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ejb44's review against another edition
slow-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
3.0
While I’m sure you’ve all heard of this book, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte follows the life of, you guessed it, Jane Eyre. From her life as practically a stranger in her Auntie’s house to after she’s left an orphan through to the next 10 or so years of her life. This bildungsroman centres itself on our heroine Jane who is trying to make sure that she walks her own life path and centres herself, her morals and God on whichever path she takes. Through the ups and downs of the story, the reader is always kept in close proximity to Jane’s thoughts and feelings, meaning the readers become extremely well acquainted with Jane by the end of the novel.
Even though by the 21st century, morality and religious themes are part and parcel of modern literature, Brönte revolutionised this in the 19th century. Jane is the embodiment of female Christian teaching in England at the time, constantly aligning her intense feelings to her Christian values and ensuring they exist on conjunction with each other. This exploration of faith in Jane is probably my favourite aspect of the whole novel, most likely because of how Jane is written overall. She is the most well written character in the whole book and it is clear that Brönte might even share some relatability to Eyre because of this really deep and spiritual portrayal of the protagonist. Though my later criticism will be that none of the characters are written to the same standard as Jane, the beauty of the whole book is how inevitably, you will fall in love with Jane.
Onto the criticisms of the book, I thought it dragged on too much. The book could have gone from 532 pages to around 400 easily. Descriptions during this time period was the focus, and even though Brönte introduced new styles of writing, the overall descriptive window and garden scenes did feel slightly repetitive and unnecessary. After two examples and 6 pages of intense descriptive writing, it really doesn’t need to carry on – but that’s classical literature for you.
Additionally, the book is a romance novel, yet I hated how the romance was written and how flaky it was. The two main love interests in the book are both with men who are badly written, and the love between the characters is barely explored until one day Jane says, “I love him, I’m going to marry him”, which feels like quite the jump considering the readers are experiencing every thought of Jane. The second love interest seems extremely rushed and out of the blue, as if Brönte had thought the ending through but because she realised she was already on page 500 and hadn’t got to where she wanted the story to end, she rushed the whole conclusion just so she could have the ending exactly like she wanted.
Overall, while I see its cultural significance, and I have endless praise for Charlotte Brönte (and her sisters who were also authors) for writing this book at a time when women in the West were second class citizens, the book just didn’t hit the exact spot I wanted it to.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
aseaoftomes's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I have always loved Jane Eyre, from my first read to my experience with it now. And while my perspective on things have changed, I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.
This book is told in a kind of memoir/autobiography style and is about a woman named Jane Eyre and her life focusing on her childhood to her early adulthood and all of the things she goes through and befall her during that time.
The writing of this book never ceases to impress me. I love how simplistic it is and yet how complex at the same time. It reads very well and sucks you in to the point where you're Jane. I always love it when that happens in books. The pacing is also well done. It doesn't really drag and I always found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next.
The plot, while simple, also has a quite suspenseful feeling to it as well. It's primarily about Jane - from her early years with her awful family, to her time in school and her employment with the illustrious Mr. Rochester and finally with St. John. It's all fascinating and I loved watching Jane grow as a character and watch her interactions with every character in the book. And the themes are great - family, love (and the different types of love that are basically embodied in each of the characters), gender roles and feminism of the day. I just loved the themes of this book
The setting is mostly in England in different institutions and houses. It's also very much a Gothic style book which means it has some eerie and creepy elements to it and I thought all of that was done really well.
Finally, the characters. I love Jane. She's one of my favorite characters period. I thought her growth throughout the book was great, I love how independent and outspoken she is and yet also how she fits the gender roles expected of her at the same time. I loved seeing her interact with everyone around her and how they shaped her into the woman she becomes. I also still like Mr. Rochester. My opinion has changed on him quite a bit from my initial read, but look he's the biggest drama king - the smallest inconvenience and his life was over. I also had a different perspective on St. John as well. I found I liked him more, but I also was so mad at him by the end again, but this time I understood him more. I frankly still think Jane should've stayed single - both of the choices she was presented with have pros and cons and ultimately are unhealthy. Even in the end, while they're on more equal footing, there are aspects of it I'm still not 100% sold on. Overall though, I had a really good time with it and I love the journey the characters go on.
Overall, I still really enjoy Jane Eyre and it's one I'll reread over and over again over the years.
This book is told in a kind of memoir/autobiography style and is about a woman named Jane Eyre and her life focusing on her childhood to her early adulthood and all of the things she goes through and befall her during that time.
The writing of this book never ceases to impress me. I love how simplistic it is and yet how complex at the same time. It reads very well and sucks you in to the point where you're Jane. I always love it when that happens in books. The pacing is also well done. It doesn't really drag and I always found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next.
The plot, while simple, also has a quite suspenseful feeling to it as well. It's primarily about Jane - from her early years with her awful family, to her time in school and her employment with the illustrious Mr. Rochester and finally with St. John. It's all fascinating and I loved watching Jane grow as a character and watch her interactions with every character in the book. And the themes are great - family, love (and the different types of love that are basically embodied in each of the characters), gender roles and feminism of the day. I just loved the themes of this book
The setting is mostly in England in different institutions and houses. It's also very much a Gothic style book which means it has some eerie and creepy elements to it and I thought all of that was done really well.
Finally, the characters. I love Jane. She's one of my favorite characters period. I thought her growth throughout the book was great, I love how independent and outspoken she is and yet also how she fits the gender roles expected of her at the same time. I loved seeing her interact with everyone around her and how they shaped her into the woman she becomes. I also still like Mr. Rochester. My opinion has changed on him quite a bit from my initial read, but look he's the biggest drama king - the smallest inconvenience and his life was over. I also had a different perspective on St. John as well. I found I liked him more, but I also was so mad at him by the end again, but this time I understood him more. I frankly still think Jane should've stayed single - both of the choices she was presented with have pros and cons and ultimately are unhealthy. Even in the end, while they're on more equal footing, there are aspects of it I'm still not 100% sold on. Overall though, I had a really good time with it and I love the journey the characters go on.
Overall, I still really enjoy Jane Eyre and it's one I'll reread over and over again over the years.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Sexism
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Racism
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