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sa_mira's review against another edition
2.0
Fictional story that describes the life of Charlotte Brontë during the creation and publication of Jane Eyre.
+ Draws parallels between Charlotte Brontë and the character Jane Eyre and thereby emphasizes the autobiographical elements in the novel Jane Eyre, which added to my reading of Jane Eyre
- Childish, overly dramatic writing style. Flat characters that are reduced to one trait (The disapproving father, the addicted brother, the dependent youngest sister etc)
I probably do not care enough about Charlotte Brontë or Jane Eyre to truly enjoy this book.
+ Draws parallels between Charlotte Brontë and the character Jane Eyre and thereby emphasizes the autobiographical elements in the novel Jane Eyre, which added to my reading of Jane Eyre
- Childish, overly dramatic writing style. Flat characters that are reduced to one trait (The disapproving father, the addicted brother, the dependent youngest sister etc)
I probably do not care enough about Charlotte Brontë or Jane Eyre to truly enjoy this book.
jbells7's review against another edition
2.0
2.5
I really enjoyed the tone of this novel and felt that the author perfectly emulated the Brontes' writing style. I would have liked a stronger narrative structure, and maybe fewer narrators.
I really enjoyed the tone of this novel and felt that the author perfectly emulated the Brontes' writing style. I would have liked a stronger narrative structure, and maybe fewer narrators.
amyellerlewis's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic. Enjoying it so much that I don't even want to recommend it to people, for fear they will find it not as engaging. Wondering how much my own knowledge and obsession of the family contributes to my enjoyment...
theresidentbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
I have always admired the Bronte sisters. They were talented, unbelievably strong, and reliant on each other. It's crazy to think no one wanted to publish their novels. Kohler did an excellent job of chronicling not only Charlotte Bronte's inner workings but her family's as well. The Brontes were a wonderfully complicated: an alcoholic son, a nearly blind father, a dead mother and two oldest daughters, and three sisters left with nothing but their writing. Kohler filled in the blank spaces of the Brontes skillfully, carefully treading the line between fact and fiction. I particularly enjoyed Charlotte's chapters as she is the only Bronte sister I've read. I thought she was a bit harsh on her sisters' novels and just a little too gloaty when her novel was praised while theirs weren't, but I guess that's just sibling and author rivalry at its worse. My only real compliant was the overly religious undertones. I hated reading the father's chapters for that reason.
I'd definitely recommend this to Bronte fans, particularly if you've already read a couple biographies about them.
I'd definitely recommend this to Bronte fans, particularly if you've already read a couple biographies about them.
wildflower37's review against another edition
Many reviewers loved this book, but I couldn't finish it. It must be me...I just couldn't get into this story and am giving it up after 150 pages. Too many short chapters that leap about in time. Not knowing anything about the Bronte sisters Oran's having forgotten much of Jane Eyre, I just couldn't keep hold of this dark, slippery narrative.
thepottedplant's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. It was a "quiet" book as another review called it; it is a lot of inner monologue and description.
izabrekilien's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
4.25
I liked it better than I thought I would. I love Jane Eyre so much that anything that looks like a fictionalised biography or a retelling, I look upon with caution.
However, this one caught me right from the start : it begins with Patrick Brontë's cataract operation in Manchester, where he was accompanied by Charlotte. Imagine what it must have been at the time (and that is why, apart from women's rights, I'm so happy to live in the 21st century, even if it's not the best of times) : the operation to remove cataract was performed without anesthesia. The patient was on the table, held in place by two people, and he saw (well, mostly saw, and also knew) the scalpel approaching his eyes to remove the thin membrane that covered them - don't blink ! *shivers* After that, he had to stay in a bed, no light, no sound, no shock for days. Imagine lying on a bed with nothing, absolutely nothing to do but think ? That's what happened in the Yellow wall-paper and it didn't turn out well.
It was a touching fiction, based on facts for a part, on imagination on the other, and it's easily and quickly read (260 pages in my edition). The story is not told entirely from Charlotte's point of view, we also hear the other sisters, Emily and Anne, Patrick the father, even the nurse, but it's mostly about Charlotte. What is interesting is the writing process, how things that she lived, experiences, heard about, were involved in the creation of Jane Eyre. I could picture the setting, the characters vividly, hear their different voices, even accents.
A very good surprise, that makes me want to read more by this author.
alannaj's review against another edition
1.0
The concept behind the book is interesting, seeing the inspiration for Jane Eyre as a novel come to life in Charlotte Bronte‘s head as she goes about her daily life, with the narrative spanning a 6 year period in three volumes. The author herself says she used the Bronte‘s letters and works by biographers to piece together her fictional story. The book is told from several different viewpoints, switching between Charlotte herself, her ill father, the nurse caring for him, her sister Anne, her sister Emily and the housemaid that bought them all up.
It starts in 1846, with Charlotte looking after her ill father for a season and using that isolated time along with memories of her life to concoct the story of Jane Eyre. Volume 1 is filled with flashbacks of her childhood and memories from her time abroad during adolescence, as well as caring for her father as he recovers from an operation for his sight. Volume 2 sees Charlotte return home with her recovering father to her brother and two sisters and finish her novel by drawing inspiration from those around her. Volume 3 brings success as all three manage to get their work published, with Charlotte seeing the most immediate success.
Overall I found the book moved at a very slow pace, with the focus being mainly on description of surroundings and senses. There were no particular points of interest, in the sense that there was no high excitement at any point and there was no real rise and fall in the narrative. At times I found myself wondering if the story would pick up any time soon, as if there was something waiting on the next page that never seemed to materialise within the plot. This continuing slow tone left me feeling as though the book had been written more as a biography rather than a novel.
The book was written in the second person, which after finishing the story, I’m not sure worked as the best choice. It served as an easy way to become detached from the narrator (whoever they happened to be at the time). It also allowed for further confusion when the narrator changed, which was not clear enough as it was, with an overuse of “she” and “he” proving to be a downfall.
I did enjoy seeing the relationship between the three Bronte sisters. Throughout culture, they are generally accepted to have been very supportive of each other’s works at all times and happy to see each other’s success develop; while I am sure this is true, it was interesting and maybe slightly closer to the truth to see the sisters show a little jealousy at the times when one was more successful than the others. It added a dynamic to the tale that hasn’t been associated with the Bronte sisters until this point. It was also nice to see the relationship of the sisters through the eyes of the housemaid that raised them all; her part of the narrative was brief, but it provided encouragement for me to carry on reading at a point where I was losing interest.
I also felt that the interspersions of Jane Eyre as a story worked well. They were displayed as moments of inspiration, but being written in the same person and tense as the rest of the book helped me as a reader feel that everything flowed. It bought a sense of familiarity to the book that I appreciated.
As a conclusion, Becoming Jane Eyre was a book that I didn’t enjoy as much as I thought I would, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it was a bad book. I’d be happy to tell others to give it a go, as I can see how it might have a certain charm – it was just a bit non-eventful for me.
It starts in 1846, with Charlotte looking after her ill father for a season and using that isolated time along with memories of her life to concoct the story of Jane Eyre. Volume 1 is filled with flashbacks of her childhood and memories from her time abroad during adolescence, as well as caring for her father as he recovers from an operation for his sight. Volume 2 sees Charlotte return home with her recovering father to her brother and two sisters and finish her novel by drawing inspiration from those around her. Volume 3 brings success as all three manage to get their work published, with Charlotte seeing the most immediate success.
Overall I found the book moved at a very slow pace, with the focus being mainly on description of surroundings and senses. There were no particular points of interest, in the sense that there was no high excitement at any point and there was no real rise and fall in the narrative. At times I found myself wondering if the story would pick up any time soon, as if there was something waiting on the next page that never seemed to materialise within the plot. This continuing slow tone left me feeling as though the book had been written more as a biography rather than a novel.
The book was written in the second person, which after finishing the story, I’m not sure worked as the best choice. It served as an easy way to become detached from the narrator (whoever they happened to be at the time). It also allowed for further confusion when the narrator changed, which was not clear enough as it was, with an overuse of “she” and “he” proving to be a downfall.
I did enjoy seeing the relationship between the three Bronte sisters. Throughout culture, they are generally accepted to have been very supportive of each other’s works at all times and happy to see each other’s success develop; while I am sure this is true, it was interesting and maybe slightly closer to the truth to see the sisters show a little jealousy at the times when one was more successful than the others. It added a dynamic to the tale that hasn’t been associated with the Bronte sisters until this point. It was also nice to see the relationship of the sisters through the eyes of the housemaid that raised them all; her part of the narrative was brief, but it provided encouragement for me to carry on reading at a point where I was losing interest.
I also felt that the interspersions of Jane Eyre as a story worked well. They were displayed as moments of inspiration, but being written in the same person and tense as the rest of the book helped me as a reader feel that everything flowed. It bought a sense of familiarity to the book that I appreciated.
As a conclusion, Becoming Jane Eyre was a book that I didn’t enjoy as much as I thought I would, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it was a bad book. I’d be happy to tell others to give it a go, as I can see how it might have a certain charm – it was just a bit non-eventful for me.
moncoinlecture's review against another edition
4.0
Original review - in French - on my blog : http://moncoinlecture.over-blog.com/article-becoming-jane-eyre-quand-j-etais-jane-eyre-sheila-kohler-98206524.html
sandylender's review against another edition
2.0
I adore Charlotte Bronte and the novel "Jane Eyre," so finding this novel on the airport bookstore shelf was a treat! Reading it had its inspiring moments, but, overall, I was disappointed in the dark accusations about sibling rivalry that Sheila Kohler packed into this fictional story. The use of present tense was unsettling, but I got used to it. The hopping around to let different characters tell the tale was nice, but seemed an odd device because I thought I was going to see Charlotte's story of becoming or producing "Jane Eyre" (hence the title), not everyone's opinion on how everyday events progressed to influence (or not) Charlotte and "Jane Eyre."
If you're intimately familiar with the Bronte story and with "Jane Eyre," and have a working knowledge of the other Bronte sisters' works, you should have no trouble following the jumps from Charlotte to Jane and back again in this book. If you're new to the Bronte story or to "Jane Eyre," this book should confuse you at every turn. I don't think I'd recommend this for readers new to the Bronte family.
On a side note...the final line in the novel brought tears to my eyes. Bravo to Kohler for that!
From Fantasy Author Sandy Lender
If you're intimately familiar with the Bronte story and with "Jane Eyre," and have a working knowledge of the other Bronte sisters' works, you should have no trouble following the jumps from Charlotte to Jane and back again in this book. If you're new to the Bronte story or to "Jane Eyre," this book should confuse you at every turn. I don't think I'd recommend this for readers new to the Bronte family.
On a side note...the final line in the novel brought tears to my eyes. Bravo to Kohler for that!
From Fantasy Author Sandy Lender