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david_slack110507's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Child death, Death, Child abuse, Classism, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Racism, Abandonment, Gaslighting, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Death of parent, Infidelity, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Ableism, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Incest, Medical content, Vomit, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Cultural appropriation
bisexualwentworth's review
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Racism, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting
cepbreed's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
"Justice,' she said. 'I've heard that word. It's a cold word. I tried it out,' she said, still speaking in a low voice. 'I wrote it down. I wrote it down several times and always it looked like a damn cold lie to me. There is no justice."
I've been meaning to read this book for awhile and my English course focusing on what houses represent in literature was the perfect excuse to finally get down to doing it. By excuse I mean I had to, but whatever LOL. As a disclaimer that rushed element might have influenced my reading experience, but I was slightly disappointed by this. I ADORED Jane Eyre and I was always so intrigued by Bertha Mason. I had this idea in my head that she was a Creole woman, but also a woman of color. I may have just invented that detail in my head though. I just thought any themes connected to her status as a woman of color would've reflected wonderfully with Heathcliff's status as not quite white enough in Wuthering Heights. That said, I loved the way Jean Rhys crafted the existence of Antoinette as a disgraced white woman in Jamaica. Rhys never shied away from the uncomfortable and I will carry that scene where the family is attempting to get into their carriage with me forever. I enjoyed books one and three, not so much book two. However, that is probably just a reflection of my hatred for Mr. Rochester. I hated him at the end of Jane Eyre and feared terribly that some parts of this book would attempt to redeem him (is it even redemption if its happening in the past?). Thank goodness I did not have to endure any sort of placating towards Rochester. My hate was augmented tenfold and the only thing bringing me a semblance of peace is the fact that he is disfigured by the end of Jane Eyre (lets just ignore that Jane actually returns to him...).
THE ENDING THOUGH UGHHH Knowing what comes next is just. so. good.
Song:
- tolerate it - Taylor Swift
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Classism, Emotional abuse, Racism, Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, and Mental illness
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Alcoholism
laurenbb23's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Rape, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexual assault
clevermird's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Wide Sargasso Sea is the latest in my quest to read through the "great classics" of Western literary canon, and it's the first one I can truly say I didn't like.
I should start by getting the elephant in the room out of the way - this book is essentially published Jane Eyre fanfiction. Now, that's not inherently a bad thing. The story makes little secret of it and the premise was intriguing. Who was Rochester's mad wife really? What was her side of the story? Sadly, although it does deliver the promised tale, Wide Sargasso Sea fails to offer much to a reader that they couldn't already have figured out for themself.
Antoinette Cosway lives with her mother and disabled younger brother in the crumbling ruins of their family's estate. When slavery was abolished, the family was plunged into near-poverty and rejected both by the freed slaves (who were understandably resentful of their former masters) and the white community (who saw them as both morally deficient former slave owners and as social inferiors). As she grows, the constant feelings of outcast will weigh down her mind and combine with her husband's own problems and lead to madness, infidelity, and a disaster of marriage that threatens to destroy both of them.
I was really disappointed in this book. I found Antoinette to be irritatingly childish and helpless. I know that the lack of agency she has in her own life is kind of one of the points of the book, but for me it moved past that and into "good grief, woman, stop wringing your hands and do something". Her husband, meanwhile kept oscillating between "very reasonable" and "what on earth is wrong with you?" In the end, rather than a portrait of a woman kept down by a cold and unfeeling man, or a tragedy of two hopelessly mis-matched souls, I wound up almost feeling like they deserved each other.
The reason this book got more than two stars (instead of the 1.5 I would have given it otherwise) is the prose. It's beautiful, dreamy, almost stream-of-consciousness stuff that makes every line interesting to read on its own and really captures the almost fever-dream like nature of the story and the lush tropical setting. However, this proves as much a hindrance as a help, with major events often glossed over in favor of more mood setting. There were several important plot points that I was confused on because the writing style obfuscated them so much.
Overall, a book with a promising start and an enjoyable writing style that fails to offer much of substance or deliver on the promised narrative.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Colonisation, Racial slurs, and Sexism
Moderate: Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Confinement, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, and Alcoholism
autumn_oddity's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Racial slurs, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity