Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall

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The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

23 reviews

mog261's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

whenever i am in a difficult situation i now think 'what would anne bronte do?' and the answer is always something sensible. charlotte judged this book way too harshly (which was a bit hypocritical ngl) and i think anne is the most underrated bronte. if we all behaved like her the world would be a much kinder and tidier place.

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erebus53's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective tense

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

3.75

If I could but wrest myself from literature written in the 1800s, I might but yet relent from the poly-syllabary of obfuscatory prose.. but let me speak plainly. I must admit to putting this book off for a while, because it seemed a bit daunting. I added it to my reading list as part of a challenge to read "A Classic you hadn't heard of before this year" so I'll admit that I had mentally bunged it in with other "classics" that I had tried to read as a teen, and failed to finish (like Wuthering Heights).

CW: alcoholism, infidelity, gambling, violence, head injury, heteronormative Christian sexism

A reclusive painter and her son move into an old building that had previously been barely habitable, and the neighbours start to gossip about what she's hiding. Idle speculation leads to talk of scandal and stuck in the middle of it all our narrator begins to fall for this dark beauty and her logic, wit, piety and rationality.

I notice that Anne Brontë, like Mary Shelley before her, has delivered the narrative in the form of letters. Within this she also includes journal articles and conversations that flesh out backstory.. so that it becomes a pile of different stories nested within each other. Within this framework she uses characters in opposing schools of thought as verbal combatants to flesh out ideas of practicality and morality. She shows her colours as the daughter of a clergyman as the entire tale is underpinned by Christian sensibilities.

As far as the plot is concerned I could see where it was going and so I was frustrated that JUST as I felt there was going to be a revelation to the oblivious main character, instead he is handed a journal and then we proceed to get the entire backstory of the woman he's interested in... it's a good story though, so I shall pout quietly.

I find it very refreshing to see a lot of arguments about the raising of children in this story. The concept of coddling girls from evil influences, while expecting boys to learn of them from personal experience was a discussion I have had many times. I also noticed the common refrain of the Introvert - that enjoying the society of others doesn't mean that you need it all the time, or that it isn't overwhelming and exhausting. (REPRESENT: Welcome to Autism Appreciation Month 2023! lol)

I felt like one of the last sections of the book was tacked in to make the book longer, and give it a bit more action, pace? tension? It still felt like an afterthought, and that the cohesion and pace of the book was .. coming a bit unstuck as it bloated.

For an "old book" it has a lot in it to recommend it, and I can ignore most of the rest of it. For a book written in the UK in the 1800s it's .. almost ethnically diverse - characters being pale and red-headed, dark haired and black eyed with an olive complexion, or blonde and blue eyed... and there is plenty of forthright discourse about the affect that is expected of women, and men's obliviousness to the sacrifices they make for their husband's comfort. Yes it's wearisome that the framing is all about pairing off of men and women, and the expectations that young women will be married off.. and the tension between love and money/property/status.. that a woman's security is solely at the whims of the men in her life.. it is historical... in our culture if not in others.

My daughter recently stumbled upon the Scholastic rebindings of classic novels and this was one of them. I don't think that I would stop her reading it, as it's mostly about judging virtue, vice, and moderation, and considering honesty and forbearance. It's probably a bit old for her as yet, but for 20+ readers it might be an interesting chill read.

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morepagesplease's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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san_dra's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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preciouslittleingenue's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This was my first Brontë read, and my first classical read in a while. I’d only ever watched a Jane Eyre movie and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to read the work of its author’s sister. The premise is definitely intriguing, as that’s the reason I picked it up. I found every single man pathetic, insufferable, and un-pitiable except Lawrence, though I think that might be part of what Bronte was going for. I think it’s brilliant how she managed to throw digs at toxic masculinity by using a male first person POV. When Gilbert had his whole “I’m prone to being emotional hit I’m NOT a fop” I couldn’t help but giggle.

I expected the book to be laborious to get through; not necessarily in a negative or tedious way, just a bit of an effort given the period it was written and old writing conventions. So that doesn’t have anything to do with what I’m about to say. My issue was: there was simply no romance. Maybe this was just something that was not done back then, but Gilbert and Helen’s relationship was nonexistent. It went from zero to 100 so quick. One day they’re just hanging out on occasion and then he’s ready to off himself because she won’t engage with him romantically. And as much as Brontë narration went on and on in his perspective…I perceived nothing about what it was he loved about her? What drew him to her besides her mystery? I could tell he loved her son, but I felt there wasn’t enough written interaction between the adults for me to believe they were that painfully in love. I just didn’t feel anything when they went through their painful partings because I was like…well, I didn’t see them fall in love. I did not find myself shipping them. Which really hindered my ability to be engaged. But again, maybe writing romance back then was just not done. Although Austen managed fairly okay; I will say the P&P movies are all fairly more romantic than the novel, but there is still *something* to the relationship in the novel.

Now Helen…her devotion to Mr. Huntington was so frustrating. It’s hard to see it from her perspective, as I am a 2023 woman reading this. But god dammit, I knew he was an ass from the beginning. I almost thought he was going to assault her, thereby getting her with child and forcing her to flee and lie about being married, such was my disgust with his behavior prior to the marriage. But no, nothing that bad happened, and she married the dick weed, and then made excuse after excuse for him. I realize divorce was not an option, so she likely tried to make herself content as possible by making these excuses. But after a while it was just painful. And I suppose agin that that was part of the point. But the worst was when she went BACK to tend to him in his sickbed. He did NOT deserve that. And as much as I believe Helen is a good person, I find it so unrealistic that she would feel obligated to do that. Her “sainthood” as I’ll call it seemed so retroactive. I feel like she went from making excuses so she could survive living with him to just completely setting aside how horrible he was to do her “wifely duty” by him or whatever. I did not feel throughout the narrative that she was THAT self sacrificing and saintly. And of course that section was just riddled with her preaching to him and begging him to repent so he’d go to heaven…please. I found that so tiresome. I get that any “good Christian” would not rejoice in someone’s death, but there should have been any small part of her that was glad to finally be free. Even as she nursed him, he verbally abused her. She had all the power. She could have said “to hell with you” and left. And I truly don’t think God would’ve loved her any less. And I WANTED HER TO. It was literally painful listening to her cry for him. I couldn’t wait for him to finally die.

But I also think Brontë did this on purpose as well. I think painting her as a perfect saint made her more palatable as a character of that time. I’ll use queer people as a comparison. The first queer media couldn’t jump right to being brash and vulgar and polyamorous; etc you get the idea. They had to be written like they were “normal people” for hetero society to accept them. The gays love god too, the gays want white picket fences and kids and a dog too, etc. Similarly, Brontë couldn’t just write a woman who grew to hate her shit head husband and left him without looking back and rejoiced when he died. In order for her to reach ultimate levels of pitiable, she had to be practically infallible and saintly. So, again, as a product of its time, I get it. I would, however, love a retelling or even a movie where she’s more flawed. That might give something for Gilbert to actually like about her so the audience understands why they get together. Lmao.

ANYWAY, I’m glad I read this. For someone who talks a lot of classic, I don’t read too many, and I do feel enriched by having read this. I’ll know what to expect for novels written contemporary to this one, or I’ll be pleasantly surprised when these expectations are subverted/exceeded.

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