Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

6 reviews

asililydying's review

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Racism, Misogyny, Slavery, Sexism, and Xenophobia

mallory10100's review

challenging dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Grief, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

musingsofazebra's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, Colonisation, Infidelity, Suicide, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Abandonment, Classism, Death, and Suicide

lal145's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

directorpurry's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Most of my thoughts are better suited to a series of academic literary analysis/research papers, so I'll do my best to cut those. I will also attempt to ease the other side that might just turn into heated keyboard smashing.

I forgot how much I enjoy this book. I really did. The first time I read Jane Eyre was in high school. And then in college I read Wide Sargasso Sea (and hated it, but that's for another review). But this reading left a much stronger impression on me, both of the negatives and the positives.
The pacing of this novel can be questionable. Far too much time is spent following Jane through Lowood School, and similarly on her love for the Rivers siblings. Many of the characters are quite dislikable - Rochester is rude and sometimes scary, St. John Rivers is straight up abusive by our standards, and Helen Burns is annoyingly preachy and almost disgustingly pious. Another critique from a modern perspective, but I forgot about the religious aspect, which was a personal annoyance as a non-Christian. There was also a fair amount of casual racism and anti-Semitism, a hallmark of the time period.
But I found I didn't care. The writing of Jane Eyre is some of the most gorgeous prose I've read in a while. It flows wonderfully and heatedly. Rochester's speech before Jane leaves is probably my favorite passage in the novel because the words are so wonderful.

The Brönte sisters are (somewhat) well-known for their hatred of Jane Austen. Although I won't be doing the full comparison I might wish to do, I couldn't help but think about the similarities of the two writers, having just finished Pride and Prejudice last week (again). Even as they go about their message in opposite ways, there are definitely some very similar themes. They even equally mark certain character quirks for the reader's inspection. I'll leave those thoughts unfinished for the time being (but HMU if you want to talk Brönte/Austen discourse lol) but there is certainly more to say on the subject.

I love Jane Eyre. Until Rochester entered the page I thought this would be a 3 star read, because I had forgotten so much of the prose. 
If I'm being entirely honest, it would harm no one if when attempting to read this for pleasure, you skim up until Jane enters Thornfield, which is where the real power of the writing begins.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Domestic abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Racism, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Classism and Antisemitism

Minor: Death of parent and Slavery

coco_5's review

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny

Minor: Slavery and Racism