Reviews

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

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milksoup's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

pceboll's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad

4.5

First things first-where is all the Gilbert hate? This book is nearly perfect in its feminist rally cry; the subservience women are expected to maintain in marriage is equal to that of imprisonment and a woman has/should have the RIGHT to leave her husband for any number of reasons. Bronte is so smart in her creation of Helen, a woman who is so pious and devoted that readers of the time couldn't possibly label her incorrectly as the villain. Instead, Bronte focuses on the men and their pattern of mistreating and abusing their wives REGARDLESS of the women's own behavior and treatment of him, a direct challenge of 19th century domestic ideology of feminine moral influence on men. A woman cannot and should not be held responsible for the faults of her partner. If she were still alive today, I believe Ms. Bronte's response to the still popular fantasy of "I can fix him" would be a resounding, "Gurl..no you can't." Her depictions of alcoholism and even domestic violence are told with a level of transparency that is way ahead of its time. When men don't own you and neglect you in favor of their various addictions, vices, and narcism, all they do is fantasize about owning you and eventually neglecting you. (Hashtag not all men but always men). Now here comes my one criticism-Helen spends most of her time trying to flee the creepy obsessions of a number of desperate men around her and Gilbert is the ultimate creep: stalking her, going through her personal items, assaulting another man out of possessive jealousy, etc. BUT she ends up with him DESPITE her now increased wealth, independence and property ownership?!?! Absolutely not. 4.5 stars!

Side-note: I absolutely ADORE the Bronte sisters! Name a better trio!!

notter's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5

jackievr's review against another edition

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emotional medium-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

3.75

zealforneil's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-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

4.25

At the start of 2023 I set myself the challenge of reading the most famous book by each Brontë sister by the end of the year. Six months late I finally finished Wildfell Hall, having got through Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights earlier. All three books took a little bit of grinding through at points, which I find with many older books, but I enjoyed them all. While on the surface Wildfell Hall is the simplest of the three books, and the least complex, I enjoyed it tremendously. It was not as dark as I had expected, or as its reputation had suggested, but that may have been that nothing can hold a candle to the pitch-blackness of Wuthering Heights. Wildfell Hall certainly has dark moments nonetheless, with an interesting structure that mirrored story-within-story techniques used in the other two books. Parallels with the ending can also easily be drawn, with

the main character finally resident with their partner in a home separate from where they have come from, not in domestic bliss, but in a happiness informed by their trauma

. The depth of religious iconography displayed in this was extreme, with the footnotes in this edition superbly guiding me as a heathen reader. Wuthering Heights disturbed me, Jane Eyre hooked me, and Wildfell Hall entertained me.