(Hi all, back from my trip to the Shakespeare Festival. I've read all the posts - yikes - and hope I'm not repeating anything...)

I'm really feeling Elinor's intellectual isolation this read. We've talked about how she is the grownup, the caregiver in her family, and though she has a good relationship with her family, I can see that she might be frustrated talking with Marianne on a higher intellectual level, one of give and take. Marianne is so set in her "sensibility" viewpoint, that she cannot admit others.

This line brought out to me what drives her friendship with Col. Brandon:

"In Colonel Brandon alone, of all her new acquaintance, did Elinor find a person who could in any degree claim the respect of abilities, excite the interest of friendship, or give pleasure as a companion."