You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

4.07 AVERAGE


Faintly boring and utterly readable. I don't think the Brontes have a patch on Jane Austen, really, but the portrait of a doomed and crumbling marriage in the middle of the novel is remarkably psychologically effective even if its surrounding beginning and end are a bit more stock-Victorian.

“There is such a thing as looking through a person's eyes into the heart, and learning more of the height, and breadth, and depth of another's soul in one hour than it might take you a lifetime to discover, if he or she were not disposed to reveal it, or if you had not the sense to understand it.”


This is the second book I've read that is written in an epistolary structure, and I admit it's quite hard and confusing to read. But it still stands out to me, [a:Anne Brontë|8249|Anne Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1219762839p2/8249.jpg] daringly criticizes the social mores that rushed women into unsuitable suitors not based on mutual love and respect. Throughout the book, wives are expected to be the perfect example of virtue and understanding and to suppress their needs entirely in the service of their husbands. Men, on the other hand, are permitted to behave badly, abuse their wives, neglect their children, and drink their problems away.

Then you must fall each into your proper place. You’ll do your business, and she, if she’s worthy of you, will do hers; but it's your business to please yourself, and hers to please you.


The heart of this book tells the truth about sexism, and double standards; the truth about love and marriage. This book tells a story of a woman surviving and flourishing after abuse, and in that, [b:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall|17555924|The Tenant of Wildfell Hall|Anne Brontë|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405286754l/17555924._SX50_.jpg|1389477] feels so modern. No wonder this book caused such scandal when it was released, this book challenged the prevailing morals of the Victorian era, critics called Tenant “disgusting,” “revolting,” and “brutal;” too coarse to be truly great art in the way that Jane Eyre was.

All in all, although this book was released a century and a half ago, it was fantastic how far ahead of her time [a:Anne Brontë|8249|Anne Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1219762839p2/8249.jpg] was in terms of her views on women's equality.

“Keep a guard over your eyes and ears as the inlets of your heart, and over your lips as the outlet, lest they betray you in a moment of unwariness. Receive, coldly and dispassionately, every attention, till you have ascertained and duly considered the worth of the aspirant; and let your affections be consequent upon approbation alone. First study; then approve; then love. Let your eyes be blind to all external attractions, your ears deaf to all the fascinations of flattery and light discourse. - These are nothing - and worse than nothing - snares and wiles of the tempter, to lure the thoughtless to their own destruction. Principle is the first thing, after all; and next to that, good sense, respectability, and moderate wealth. If you should marry the handsomest, and most accomplished and superficially agreeable man in the world, you little know the misery that would overwhelm you if, after all, you should find him to be a worthless reprobate, or even an impracticable fool.”

I was in the middle of Middlemarch when the power went out and my phone died—and I faced the most boring day I’d had all year, lockdown included. Since I was in the 19th century in my mind I wanted to read something similar, by another woman, and chose Anne Bronte though I almost did not because I knew the melancholy drama would be a far cry from Middlemarch. And then after gently drifting through the latter for some weeks, I read this book in one day.
Even though it IS fairly dramatic, it is also heart wrenching, and both books deal with the simple reality of dastardly men and their human (as opposed to angelic) wives.

All in all, I enjoyed this quite a bit though ‘enjoyed’ isn’t the word I should use (I especially felt for poor Millicent). I should read through my sister’s whole Bronte collection now, for though I’ve read Wuthering Heights and it got under my skin (and not in the best way) I haven’t read an unabridged Jane Eyre yet!

YAAS I H8 MEN!!!! thanks fiona
emotional hopeful tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I don't read classics, but this one was great. Crazy to see that women still put up with the same bs 200 years later. The ending was very weak.

While I haven't read the Introduction and the notes at the time of writing this review (and I do not want to put writing it away for later), I have the read the main contents of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and, overall, it is a very good novel that is absolutely worth reading. (Yes, I'm aware how stellar of an introductory paragraph this is.)

I usually talk about the plot here in a spoiler-free manner, but, as was the case with The Bands of Mourning, the blurb does that well enough, and I cannot add anything to it or provide a worthwhile replacement. Just read the blurb -- that much is sufficient.

The book has a certainly unusual structure -- to me, at least: it is framed as a series of letters addressed to one J. Halford (who never appears in the story itself) by our protagonist Gilbert Markham, and the middle portion of the book is one giant flashback framed as entries in the diary of Helen Graham. But it certainly works, though at times I did feel the pacing to be too slow in the middle. Speaking of pacing -- overall, it is slow, as you perhaps would expect, and, I would say, comparable to the pacing of Jane Eyre. I like slow-paced books (though the book did start to drag a bit in the middle before quickly picking up pace again -- unlike Jane Eyre which never slowed down for me), though you might not have so much patience as me. The book is unflinching in its depiction of debauchery and alcoholism and, to put it mildly, marriage problems. Boldly, powerfully, and harrowingly so. Poor Helen. Speaking of...

Of all the characters in this book, Helen was my favourite. I wouldn't put her high in my all-time list of favourite characters, but she's easily the best part of the book -- it's her story, after all. I can list quite a few things that I like about her (her amazing resilience and wisdom, for instance), but here I will mention two things that I didn't like about her -- first, she appeared too perfect. She, save for one massive slip-up that cost her dearly, is almost always right about things and people, and by golly does she like to moralise. A lot. Aside from her, the only character I feel very strongly about is Arthur Huntingdon. Let's just say I dislike him as much as Joffrey and the Mountain. I don't feel that strongly about the other characters -- Gilbert was funny at times, Lord Lowborough was tragic but... I won't say anything more regarding his fate, actually, for fear of spoilers, Walter quickly became creepy, Hattersley surprised me, and the rest of the side characters too were good and I think everyone (or almost everyone) got neat conclusions by the time the story ended.

Alright, what else to talk about...
Prose: Not too different from Charlotte's prose. Plenty of detailed descriptions.
Dialogue: typical Victorian dialogue, elevated but not incomprehensible, wittier than Charlotte's dialogue, if I remember correctly.
Tone: Mysterious and dramatic at first, then tragic, then, uh, spoilers for the ending.

Overall? While Anne Brontë isn't as famous as her sisters, she absolutely is worth reading. As of why four stars instead of five when I've said nothing in way of shortcomings, well, if you've read my review of The Emperor’s Soul, you already know why: the fifth star is reserved for books that I absolutely adored. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, while being definitely liked, does not quite reach that status, hence the four stars.
emotional tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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: Yes

From the introduction:
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, came out in 1848. The bold story of a strong-minded woman’s struggle for independence, the book unmasked the dark brutality of Victorian chauvinism but was nevertheless attacked by some critics as a celebration of the very excesses it criticized.
emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated