] ]My careful reading and study of it revealed to me a novel of pathos and melo-drama not so much to my liking. I guess in previous reads I quickly read passages that to me now seem to wallow in sentimentality.

] I don't find it melodramtic in the least, and I find that it does the opposite of wallowing in sentimentality.

Yes, agree with Barbara. It is the opposite of sentimental. Actually it is the study case of an addiction! Marianne's addiction to sentimentality taking shape in the person of Willoughby. It is almost chirugical in the way it is described. JA takes us through all the stages of Marianne's illness with the precision of a surgeon. However I find S&S the less well written in language terms (surely because of its being an early work), some of the dialogues are longuish and they lack the mastery of later novels. But on the whole I am never disappointed when I reread S&S!