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buildingtaste's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I am now fascinated by Jane Eyre retellings, because what authors keep--I assume the parts they find most compelling about the original book--reflects a lot on what they value in their art. This version of events does away entirely with the close psychological rendering of the heroine (now hero), Eyre's childhood, and the formative events that lead to the relationship with Rochester. John has some internalized ideas about class, as well as misogyny, but his family is passed over with a single mention of his childhood as an orphan at Lowood school. Bertha, too, loses the distinguishing past she had in Bronte's book, as her West Indies origins are supplanted by an English Rose style upbringing. Beyond names and the primary setting, then, John and Bertha become a fairly standard Victorian romance pairing of glamorous widow and mild-mannered tutor (until such time as the narrative demands he become a bit more dashing, at which point he's perfectly able to do that too).
I was first drawn to the book by the Dracula mashup aspect. I was pretty excited for it, actually. Reader... I should not have been. By trying to keep the reveal hidden as long as possible, Matthews excised most of the pleasures of the Dracula lore, cramming the exposition of how Bertha escaped his castle, why in the world she would keep him in Thornfield rather than just chuck him overboard en route from Varna, and Rochester's ultimate destruction into the final chapters. The suspense of Bertha's narration is completely undercut by the fact that we know in the John chapters she's alive and well, but we don't even get to enjoy reading about how she pulled it off in her own words? I have a feeling Matthews wrote herself into a corner (or a vault) with Bertha's escape and just decided to gloss over it.
On the whole I had a decent time with this, probably on par with any 2020s novels I've read, but that bar is low. If you are a fan of classic gothic novels, this is not really what you're looking for. If you are a more conventional histrom reader who wants to dabble in gothic, I think this could work for you. Matthews is clearly more comfortable in the histrom sections than the more gothic ones. However, if you're accustomed to more explicit sex in your histroms, this ain't it either.
On the whole I had a decent time with this, probably on par with any 2020s novels I've read, but that bar is low. If you are a fan of classic gothic novels, this is not really what you're looking for. If you are a more conventional histrom reader who wants to dabble in gothic, I think this could work for you. Matthews is clearly more comfortable in the histrom sections than the more gothic ones. However, if you're accustomed to more explicit sex in your histroms, this ain't it either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia, Drug use, Suicide, Child abuse, and Colonisation
Minor: Slavery and Child death
A character is physically and verbally abusive to their spouse, including choking, confinement, and threatening to kill them. A character dies by suicide off the page and the method is discussed. A character is murdered off the page and the method is discussed. A character is in active mourning for friends and parents. A character dies in a fire which also destroys a house. Child characters are victims of kidnapping and
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