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balletbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
I did like the ironic voice of the narrator, but there seems to be too many lines of plot. It got a bit labyrinthine and the outcomes aren't very surprising. But I did like it.
ratgirlreads's review against another edition
Having loved Jane Eyre, I had high hopes for Shirley. Unfortunately, the book did not quite live up to them. Partly this may simply be the genre, which is not to my taste—when I pick up a Brontë novel, I do so for the nineteenth century atmosphere and the intelligent social commentary, but at bottom they are also romance novels, and Shirley is certainly that. With some heavyhanded editing, it might have been passable, but Charlotte seemed intent on wandering: passages such as the long chapters detailing the unpleasant habits and personalities of the young curates, without any eye towards commenting on the office or the people generally selected for it, when those characters have but a tangential relationship to the plot centering on Caroline, Shirley, and the Moores, made the novel interminable. Her references to the established Church and the various dissenters seemed inconclusive and meandering, and thus nothing but an irritatingly extensive aside from the plot.
Then, there is the character of Shirley herself. Independent, intelligent, capable, she seems an ideal feminist heroine, but when she marries Louis Moore, she does so because she feels him not to be her equal but her “master,” and all of her good points then seem merely to exist to justify the long-held belief that all women just need a man to keep control of them.
The book has its enjoyable points. The children of the Yorke family—who play a minute role in the novel, but showse personalities and future fates Brontë insists on detailing at some length—and the effect of the adult Yorkes’ parenting style on their relationships seem interesting (and might have made a better nook than Caroline’s and Shirley’s long-drawn-out romances). The broad historical perspective on the poor, working classes and the manufactureres during the Napoleonic wars is interesting. But overall, the book is unnecessarily ponderous and fails to live up to the progressive ideals one hopes for from Charlotte Brontë.
andy02l's review against another edition
3.0
Serían más unas 3.8 estrellas, me gustó el libro pero hubo momentos en que me aburrió y sentí que no avanzaba, los personajes de Shirley y Caroline me gustaron bastante y como se enfocó más en ellas. Hubo momentos en que las reflexiones de Charlotte me gustaron pero otras donde me torturaron.
jsisco's review against another edition
4.0
Unfortunately not nearly as popular as Jane Eyre. While it is not Charlotte's best work, it is still a great novel, nonetheless. In addition, this book singelhandedly changed the name Shirley from a masculine Christian name to a feminine.
Deserves at least one read by any true student of literature, especially of the Victorian ilk.
Deserves at least one read by any true student of literature, especially of the Victorian ilk.
musicdeepdive's review against another edition
4.0
There is a reveal midway through the book that I have complicated feelings about, but the strengths of the two female protagonists (especially the titular Shirley) carry this book into being a pretty darn good entry into Charlotte's oeuvre, if not the best thing you'll ever read.
lgpiper's review against another edition
3.0
I had a weird obsession that led me to read this book. Once I'd finished, I realized I'd been barking up the wrong tree, so to speak. More about that later.
Once upon a time, there were three sisters (well, and a brother) who wrote novels during the Victorian era. The most famous was Emily, who wrote Wuthering Heights, a not-much-fun book because every single character in the book is an asshole (well, except the housekeeper). The second sister (in fame, but eldest of the three), Charlotte, wrote Jane Eyre, a much beloved book, and three others, of which Shirley is one of them. The third sister, Anne, wrote two books that no one ever reads (well, except that I did). So, one day I said to myself, I bet I can make myself completely unique if I can say that I've kicked a Nobel laureate in the shins (one Dudley Herschbach) and have read all seven books written by the three Brontë sisters. This book, then is the culmination of that endeavor. It is also, by far, the longest of the seven books.
The story is somewhat interesting, although the book's excessive blather gets a bit tedious at times. I guess that in Victorian times, no one else had anything to do, so that reading endless pages of blather gave them something to do. It probably is a better thing to do that endless scrolling through one's social media threads. But, I digress, yet again.
We begin with a nice young woman Caroline Helstone. She's the niece of a local vicar, Matthewson Hellstone. She goes to the nearby house of her cousin, Robert Moore, to be tutored by his sister, Hortense. She develops "feelings" for Robert, who runs a local cloth mill. The mill is in a spot of trouble because the Napoleonic wars have cut off "supply chains", to use the modern parlance.
A young woman, Shirley Keeldar, inherits and moves into a local estate. Robert's mill is on the estate, so Shirley is, in essence, Robert's landlord. Shirley and Caroline become best buddies, but there is some friction because Caroline worries that Robert might have more feelings for Shirley than for her. This, of course, causes Caroline to go into decline with an extended fit of the vapors, or whatever it was young women had back in the day.
Shirley has a companion, Mrs. Pryor, who ends up being much more than that, as we learn later on. Also, a somewhat related family come for an extended visit, and they have a tutor for their son, Henry. Said tutor just happens to be Robert Moore's brother, Nicholas. It also turns out that Nicholas was, for a time, tutor to Shirley.
Well, as you can see, it's all rather convoluted. The proper people pair up appropriately in the end and all live happily ever after...or something like that.
As an afterword, in retrospect, I realize that I needn't have read all seven books written by the Brontë sisters. I've read all ten books written by Margaret Piper [Chalmers], and there's much less likelihood that someone has ever kicked a Nobel laureate in the shins and read all ten of Margaret Piper [Chalmers]'s books.
I should also mention that this book is better than 3*, and should have a + appended, but, for some reason, one can't do that on GoodReads. Why not?
Once upon a time, there were three sisters (well, and a brother) who wrote novels during the Victorian era. The most famous was Emily, who wrote Wuthering Heights, a not-much-fun book because every single character in the book is an asshole (well, except the housekeeper). The second sister (in fame, but eldest of the three), Charlotte, wrote Jane Eyre, a much beloved book, and three others, of which Shirley is one of them. The third sister, Anne, wrote two books that no one ever reads (well, except that I did). So, one day I said to myself, I bet I can make myself completely unique if I can say that I've kicked a Nobel laureate in the shins (one Dudley Herschbach) and have read all seven books written by the three Brontë sisters. This book, then is the culmination of that endeavor. It is also, by far, the longest of the seven books.
The story is somewhat interesting, although the book's excessive blather gets a bit tedious at times. I guess that in Victorian times, no one else had anything to do, so that reading endless pages of blather gave them something to do. It probably is a better thing to do that endless scrolling through one's social media threads. But, I digress, yet again.
We begin with a nice young woman Caroline Helstone. She's the niece of a local vicar, Matthewson Hellstone. She goes to the nearby house of her cousin, Robert Moore, to be tutored by his sister, Hortense. She develops "feelings" for Robert, who runs a local cloth mill. The mill is in a spot of trouble because the Napoleonic wars have cut off "supply chains", to use the modern parlance.
A young woman, Shirley Keeldar, inherits and moves into a local estate. Robert's mill is on the estate, so Shirley is, in essence, Robert's landlord. Shirley and Caroline become best buddies, but there is some friction because Caroline worries that Robert might have more feelings for Shirley than for her. This, of course, causes Caroline to go into decline with an extended fit of the vapors, or whatever it was young women had back in the day.
Shirley has a companion, Mrs. Pryor, who ends up being much more than that, as we learn later on. Also, a somewhat related family come for an extended visit, and they have a tutor for their son, Henry. Said tutor just happens to be Robert Moore's brother, Nicholas. It also turns out that Nicholas was, for a time, tutor to Shirley.
Well, as you can see, it's all rather convoluted. The proper people pair up appropriately in the end and all live happily ever after...or something like that.
As an afterword, in retrospect, I realize that I needn't have read all seven books written by the Brontë sisters. I've read all ten books written by Margaret Piper [Chalmers], and there's much less likelihood that someone has ever kicked a Nobel laureate in the shins and read all ten of Margaret Piper [Chalmers]'s books.
I should also mention that this book is better than 3*, and should have a + appended, but, for some reason, one can't do that on GoodReads. Why not?
backtobook's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
mariamag001's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
relaxing
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? Yes
3.5
xmyrin's review against another edition
4.0
A very good read! I loved the ending, it made me feel warm and fuzzy. It is a challenging read though, I wouldn't recommend it to a casual reader, but to someone who has genuine interest in Victorian Literature and/or the works of Charlotte Bronte.
alisonnobrega's review against another edition
3.0
I had to read it for my English lit class. Some parts were good and interesting, other parts felt like the story was just dragging on. Felt protofeminist and I enjoyed that aspect