Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Jane Eyre

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Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

92 reviews

sofiya's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is so perplexing that I literally don't know how to rate it. It's by far one of the most interesting classics I have read (likely due to the heavy dialogue and use of first-person), but it's far more chaotic than I would have ever expected. I have no idea how people label this as an iconic romance because I saw very little good things about the romance. I'd label it more as a coming-of-age/mystery (??) novel than a romance.

I will fault the book in that a lot of the story involves "telling" rather than "showing", particularly the 8 year time jump that's summarized in about 2 paragraphs. Some parts were done really well and others weren't in my opinion. I also found that occasionally my mind would wander as I read, and sometimes I had a hard time staying focused.

I didn't really understand the use of St. John at the end- especially the fact that the story ends by speaking about him. I'm still not really sure what the commentary on Christianity was meant to be, considering that both religious men we meet in the book are quite awful to Jane (and just in general). I know that there were examples of good Christianity and bad, but I wasn't really sure what I was meant to take away from it.

An additional note is that I enjoyed seeing the different levels of class and how it was addressed in the book. During that era, even servents were treated on different levels (usually based on education) and I do find that an interesting thing to examine.

Also, re: the romance. Mr. Rochester is a bit of a psychopath. The g*psy scene is so bizarre and he acts so clingy to Jane that it made me uncomfortable at times (and that's excluding the fact that he locks his mentally ill wife in an attic). I understand that I'm reading the book with a 2021 lens, but I don't understand how the book was ever looked on as romantic.</spoiler

Overall, I enjoyed reading Jane Eyre. I can't say that I'll actively choose to re-read it, but I'm happy to have gotten through it.

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sarahjoym's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

isabellaft's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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yoheleonore's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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madelnguttorms1's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

If you're interested in England during the Victorian era, then I would recommend that you read Jane Eyre at some point. The values and morals of the English people during this time are made quite clear through the eyes of Jane, in both the way she perceives herself and the way she perceives others.

It wasn't really a book after my taste as I'm not much of a romance reader, and my taste in books is quite different to this one. I enjoy fast-paced, plot-driven stories, and Jane Eyre is a slow-paced novel that is mostly character-driven. We follow Jane through a portion of her life and we get to know the people and the environment around her during this time. I could enjoy this book if I had related to Jane more, but I felt quite distant to her most of the time, despite this book being formatted as an autobiography.

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