A review by undeniableemg
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Old books get a veneer of seriousness to their reputation, but big chunks of this read like a madcap romantic comedy, but whose beats arise, not from established tropes, but from the cartoonishly larger-than-life personalities inhabiting the pages.  People can have a good face, a good mind, or a good personality, but never all three. The atmosphere is gothic almost to the point of self-parody, with cackling crows and fortune telling and desolate moors, but the darkest shadow cast over the plot is the author's grief at deaths of her sisters at boarding schools.