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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book started out really strong, but towards the middle, it just dragged. I think she was trying not to rush the character development, but the problem is we already knew where Huntingdon was headed and it just seemed like an eternity to get there and get on with what was going to happen after what was basically a really long flashback.
Such an overlooked book! I thought it held its place alongside the greats, such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Happily surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel and it’s narrative.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It is unfortunate that Anne still doesn't get the attention that her sisters always have. Her story is written about as well as theirs are, while managing to avoid resorting to their bizarre plot twists and heroes who are deeply 'problematic' (that word seems far too soft for Charlotte's heroes).
Anne's unusual take on Christian redemption was the cause of resistance to the novel, but for modern readers this is more of a curiosity. She gives us a character who slides more and more deeply into a state that would be portrayed as irredeemable in most 19th-century novels, then makes certain that we understand he will eventually have paid in full for his sins. Or at least that is the belief of the moral force in the novel, Helen.
Some reviews complain that Helen is too constant and too good, but I found her to be plausible. Certainly, she is the moral role model who centres the novel, whereas the narrator (Gilbert) is more of a stand-in for we normal folk. His misunderstandings and blunders are meant to be relatable, even though occasionally we might think Helen could do better.
The novel is too long by some margin; a great deal of Helen's hand-wringing could have been pared away from the middle section without losing anything much.
Anne's unusual take on Christian redemption was the cause of resistance to the novel, but for modern readers this is more of a curiosity. She gives us a character who slides more and more deeply into a state that would be portrayed as irredeemable in most 19th-century novels, then makes certain that we understand he will eventually have paid in full for his sins. Or at least that is the belief of the moral force in the novel, Helen.
Some reviews complain that Helen is too constant and too good, but I found her to be plausible. Certainly, she is the moral role model who centres the novel, whereas the narrator (Gilbert) is more of a stand-in for we normal folk. His misunderstandings and blunders are meant to be relatable, even though occasionally we might think Helen could do better.
The novel is too long by some margin; a great deal of Helen's hand-wringing could have been pared away from the middle section without losing anything much.
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
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:
Yes
What I found most interesting about this book was discovering that social and family life was just as lonely two centuries ago. True, people stayed in better touch with their relatives, but - unless the number of people mentioned was curtailed for simplicity's sake - people did not enjoy many close relationships with neighbors, cousins, etc. This is contrary to what I'd been led to believe, namely that modern society has isolated us and the current situation of most people having only one good friend/confidant *if that* was not the case before 1950 or so. But here's a book set in the 1820's depicting the same situation.
I don’t know why it took me so long to read this book, but it is a masterpiece.
4,5/5
La menos gótica de las hermanas Brontë es también la más moderna, al juzgar por los temas que trata en esta novela, y que aún hoy son absolutamente actuales: los malos tratos, la violencia y la manipulación; el acoso, el engaño y la indefensión de la mujer ante la ley y la opinión pública, el alcoholismo y sus consecuencias... Anne Brontë tuvo problemas para verla publicada, y es que la crudeza de los hechos plasmados apenas queda mitigada por cierta moralina cristiana y su brillantísima prosa, perfectamente comparable a la de Charlotte y Emily. Es cierto que su pulso narrativo no tiene el brío de aquéllas, y aunque en ningún momento aburre, sí existe una sensación de que podría haberse ahorrado algunos giros efectistas. Pero bueno, nada que no se haya visto en el cine de hoy en día. Imprescindible igualmente.
La menos gótica de las hermanas Brontë es también la más moderna, al juzgar por los temas que trata en esta novela, y que aún hoy son absolutamente actuales: los malos tratos, la violencia y la manipulación; el acoso, el engaño y la indefensión de la mujer ante la ley y la opinión pública, el alcoholismo y sus consecuencias... Anne Brontë tuvo problemas para verla publicada, y es que la crudeza de los hechos plasmados apenas queda mitigada por cierta moralina cristiana y su brillantísima prosa, perfectamente comparable a la de Charlotte y Emily. Es cierto que su pulso narrativo no tiene el brío de aquéllas, y aunque en ningún momento aburre, sí existe una sensación de que podría haberse ahorrado algunos giros efectistas. Pero bueno, nada que no se haya visto en el cine de hoy en día. Imprescindible igualmente.