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jackievr's review against another edition
emotional
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
3.75
zealforneil's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
At the start of 2023 I set myself the challenge of reading the most famous book by each Brontë sister by the end of the year. Six months late I finally finished Wildfell Hall, having got through Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights earlier. All three books took a little bit of grinding through at points, which I find with many older books, but I enjoyed them all. While on the surface Wildfell Hall is the simplest of the three books, and the least complex, I enjoyed it tremendously. It was not as dark as I had expected, or as its reputation had suggested, but that may have been that nothing can hold a candle to the pitch-blackness of Wuthering Heights. Wildfell Hall certainly has dark moments nonetheless, with an interesting structure that mirrored story-within-story techniques used in the other two books. Parallels with the ending can also easily be drawn, with the main character finally resident with their partner in a home separate from where they have come from, not in domestic bliss, but in a happiness informed by their trauma . The depth of religious iconography displayed in this was extreme, with the footnotes in this edition superbly guiding me as a heathen reader. Wuthering Heights disturbed me, Jane Eyre hooked me, and Wildfell Hall entertained me.
aaliyamckee's review against another edition
4.0
So long, but in terms of 19th century novels, not too bad.
sameow3's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
ancab's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? It's complicated
3.75
vcchen6's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.0
Lucy Snowe reminds me of my high school self: guarded, bitter, afraid to hope
happylilkt's review against another edition
4.0
If you are looking for a pleasure read, dear reader, you have come to the wrong [a:Brontë|8249|Anne Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1219762839p2/8249.jpg]. Don't mistake me, it's not that there aren't some enjoyable aspects... Who is this mysterious tenant? What is in her past? There are some commonalities among the Bröntes and you will see them here, but frankly it just isn't as riveting or deeply gothic or romantic as [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557343311l/10210._SY75_.jpg|2977639] or [b:Wuthering Heights|11019333|Wuthering Heights|Emily Brontë|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385412726l/11019333._SX50_.jpg|1565818]. Also it's in epistolary format (meh) and the tone can be a bit moralizing.
BUT if the unhealthy relationship behaviors exhibited in those aforementioned novels have always bothered you, then, in fact, you have come to the RIGHT Brönte. In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall you will find radical social commentary for the time that I didn't expect (and of course it is quite tame by today's standards). It was so controversial that [a:Charlotte|1036615|Charlotte Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1335001351p2/1036615.jpg] and [a:Emily|4191|Emily Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1529578586p2/4191.jpg] apparently suppressed it's publication after [a:Anne|8249|Anne Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1219762839p2/8249.jpg]'s death (!)
We read this for my book club and it was one of our most interesting discussions. Highly recommended.
BUT if the unhealthy relationship behaviors exhibited in those aforementioned novels have always bothered you, then, in fact, you have come to the RIGHT Brönte. In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall you will find radical social commentary for the time that I didn't expect (and of course it is quite tame by today's standards). It was so controversial that [a:Charlotte|1036615|Charlotte Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1335001351p2/1036615.jpg] and [a:Emily|4191|Emily Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1529578586p2/4191.jpg] apparently suppressed it's publication after [a:Anne|8249|Anne Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1219762839p2/8249.jpg]'s death (!)
We read this for my book club and it was one of our most interesting discussions. Highly recommended.
wanlumo's review against another edition
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
eiridium's review against another edition
2.0
I did not enjoy Anne Brönte's Tenant of Windfell Hall.
I read it as our book club pick this month – and only finished with great difficulty so that I was qualified to discuss it. I am sorry and realise that amongst my learned literary colleagues this may cast some aspersions on my taste, but I simply found the text so florid and turgid that I struggled through it. Oh, I can appreciate it for being brazenly feminist and a standout set of ideas and beliefs expressed in the time that it was written and by whom it was written. However, it so convoluted and full of bombacious verbology (sorry had to) as to be distracting and annoying to a modern reader. Sorry.
I see the story there but cannot fathom the necessity of burying that story in layers and layers of excessive prose. The prose doesn't heighten appreciation of or develop any sense of empathy in any character. I do not feel that it is reflective of actual everyday life amongst any class at any time. It sounds and feels madey–uppey to me. I realise that it is meant to be allegorical and I see that to be the intention. But the other side of this has to be didactic intention (and I sense that this was the author's intention – or the whole thing is pointless because it surely doesn't stand on being beautiful craft) and so do this it has to speak to an audience that it seeks to reach. I'd read this if no other books were sitting on the shelf.
Even the story is not an engaging one for me. It may well be for others. The first section feels like it is written from a female's perspective of what a man may see and say, and I don't think it succeeds in that – look to Robert Galbraith. The voice is far more authentic when the author adopts the perspective and voice of the female protagonist, but for me, an only marginal improvement in the turgidity.
There are lovely literary-historical significances to this writing. But it is a long and flowery novel that appeals not to me. The context and nature of the author, her sisters and the family in general is what provides it with a measure of notability. That it was written and published under a masculine pseudonym because it had to be is of historical note, but in that, I cannot give it benefit to being a good read or novel – in the time that we find ourselves. There are lovely turns of phrase and brilliant combinations of words. Much of what would possibly appeal to a Joycean scholar. There's actually even a decent story here, but I cannot fell that the narrative does it justice. The method of conveying the story takes away from the underlying themes and the story arc itself for me.
I was frustrated by it. I felt distant from human characters and didn't find that the nature of the writing established any connection with them. It was challenging to juggle the roles and their own substories – to me, they get lost in the excessive language. The sentences are of dismaying length… 'Might I not find more benefit in the contemplation of that venerable pile with the full moon in the cloudless heaven shining so calmly above it – with that warm yellow lustre peculiar to an August night – and the mistress of my soul within , than in returning to my home, where all comparatively light, and a life, and cheerfulness, and therefore inimical to me in my present frame of mind, – and the more so that its inmates all were more or less imbued with that detestable belief, the very thought of which made my blood boil in my veins – and how could I endure to hear it openly declared, or cautiously insinuated – which was worse? '*This a random sentence chosen from a random page*. It's half a Kindle page and by the time I am halfway through I have forgotten what she started talking about…and that is a single sentence…not a paragraph, not a chapter, not the novel itself. Sorry, but being a simple man, with a simple mind, I cannot appreciate what must be the absolutely mesmerising prose to some. She loses me in her overly lavish and convoluted prose.
As I said, I appreciate that it addressed themes that were simply not discussed, and certainly not by a woman in the times in which it was written. Still, I have to believe that it gains much of its reputation from the external context than from the actual value implicit in the quality of writing. It'd be great fodder for a literature course to pull apart and unpack, disentangle and dissect for reading into the reading. I admittedly found it a test – and maybe I fail in it. Still, I do think that there is some responsibility incumbent upon an author to entice and entangle and involve and inspire and draw one into their writing. I simply don't get that from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. This is all subjective, so I leave it at that.
I read it as our book club pick this month – and only finished with great difficulty so that I was qualified to discuss it. I am sorry and realise that amongst my learned literary colleagues this may cast some aspersions on my taste, but I simply found the text so florid and turgid that I struggled through it. Oh, I can appreciate it for being brazenly feminist and a standout set of ideas and beliefs expressed in the time that it was written and by whom it was written. However, it so convoluted and full of bombacious verbology (sorry had to) as to be distracting and annoying to a modern reader. Sorry.
I see the story there but cannot fathom the necessity of burying that story in layers and layers of excessive prose. The prose doesn't heighten appreciation of or develop any sense of empathy in any character. I do not feel that it is reflective of actual everyday life amongst any class at any time. It sounds and feels madey–uppey to me. I realise that it is meant to be allegorical and I see that to be the intention. But the other side of this has to be didactic intention (and I sense that this was the author's intention – or the whole thing is pointless because it surely doesn't stand on being beautiful craft) and so do this it has to speak to an audience that it seeks to reach. I'd read this if no other books were sitting on the shelf.
Even the story is not an engaging one for me. It may well be for others. The first section feels like it is written from a female's perspective of what a man may see and say, and I don't think it succeeds in that – look to Robert Galbraith. The voice is far more authentic when the author adopts the perspective and voice of the female protagonist, but for me, an only marginal improvement in the turgidity.
There are lovely literary-historical significances to this writing. But it is a long and flowery novel that appeals not to me. The context and nature of the author, her sisters and the family in general is what provides it with a measure of notability. That it was written and published under a masculine pseudonym because it had to be is of historical note, but in that, I cannot give it benefit to being a good read or novel – in the time that we find ourselves. There are lovely turns of phrase and brilliant combinations of words. Much of what would possibly appeal to a Joycean scholar. There's actually even a decent story here, but I cannot fell that the narrative does it justice. The method of conveying the story takes away from the underlying themes and the story arc itself for me.
I was frustrated by it. I felt distant from human characters and didn't find that the nature of the writing established any connection with them. It was challenging to juggle the roles and their own substories – to me, they get lost in the excessive language. The sentences are of dismaying length… 'Might I not find more benefit in the contemplation of that venerable pile with the full moon in the cloudless heaven shining so calmly above it – with that warm yellow lustre peculiar to an August night – and the mistress of my soul within , than in returning to my home, where all comparatively light, and a life, and cheerfulness, and therefore inimical to me in my present frame of mind, – and the more so that its inmates all were more or less imbued with that detestable belief, the very thought of which made my blood boil in my veins – and how could I endure to hear it openly declared, or cautiously insinuated – which was worse? '*This a random sentence chosen from a random page*. It's half a Kindle page and by the time I am halfway through I have forgotten what she started talking about…and that is a single sentence…not a paragraph, not a chapter, not the novel itself. Sorry, but being a simple man, with a simple mind, I cannot appreciate what must be the absolutely mesmerising prose to some. She loses me in her overly lavish and convoluted prose.
As I said, I appreciate that it addressed themes that were simply not discussed, and certainly not by a woman in the times in which it was written. Still, I have to believe that it gains much of its reputation from the external context than from the actual value implicit in the quality of writing. It'd be great fodder for a literature course to pull apart and unpack, disentangle and dissect for reading into the reading. I admittedly found it a test – and maybe I fail in it. Still, I do think that there is some responsibility incumbent upon an author to entice and entangle and involve and inspire and draw one into their writing. I simply don't get that from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. This is all subjective, so I leave it at that.