Review Time: Sense and Sensibility (Marvel Illustrated)

What is it about Jane Austen that has kept readers coming back time and again for the past two hundred years? Her books have inspired dozens of movies, plays, and modern re-tellings. One of the newest of these is Nancy Butler's graphic novel adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, illustrated by Sonny Liew. Butler has also adapted Pride and Prejudice and Emma into graphic novel format, each with a different artist.

Here's a quick rundown of the story for those of you who have never read the original: Marianne and Elinor Dashwood are sisters but they couldn't be more different. Marianne is quick-tempered and passionate while Elinor is reserved and quiet, though no less feeling than her sister. When their father dies, Marianne and Elinor, along with their mother and little sister, Margaret, are cast out by their half-brother and his grasping wife. They move away from the only home they've ever known with no prospects and very little income. What follows is a series of romantic misadventures as Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her cruel sister-in-law's brother, but believes him to be engaged to someone else. In turn, Marianne falls in love with John Willoughby, a dashing but unreliable figure who ultimately breaks her heart, even as Colonel Brandon, who she originally has no interest in, falls in love with her.

I won't critique Austen's original work here, though Marianne's marriage to Colonel Brandon has always felt a little too convenient to me, because there are already scores of criticisms out there that are much cleverer than anything I could write. Instead, let's focus on Butler's retelling. Butler, a best-selling romance author in her own right, did take a few creative liberties in the interest of translating the work to a new format. Much of Sense and Sensibility is told through letters between characters. However, that doesn't make for a terribly interesting graphic novel so instead she created "speeches where none existed and [fleshed] out scenes Austen merely hints at in the book" (from Butler's introduction). For the most part, the text is very close to the original. Many of the phrases are taken directly from Austen's own work with very little editing or adjustment. The final result is very close to the original story and maintains Austen's dry, slightly sarcastic tone. I actually laughed out loud a few times.

Best of all, Liew's illustrations perfectly compliment the text. The images are detailed and dense and the characters have exaggerated features that somehow stay just this side of being cartoon-ish. Liew also uses "chibi" style figures in the more comedic scenes. ("Chibi" is a Japanese style of drawing in which characters have large heads and small bodies--think Disney-esque squirrels or Bratz dolls). In addition, the appearance of each of the many characters is distinct, which helped me keep them all straight. In the past, I've had to make little character map bookmarks for myself to keep track of who's who.

I loved this one--a triumphant adaptation of a classic tale into a new format that loses nothing in the translation. Buy one for the Austen-ite in your life, one for the cynical closet romantic, and one for the teen who can't be bothered to read anything published before 2007.

Final Grade: A