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camivasquez's review
2.0
I knew going into this I wouldn’t have a new favourite, but I at least thought I’d enjoy it. To be fair, that was mostly true until we neared the second half. The thing is, I found everything bland and boring. I know this is a retelling, and I usually love them IF they bring anything new. From the Mrs Rochester’s first letter it’s made obvious what Mr Rochester’s secret is, so there wasn’t even a little bit of intrigue on that front. I didn’t care for John, and I didn’t care for Bertha either. I do wish there were more scenes between John and the children. I feel that would have been nice to explore. See how their relationship developed and how the children grew to trust him despite their initial warines. Tbh, everything felt a bit underdeveloped.
amelia990's review
3.5
This book has left me conflicted. There are things I really liked and things I really did not.
Let's start with the "this just did not work for me" stuff. It was hard for me to become invested in any plot line because we jumped between the past plotline in Bertha's letters and journal and the current plot line with John. Every time it jumped, it pulled me out of the story. Epistolary stories are already hard to read; flipping between that style and regular fiction did not work for me. I think the story would have worked better had Bertha's writings been provided to us at the time John receives them. (Honestly, we are smart and live in 2023; we know what a vampire is without the journal). The other issue is the...well, vampire. I have no issue with the vampire per se. I actually have a lot of thoughts on the vampire in a positive manner. My issue was more - if someone has read Dracula, this is just way too similar. There was a way to pay homage without having literally the same story details as those between Jonathan and Dracula. I know Matthews can do homage - she has other stories where she does it brilliantly. I don't know if she didn't feel comfortable enough with the horror that she clung to Stoker too much or she had no idea how to write a vampire story.
The things that I liked, and what really saves the book, are the discussions of gender and how Matthews uses the gender reversal in John Eyre to critique both Bronte and the Victorian world. Bronte's Rochester is a jerk with a lot of power and privilege. By casting the role as a woman, however, the character reads very different - Bertha /doesn't/ have power. Legally, she belongs to her husband, even if she is wealthy and has this big house and these servants and what-not. Her locking up her (admittedly much more dangerous) spouse is an act of survival - both for herself and for the two boys. Bronte's Rochester's act of locking up his spouse was selfish. Similarly, Jane's passivity grates on me because she already has no power as a penniless, orphaned woman; when John behaves in a more passive manner, it makes him read as a kind, thoughtful man. John lives in a society where he has power purely because he's a man; he isn't helpless the way Jane is. I also appreciate Rochester as the villain (mainly because I find him villainous in both works). The symbolism there is [chef's kiss].
Let's start with the "this just did not work for me" stuff. It was hard for me to become invested in any plot line because we jumped between the past plotline in Bertha's letters and journal and the current plot line with John. Every time it jumped, it pulled me out of the story. Epistolary stories are already hard to read; flipping between that style and regular fiction did not work for me. I think the story would have worked better had Bertha's writings been provided to us at the time John receives them. (Honestly, we are smart and live in 2023; we know what a vampire is without the journal). The other issue is the...well, vampire. I have no issue with the vampire per se. I actually have a lot of thoughts on the vampire in a positive manner. My issue was more - if someone has read Dracula, this is just way too similar. There was a way to pay homage without having literally the same story details as those between Jonathan and Dracula. I know Matthews can do homage - she has other stories where she does it brilliantly. I don't know if she didn't feel comfortable enough with the horror that she clung to Stoker too much or she had no idea how to write a vampire story.
The things that I liked, and what really saves the book, are the discussions of gender and how Matthews uses the gender reversal in John Eyre to critique both Bronte and the Victorian world. Bronte's Rochester is a jerk with a lot of power and privilege. By casting the role as a woman, however, the character reads very different - Bertha /doesn't/ have power. Legally, she belongs to her husband, even if she is wealthy and has this big house and these servants and what-not. Her locking up her (admittedly much more dangerous) spouse is an act of survival - both for herself and for the two boys. Bronte's Rochester's act of locking up his spouse was selfish. Similarly, Jane's passivity grates on me because she already has no power as a penniless, orphaned woman; when John behaves in a more passive manner, it makes him read as a kind, thoughtful man. John lives in a society where he has power purely because he's a man; he isn't helpless the way Jane is. I also appreciate Rochester as the villain (mainly because I find him villainous in both works). The symbolism there is [chef's kiss].
hedwigsaardvark's review
5.0
John Eyre is a schoolteacher haunted by loneliness, guilt and a laudanum habit.
He takes up a job as tutor to two young boys at the isolated Thornfield Hall.
When weird things occur, he is not sure what is real and what is opium related.
John’s employer Mrs Rochester is enigmatic, mercurial and hiding some terrifying secrets from her recent travels across Egypt, Greece and Bulgaria.
This is a brilliant Jane Eyre gender swap, turned into a true gothic horror.
I loved the way the story unfolds. It was fun watching for links to characters in Jane Eyre and the breadcrumbs or hints about Rochester’s true nature.
Stunningly good. Couldn't put it down.
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All views expressed are my own.
He takes up a job as tutor to two young boys at the isolated Thornfield Hall.
When weird things occur, he is not sure what is real and what is opium related.
John’s employer Mrs Rochester is enigmatic, mercurial and hiding some terrifying secrets from her recent travels across Egypt, Greece and Bulgaria.
This is a brilliant Jane Eyre gender swap, turned into a true gothic horror.
I loved the way the story unfolds. It was fun watching for links to characters in Jane Eyre and the breadcrumbs or hints about Rochester’s true nature.
Stunningly good. Couldn't put it down.
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All views expressed are my own.
fourestxx's review against another edition
3.0
John Eyre is a retelling of two classic novels (one of which is my all-time favourite, Jane Eyre) with the key characters gender-swapped.
I really struggled to get into the book initially, being such a fan of both original stories as I found myself comparing it unfavourably to the originals and asking myself why the story actually needed to be told from this new perspective/why the two stories needed to be combined.
I stuck with it, however, and the introduction of a dual-timeline element and the interspersing of letters between Mrs Rochester and her friend Blanche Ingram do help to bring you more into the action from around the halfway mark.
Thereafter, I was hooked and the supernatural atmosphere and tension in the later chapters was definitely gripping.
Not a huge fan of this type of retelling but not a total miss either!
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
I really struggled to get into the book initially, being such a fan of both original stories as I found myself comparing it unfavourably to the originals and asking myself why the story actually needed to be told from this new perspective/why the two stories needed to be combined.
I stuck with it, however, and the introduction of a dual-timeline element and the interspersing of letters between Mrs Rochester and her friend Blanche Ingram do help to bring you more into the action from around the halfway mark.
Thereafter, I was hooked and the supernatural atmosphere and tension in the later chapters was definitely gripping.
Not a huge fan of this type of retelling but not a total miss either!
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
raniahanna's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Started strong, but I felt it dragged. And yes, it followed the Jane Eyre plot, which I loved, but I did feel it missed some special ingredient that the original had. The story felt like it could have been condensed and would have flowed better. I wanted to love this more, and it had good features, but something key was missing.
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 andclairetrellahill's review against another edition
4.0
This book was GREAT. Definitely my favorite of the author’s works.
This story begins as a gender swapped Jane Eyre but soon becomes apparent that another classic work is added to the mix. I have not read Jane Eyre but I have read the other work—no spoilers! And I was fascinated at how well the two subjects worked together. The gothic spookiness plus the empowering of Bertha’s character, and the romance that develops… so good!! Once I realized around the 70% mark what the author was building toward, I was So Stoked, and it was great!!! Highly enjoyed this.
(Heat level: mild. PG)
This story begins as a gender swapped Jane Eyre but soon becomes apparent that another classic work is added to the mix. I have not read Jane Eyre but I have read the other work—no spoilers! And I was fascinated at how well the two subjects worked together. The gothic spookiness plus the empowering of Bertha’s character, and the romance that develops… so good!! Once I realized around the 70% mark what the author was building toward, I was So Stoked, and it was great!!! Highly enjoyed this.
(Heat level: mild. PG)
pollyno9's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
rachel_loves_2_read's review against another edition
5.0
Really good
This story had me deciding what was going on and then a turn would happen and I would second guess myself. I enjoyed it very much. I liked seeing John’s growth and how he got there.
This story had me deciding what was going on and then a turn would happen and I would second guess myself. I enjoyed it very much. I liked seeing John’s growth and how he got there.