is how much I dislike, nay, despise every character except Elinor and Mr. Brandon. I find myself seething over Mr. and Mrs. John D.; I don't know which I hate more! Even Elinor tries my patience at times with how she puts up with it all so quietly. And as I approach the wrong side of five and thirty I have much less tolerance for Marianne and Mrs. D's sensibility. Austen's character descriptions are so emotionally powerful!