Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
Ok this was good but more on the Austen level then her sister Emily’s level.
I'm spending 2018 reading the Brontes and decided to start with Anne's novel because I've never read her work and wanted to right that wrong. Tenant is touted as being one of the best Bronte novels, albeit not as well known as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. It was apparently ridiculously popular when it was first printed, but Charlotte refused a reprinting after Anne's death as she had issues with the themes that Anne chose to write about. Side eye ...sibling rivalry?
I enjoyed Tenant a lot. I did think it was way too long and there were definite style problems (the plot within a plot didn't really work so well here). The most jarring problems for me were, of course, Helen's decisions that kept her in an abusive situation, and the religious moral nonsense, but that's a sign of the time it was written in, and not everyone could be as fearlessly agnostic as George Eliot.
I still found the book masterful. Most authors during that period wouldn't touch themes of marital abuse, alcoholism, or trauma so props to Anne. She was a courageous one.
I enjoyed Tenant a lot. I did think it was way too long and there were definite style problems (the plot within a plot didn't really work so well here). The most jarring problems for me were, of course, Helen's decisions that kept her in an abusive situation, and the religious moral nonsense, but that's a sign of the time it was written in, and not everyone could be as fearlessly agnostic as George Eliot.
I still found the book masterful. Most authors during that period wouldn't touch themes of marital abuse, alcoholism, or trauma so props to Anne. She was a courageous one.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gilbert Markham loves a woman he cannot marry. Helen Huntingdon is married to a man who does not love her. Can they overcome the rules and opinions of society to find happiness together?
So I actually have a severe deficit of classics read in my repertoire. I've somehow managed to have never read any of the Bronte sisters before. I am really glad I finally got to reading one of them with this novel. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it. I think the most surprising thing for me was for some reason I was expecting the POV to be of the female protagonist not the male. It was interesting to read this story in this epistolary style. I liked the series of letters and then diary entries.
At the end of the day this was actually a beautiful love story between Helen and Gilbert. He's a young man who finds himself head over heels for a woman, but she has a past and it has certainly colored her experience. Ultimately Helen is a good woman and Gilbert has more patience than most men his age to achieve what he wants in the end.
At the end of the day this was actually a beautiful love story between Helen and Gilbert. He's a young man who finds himself head over heels for a woman, but she has a past and it has certainly colored her experience. Ultimately Helen is a good woman and Gilbert has more patience than most men his age to achieve what he wants in the end.
Read from today's point of view The Tenant of Wildfell Hall seems like the same old story of a woman leaving an abusive, adulterous marriage, but if you look at it from the point of view of it's original Victorian Age audience it was something quite shocking and compelling. The characters could have been much more fleshed out...I didn't have much of a connection with Helen and it was certainly not as engrossing as her sisters' novels (Wuthering Heights will forever be my favorite), I still found it an enjoyable read.
I really enjoyed this! Not as much as Jane Eyre (which will always be my favourite Brontë novel), but Anne was so ahead of her time with this. We stan a feminist icon!
TW: abusive relationships
TW: abusive relationships
I really liked Anne Bronte's realistic grab of the age and the depiction of the countryside didn't swell on and on but just for a few short paragraphs that had the right amount of words to build the perfect image in your head.
Her style is also pretty engaging and doesn't drift away from the storyline. I noticed that Anne Bronte has this own special thing in her prose that builds tension slowly and not rapidly so that you don't get a sudden, violent heart attack.
I loved and felt Gilbert and Helen's relationship. It started with stony silences and then slow, nervous friendship and then this passionate trust of one another. Helen and Gilbert's steady relationship made me sigh in adoration.
The ending was so perfect I cried and at the same time I liked it because it wasn't instantly golden jolly but cautiously threaded out like opening a Christmas present, without tearing all the giftwrapper, and getting what you've always hoped for.
Her style is also pretty engaging and doesn't drift away from the storyline. I noticed that Anne Bronte has this own special thing in her prose that builds tension slowly and not rapidly so that you don't get a sudden, violent heart attack.
I loved and felt Gilbert and Helen's relationship. It started with stony silences and then slow, nervous friendship and then this passionate trust of one another. Helen and Gilbert's steady relationship made me sigh in adoration.
The ending was so perfect I cried and at the same time I liked it because it wasn't instantly golden jolly but cautiously threaded out like opening a Christmas present, without tearing all the giftwrapper, and getting what you've always hoped for.
I never thought anything would overtake Wuthering Heights as my favourite novel. And it hasn't. But Helen Huntingdon is such a phenomenal character that we can safely call it a draw.
Only my second Brontë sisters book, but it did not disappoint! I picked this upon Ruby Granger’s recommendation and agree that the manner of storytelling through letters and a diary is very creative, refreshing and offers insight to the characters. I also enjoyed the unconventional timeline, as well as the mystery. While I always suspected the ending (who doesn’t want the lovers to end up together?!) the journey to get there was well deserved.