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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
slow-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
I never tire of Jane Eyre. To read it first as a young teen and then many times across the years has given me multiple perspectives on the story. In this reading, I found Rochester to be even more of a cad than I usually do, which made Jane seem all the more impressive. What a heroine! The very best.
“I see at intervals the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high.”
After eight years as a student and teacher at Lowood School, orphan Jane Eyre is anxious to see more of the world. This desire leads her to Thornfield, a large home in the English countryside, where her lone pupil is a ward of the enigmatic Edward Rochester. Jane believes she has finally found a home — but her joy is destroyed when she learns Thornfield’s horrifying secret.
This was quite the book to start the year with. It’s been awhile since I’ve read one of “the classics,” and it left me with a ton of feelings and questions. Fortunately there’s lots of commentary (contemporary and modern) to chew on. The Close Reads podcast did an excellent series a few years ago — listening to that gave me good things to bring up at book club and think about on my own. The themes of duty versus desire, strength versus weakness, and the importance of having a strong sense of self were fascinating. It’s easy to see why Jane Eyre is still loved, hated, and endlessly adapted. Our book club conversation was one of my favorite things about my January reading.
Give this a try if you like incredible writing, a story with a strong atmospheric feel, and are ready to have lots of complicated feelings.
After eight years as a student and teacher at Lowood School, orphan Jane Eyre is anxious to see more of the world. This desire leads her to Thornfield, a large home in the English countryside, where her lone pupil is a ward of the enigmatic Edward Rochester. Jane believes she has finally found a home — but her joy is destroyed when she learns Thornfield’s horrifying secret.
This was quite the book to start the year with. It’s been awhile since I’ve read one of “the classics,” and it left me with a ton of feelings and questions. Fortunately there’s lots of commentary (contemporary and modern) to chew on. The Close Reads podcast did an excellent series a few years ago — listening to that gave me good things to bring up at book club and think about on my own. The themes of duty versus desire, strength versus weakness, and the importance of having a strong sense of self were fascinating. It’s easy to see why Jane Eyre is still loved, hated, and endlessly adapted. Our book club conversation was one of my favorite things about my January reading.
Give this a try if you like incredible writing, a story with a strong atmospheric feel, and are ready to have lots of complicated feelings.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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:
Yes
2.5 ⭐️, 3 if I’m being generous. Now before I say anything I do have to note that I was reading this through the lens of the 21st century and with some experience at my big age of 35. Now that I got that out of the way… I seriously cannot fathom adult women reading this book as a romance or a feminist piece in 2024.
For the first part of the book I was expecting Mr. Rochester to be framed as a problematic abusive figure that Jane will choose to laugh at and reject, and to make his awful character a cautionary tale- but having Jane fall in love and trying to assure us that he is worth of loving is… insane.
Age gap aside (though it’s a huge thing to put aside), the way he treats her like a child, his angry outbursts, downright abuse of his mentally ill wife, not to mention the power dynamics and his awful treatment of Adèle made me feel like I was surely missing something with all the five stars reviews on here.
When Jane ran away, I became more hopeful that the book might turn out well, with her finding her footing, her family and independence, but then she just found yet another awful man to obsess over, then leave him, only to go back to Mr Rochester. He is now a ‘blind cripple’ as she describes him, and just as much of an asshole that we should now be pitying. My lord.
Charlotte’s great style of writing prose is the only reason why I didn’t DNF this at 65% mark. The only characters I liked in this whole thing were Bessie, Mrs. Fairfax and the kid, and maybe her cousins. I am glad I have read this book at last, and will be glad never to take it up again.
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This second reading, almost 10 years after the first, was wonderful. I'd forgotten how much spark there is in this story. While I love Bronte's contemporaries, Charlotte's tale has so much more verve, urgency, and life than many other books of its kind. I came to love and respect Jane and her ability to grow while maintaining her essence. She's more than an equal for Rochester, which is saying something. There's so much here. I can't wait to read it again after another break; I'm sure Jane Eyre will reveal yet another layer then.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced