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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
While I love love love the Bronte voice (all three sisters have the same voice, I think), and I thoroughly admire their ability to create memorable characters, this one HURT. I don't typically like sad stories. I'd read this one once before, so I don't know why I decided to put myself through it again! I should add that it isn't sad in the typical sense-there is *some* fulfillment at the end. But I've been in a funk for days as I listened to Lucy pine over Dr John without actually calling it that. She is such a sympathetic narrator, and I just ached for her. I felt like I WAS her!
”Happiness is not a potato”. No, indeed, Charlotte, it isn’t. One has to work at it a little.
I wondered, when I picked up “Villette”, if I would love it as much as I love “Jane Eyre” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/226427208). It has, after all, quite a reputation as a more accomplished novel and while I can see the reasons behind that, my heart will forever belong to Jane. But I must say that as heroines go, Miss Bronte threw me a bit of a curve ball with Lucy Snowe. In many ways, Lucy is more realistic than Jane: she is a lot more human and much less romantic, but she is also much more layered and complicated.
Not that she is always pleasant, our Lucy: her story is one of disappointed hopes and abandonment issues. The people she cared for almost universally let her down, to the point where she simply has to assume no one cares. Every time she has let her guard down, she has regretted it bitterly. She is not traditionally attractive, has no fortune or prospects, is independent and proud… but pretty much left to fend for herself because she is surrounded by idiots. This is not an enviable position in that day and age, when having the effervescence of a Lizzie Bennett did more for you than having brains and a love of hard work. But there is a resilience to Lucy that commands respect: she puts one foot in front of the other, and she is genuinely happy when those she care for thrive.
With no relations or money, Lucy packs her bag and leaves jolly old England for Villette (a thinly disguised Brussells), where she manages to get a job as an English teacher in an girls' school. Over a period of about a year, she will fall in love twice, be reunited with old relations and make unlikely friends. But mostly, she'll learn that she can't really let life be something that happens to her.
I certainly related to Lucy more than I ever related to Jane, but she often rubbed me the wrong way. She doesn’t make things easy for herself, both out of a exaggerated sense of honesty, but also because she doesn’t seem to be bothered. Sometimes, I wanted to yell at her to just make a freaking effort already, but no, Miss Snowe is too smart to lower herself to play social games. Sigh!
Bronte's prose is always fantastic, and if you are a fan of Jane looking for something similar, while the story is completely different, the writing is just as rich, the emotions just as strong and the characters just as unique.
I wondered, when I picked up “Villette”, if I would love it as much as I love “Jane Eyre” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/226427208). It has, after all, quite a reputation as a more accomplished novel and while I can see the reasons behind that, my heart will forever belong to Jane. But I must say that as heroines go, Miss Bronte threw me a bit of a curve ball with Lucy Snowe. In many ways, Lucy is more realistic than Jane: she is a lot more human and much less romantic, but she is also much more layered and complicated.
Not that she is always pleasant, our Lucy: her story is one of disappointed hopes and abandonment issues. The people she cared for almost universally let her down, to the point where she simply has to assume no one cares. Every time she has let her guard down, she has regretted it bitterly. She is not traditionally attractive, has no fortune or prospects, is independent and proud… but pretty much left to fend for herself because she is surrounded by idiots. This is not an enviable position in that day and age, when having the effervescence of a Lizzie Bennett did more for you than having brains and a love of hard work. But there is a resilience to Lucy that commands respect: she puts one foot in front of the other, and she is genuinely happy when those she care for thrive.
With no relations or money, Lucy packs her bag and leaves jolly old England for Villette (a thinly disguised Brussells), where she manages to get a job as an English teacher in an girls' school. Over a period of about a year, she will fall in love twice, be reunited with old relations and make unlikely friends. But mostly, she'll learn that she can't really let life be something that happens to her.
I certainly related to Lucy more than I ever related to Jane, but she often rubbed me the wrong way. She doesn’t make things easy for herself, both out of a exaggerated sense of honesty, but also because she doesn’t seem to be bothered. Sometimes, I wanted to yell at her to just make a freaking effort already, but no, Miss Snowe is too smart to lower herself to play social games. Sigh!
Bronte's prose is always fantastic, and if you are a fan of Jane looking for something similar, while the story is completely different, the writing is just as rich, the emotions just as strong and the characters just as unique.
Let me first get this off my chest: I'm not a fan of Charlotte Brontë. And while I acknowledge a re-read is required, I loathe Jane Eyre. That said, I was quite pleased by the readability of this book. Lucy Snowe is a much more complex and interesting character. Someone who still has the moral fortitude of Jane Eyre, but much more sensible and perhaps "worldliness". Things may happen to Lucy, but only those that she cannot control. Let it also be said, this is a lady who takes no guff from no one.
Unfortunately, I felt this story went off the rails towards the end. What could have been easily told in 300 pages, was stretched thin to almost 600. I found the last half of the book exceedingly predictable and the last third a moralizing sermon on the Catholic vs Protestant war that most Americans can't really comprehend. That said, Brontë at least seems to know her stuff and I felt her comments were grounded in historical fact and not romanticized religious tracts.
I also learned something. While I know about the Punch and Judy show, I didn't really comprehend this was a show based on something much older. Brontë references "Polichinelle" who is Punch of Punch and Judy. I hadn't realized this show dates back to the 1800s.
Also, it tickled me to see Rosinante of Don Quixote fame being referenced. I appreciated that Brontë was well read to make such remarks.
Overall, I am realizing this just isn't my favorite century for female authors. I find the topics tedious and the women frustrating. And while I can appreciate the setting and the century, it doesn't make it any easier to like or enjoy. Perhaps this story has been told one too many times and thus it feels quite stale.
I did find it interesting that I felt there were some Dickensian moments, which makes me wonder who influenced who or if it was simply the era and similar thinking?
Lastly, I do want to comment on the amount of French passages in this story. If you do not speak French or are not familiar with it, I would recommend an edition with translated footnotes. I don't think your understanding will be impeded if you don't have any translations, but your enjoyment of it may be greatly reduced. I found this edition to have excellent notes with regards to the language issues and feel my enjoyment was definitely enhanced because of them.
If you're looking to ease into the classics, this may be a good one to start with.
Unfortunately, I felt this story went off the rails towards the end. What could have been easily told in 300 pages, was stretched thin to almost 600. I found the last half of the book exceedingly predictable and the last third a moralizing sermon on the Catholic vs Protestant war that most Americans can't really comprehend. That said, Brontë at least seems to know her stuff and I felt her comments were grounded in historical fact and not romanticized religious tracts.
I also learned something. While I know about the Punch and Judy show, I didn't really comprehend this was a show based on something much older. Brontë references "Polichinelle" who is Punch of Punch and Judy. I hadn't realized this show dates back to the 1800s.
Also, it tickled me to see Rosinante of Don Quixote fame being referenced. I appreciated that Brontë was well read to make such remarks.
Overall, I am realizing this just isn't my favorite century for female authors. I find the topics tedious and the women frustrating. And while I can appreciate the setting and the century, it doesn't make it any easier to like or enjoy. Perhaps this story has been told one too many times and thus it feels quite stale.
I did find it interesting that I felt there were some Dickensian moments, which makes me wonder who influenced who or if it was simply the era and similar thinking?
Lastly, I do want to comment on the amount of French passages in this story. If you do not speak French or are not familiar with it, I would recommend an edition with translated footnotes. I don't think your understanding will be impeded if you don't have any translations, but your enjoyment of it may be greatly reduced. I found this edition to have excellent notes with regards to the language issues and feel my enjoyment was definitely enhanced because of them.
If you're looking to ease into the classics, this may be a good one to start with.
4.5
I HATE IT HERE !!!!!!
review to come im gonna kms
I HATE IT HERE !!!!!!
review to come im gonna kms
I recognize the general quality and craft of this book; I just struggled to finish it and to take pleasure in reading it. I wanted to like it much more than I did :(
The ending frustrated me! I like Bronte - Jane Eyre still best of all - but had to spend a lot of time translating French to understand the story well.
Verdict: Highly recommended, ready the Google-translate.
What an unclassifiably amazing read. I spent much of the time not really sure where it was all going (much of this down to the insistence of French people on speaking French. I’m a Spanish 101 kinda girl) but the prose was a joy to ride along with. Just don’t get Lucy Snow started on the Catholics ‘cause there is some weird love/hate/quasi-fetishization stuff going on there. Speaking of which, there is some lost time towards the end of the book during Lucy’s visit to her little schoolhouse during which you should feel free, as I did, to assume they just went for it. I honestly believe this is what the author intends for you. Minus one star on account of the French. Seriously. There is just so much.
What an unclassifiably amazing read. I spent much of the time not really sure where it was all going (much of this down to the insistence of French people on speaking French. I’m a Spanish 101 kinda girl) but the prose was a joy to ride along with. Just don’t get Lucy Snow started on the Catholics ‘cause there is some weird love/hate/quasi-fetishization stuff going on there. Speaking of which, there is some lost time towards the end of the book during Lucy’s visit to her little schoolhouse during which you should feel free, as I did, to assume they just went for it. I honestly believe this is what the author intends for you. Minus one star on account of the French. Seriously. There is just so much.
lighthearted
reflective
"Brontë described the ambiguity of the ending as a "little puzzle" (quoted in Chapter XII of part 2 of Gaskell's Life)." Heaven smite you, Charlotte, you sadistic emo.