Reviews with content warning for Child death - Jane Eyre

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

I want to write a full review one day, but for now I just want to say I never expected to enjoy this book as much as I did. It’s not only a stunning 19th century romance, but it deals with conversations of misogyny, disability, and the human spirit to just name a few. I found myself cheering for Jane Eyre endlessly, and I’ll forever love this woman who is unapologetically herself. If you aren’t a fan of classics, I do recommend maybe listening to this on on audiobook. It’s more modern than most, and I’ll never stop singing it praises.

Also, if you’re looking for a mess of a man, look no further than Edward Rochester. Jane’s the one in charge- haha.

Content Warnings

josefinceh's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

This is the book that made me realise that gothic stories might not be my thing...

Jane Eyre follows the titular character through a large portion of her young life as she travels from one abusive household to the next. An orphan and left in an abusive home, Jane grows a strong will and sense of independence, rarely buckling from her own thoughts and will. What makes her stand out from other women in this era is that Jane travels like a man of her time. Majority of the time when she moves it is on her own accord and by her own means.

Like what you might expect from a book by one of the Brontë sisters, this one is packed with abuse and dark themes. However, this one is definitely one of the lighter stories. So if you've been curious about Brontë and this literary era, this iconic book might be a good place to start.

My main dislike and discomfort of the story comes from the relationship between Mr. Rochester and Jane. The dynamic of the relationship made me incredibly uncomfortable due to its abusive nature.

Jane is blinded by her affection for Mr. Rochester in a way that I could never completely comprehend. As he harms and lies to her, ending each action with a declaration that his affection for Jane should be obvious, still not denying that he might hurt her again. Perhaps there is a comparison to real life abusive relationships that can be seen here.

Content Warnings

ejb44's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

maggiemercutio's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

madelnguttorms1's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

If you're interested in England during the Victorian era, then I would recommend that you read Jane Eyre at some point. The values and morals of the English people during this time are made quite clear through the eyes of Jane, in both the way she perceives herself and the way she perceives others.

It wasn't really a book after my taste as I'm not much of a romance reader, and my taste in books is quite different to this one. I enjoy fast-paced, plot-driven stories, and Jane Eyre is a slow-paced novel that is mostly character-driven. We follow Jane through a portion of her life and we get to know the people and the environment around her during this time. I could enjoy this book if I had related to Jane more, but I felt quite distant to her most of the time, despite this book being formatted as an autobiography.

Content Warnings