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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
This book is really interesting. There is a lot of talk about whether it works as a standalone novel or whether you must read Jane Eyre to really appreciate it. Now, of course I've read Jane Eyre. I read it first when we lived in Hubbard Place, I was probably 14 or 15. One of the most heavy books I had read at that point, and it was difficult to get through the first time. That old writing style is not easy the first time around. I've reread Jane Eyre multiple times since then, each time liking it more. I'm getting off track, however, as this is not a review about Jane Eyre. What I was trying to say about it was that I think this novel can standalone, but the experience for a reader who has read Jane Eyre/versus someone who hasn't will be different. The reader with Jane Eyre history has a picture in her head, and is going into the book with characters already developed, and expectations.
Let's just dive in. The writing style is odd, and very different. I think it portrayed the madness well. All of the characters seem either mad, drunk, drunk and mad, or something else entirely. The writing is from two different perspectives. The first perspective is Antoinette Cosway (or Mason). The second is Mr. Rochester. You are made to feel sympathy for both, disgust for both, and also a distrust of what both say. Who is mad? Who is lying? Who is simply drunk? It's a guessing game, and maybe the answer is everyone.
Antoinette is certainly mad, in the end, and perhaps from the beginning. I don't question that. What drove her to it? Her unhappy life? Her unhappy marriage? Her husbands indifference and infidelity? Her mother's blood? It's hard to say. And Mr. Rochester, what about him? It does seem that he was married quickly, more quickly than wise. It was just after he had suffered through a horrible fever, and perhaps that plays into the unwise decision. Many of the reviews I read vilify him after reading this, but I'm not so sure. He did marry her in error, and he was not kind to her, but I still feel like there is more to the picture. A horrifying trap that he finds himself in, a sickening apathy. I feel unable to write a good review today. I'm very sick still, and I'm having a shitty day. I'm kind of in a black mood and I keep feeling myself fall deeper.
I already know Mr. Rochester has his faults. I have no false assumption that he is perfect. And good people do bad things, bad people do good things. Perhaps Jane is the one person he feels something for, in his whole life. I could believe that.
He calls Antoinette by her mad mother's name, Bertha. As Humbert Humbert did, Lolita, Lolita. He distances himself from Antoinette in that way, letting himself see her only as her mad mother. Making it easier for him to lock her away, easier to pretend the madness is the only thing she is. That lucidity does not exist anymore. It's not hard, because she is mad. Her drunkenness, her violence, all of it is real.
And yet Bertha of Thornfield hall/Antoinette of Sargasso is a person, a real person (a real fictional person), a tortured person. Victim of birth, of circumstance, etc. It's a perspective I never thought to look at. I never once thought deeper about the madwoman locked away in Jane Eyre. What does that say about me? I take things the way they are given, simply, accepting the presented facts, without a deeper thought.
The switchbacks from Antoinette to Mr. Rochester are without warning. The book is setting a mood, and maybe I'm trapped in that mood. Mr. Rochester's role in the book is larger than I expected (a small feat perhaps since I didn't expect it at all) but he is a central voice in this story. It just goes to show how unreliable everything is. Every perspective, every voice shows a different puzzle piece, and I have no idea what is madness or skewed perception in this book, and what is not. Not to mention in real life. Joslyn, what is it you see in that mind? What is real to you and what is fiction?
Let's just dive in. The writing style is odd, and very different. I think it portrayed the madness well. All of the characters seem either mad, drunk, drunk and mad, or something else entirely. The writing is from two different perspectives. The first perspective is Antoinette Cosway (or Mason). The second is Mr. Rochester. You are made to feel sympathy for both, disgust for both, and also a distrust of what both say. Who is mad? Who is lying? Who is simply drunk? It's a guessing game, and maybe the answer is everyone.
Antoinette is certainly mad, in the end, and perhaps from the beginning. I don't question that. What drove her to it? Her unhappy life? Her unhappy marriage? Her husbands indifference and infidelity? Her mother's blood? It's hard to say. And Mr. Rochester, what about him? It does seem that he was married quickly, more quickly than wise. It was just after he had suffered through a horrible fever, and perhaps that plays into the unwise decision. Many of the reviews I read vilify him after reading this, but I'm not so sure. He did marry her in error, and he was not kind to her, but I still feel like there is more to the picture. A horrifying trap that he finds himself in, a sickening apathy. I feel unable to write a good review today. I'm very sick still, and I'm having a shitty day. I'm kind of in a black mood and I keep feeling myself fall deeper.
I already know Mr. Rochester has his faults. I have no false assumption that he is perfect. And good people do bad things, bad people do good things. Perhaps Jane is the one person he feels something for, in his whole life. I could believe that.
He calls Antoinette by her mad mother's name, Bertha. As Humbert Humbert did, Lolita, Lolita. He distances himself from Antoinette in that way, letting himself see her only as her mad mother. Making it easier for him to lock her away, easier to pretend the madness is the only thing she is. That lucidity does not exist anymore. It's not hard, because she is mad. Her drunkenness, her violence, all of it is real.
And yet Bertha of Thornfield hall/Antoinette of Sargasso is a person, a real person (a real fictional person), a tortured person. Victim of birth, of circumstance, etc. It's a perspective I never thought to look at. I never once thought deeper about the madwoman locked away in Jane Eyre. What does that say about me? I take things the way they are given, simply, accepting the presented facts, without a deeper thought.
The switchbacks from Antoinette to Mr. Rochester are without warning. The book is setting a mood, and maybe I'm trapped in that mood. Mr. Rochester's role in the book is larger than I expected (a small feat perhaps since I didn't expect it at all) but he is a central voice in this story. It just goes to show how unreliable everything is. Every perspective, every voice shows a different puzzle piece, and I have no idea what is madness or skewed perception in this book, and what is not. Not to mention in real life. Joslyn, what is it you see in that mind? What is real to you and what is fiction?
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4⭐️
I read this as a teenager and I hated it, I loved Jane Eyre and thought this was a pollution of that story but now reading it I enjoyed it much more.
It’s vivid and surreal and feels like a fever dream. It works to make you feel like you are going mad so you understand the main character and find yourself on her side despite the awful things she does. It does this by changing POVs without notice and not including events and conversations which then become referenced at later points.
It poses questions like how much of madness is hereditary and how much is caused by outside sources, the corrupting power of money, and how perspectives shape understanding of situations.
However, the racism both in language and stereotyping of black characters is hard to stomach and stops this from being a truly enjoyable read. This may just be a reflection of the time written but as a modern day reader you can’t feel anything but uncomfortable with this.
I do think this is worth reading and would be very interesting to study.
I read this as a teenager and I hated it, I loved Jane Eyre and thought this was a pollution of that story but now reading it I enjoyed it much more.
It’s vivid and surreal and feels like a fever dream. It works to make you feel like you are going mad so you understand the main character and find yourself on her side despite the awful things she does. It does this by changing POVs without notice and not including events and conversations which then become referenced at later points.
It poses questions like how much of madness is hereditary and how much is caused by outside sources, the corrupting power of money, and how perspectives shape understanding of situations.
However, the racism both in language and stereotyping of black characters is hard to stomach and stops this from being a truly enjoyable read. This may just be a reflection of the time written but as a modern day reader you can’t feel anything but uncomfortable with this.
I do think this is worth reading and would be very interesting to study.
I have been meaning to read this for a long time and find myself a little bit disappointed. I think I had built it up to be a different kind of Post colonial critique – a bit more full throated I suppose
1,5*- 1*, read for school
Disclaimer: I read the Swedish translation. Also I haven't read Jane Eyre.
Confusing narratives between Bertha & Rochester. Not much plot.
Disclaimer: I read the Swedish translation. Also I haven't read Jane Eyre.
Confusing narratives between Bertha & Rochester. Not much plot.
Perhaps I have done' this wrong by reading this before I read Jane Eyre, and maybe I would have got more out of this if so. It is a deeply accomplished and beautifully written and heartbreaking, but I didn't find it particularly enjoyable.
challenging
mysterious
fast-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:
Complicated
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed this book; a fast read but emotional and dark. I find myself feeling a bit sad yet hopeful at the end.