrilled than Elinor, because the visit is complicated, to say the least, by the presence of Elinor’s rival; but she is SO loving towards Edward, and genuinely happy to have her sister’s love interest there, on Elinor’s behalf, it’s just adorable and endearing.
I reconcile myself a bit more to her ending, too, which I used to feel was a disservice to her, fobbing her off on an old Colonel who wore flannel waistcoats who was totally contrary to all her predilections… but I’ve decided to take heart in the phrase “Marianne could not love by halves.” Once she had found herself developing a fondness towards Colonel Brandon, it could not help but develop into full-fledged love, I’m sure. ( )

This edition is invaluable to any researcher of Jane Austen's work or time, and is ridiculously pleasing to footnote fiends. There's almost as much annotation as text, and it's on facing pages in full-size type.

If you haven't already read the book, you probably shouldn't start with this edition. Not only are there spoilers, but the glut of information will overwhelm your enjoyment of the story. But if, like me, you have Austen memorized, you NEED a copy of this book. ( )

Full of useful tidbits that make clear people’s degree of ill breeding, how much money everyone is talking about, and what kind of carriage is a “chaise.” The best way for a longtime fan to reread. ( )

The Annotated Sense and Sensibility, edited by David M. Shaparard, is a 742 page trade paperback. The novel is on the left-hand page, and the annotations are on the right. In Shapard's annotated version of Pride and Prejudice, I found some of the definitions tiresome in their repetition, and he must have rethought this because this aspect was not a problem with this S&S edition. I enjoyed these notes very much, as they often pointed out a nuance that I didn't pick up in my own reading. At the end of the book are several helpful maps, a chronology of the events of the novel, and an extensive bibliography.

In comparison to the annotated edition by Patricia Meyers Spacks, I found that this Shapard edition had more information and did a better job of explaining the novel (the other edition is physically lovely though, so I recommend both). I don't recommend reading an annotated version if you've never read S&S before, as the wealth of extra material will destroy the reading flow. But for a reread, they are great.