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A review by fenneel
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
3.0
Confusing, spirited, untraditional, cold, littered with unease and at some times frightening. This book has taken me a long month to read and whilst I found it difficult to break up the text I didn't want to stop. Even holding it in my hands felt like I was achieving some astronomical feat.
The book is written in English but French paragraphs are dominant and I admit that was one of the hardest parts; the movement from one language to another that, admittedly, I'm not really familiar with was confusing to say the least and only towards the last few chapters did I think it was a good idea to start researching the more familiar phrases. I want to read this again to fully identify the French as I'm sure there's some important bits I missed!
Like most classics, I didn't enjoy the book until the later half of the book and I am left feeling slightly lost as the ending is left to the imagination. The only reason I'm giving it 3 stars and not 4 is probably due to my own confusion, not the writing itself and I feel proud to have achieved a Brontë novel in my repertoire - the sisters inspire me every day to write and read more and I look forward to reading the whole works eventually.
The book is written in English but French paragraphs are dominant and I admit that was one of the hardest parts; the movement from one language to another that, admittedly, I'm not really familiar with was confusing to say the least and only towards the last few chapters did I think it was a good idea to start researching the more familiar phrases. I want to read this again to fully identify the French as I'm sure there's some important bits I missed!
Like most classics, I didn't enjoy the book until the later half of the book and I am left feeling slightly lost as the ending is left to the imagination. The only reason I'm giving it 3 stars and not 4 is probably due to my own confusion, not the writing itself and I feel proud to have achieved a Brontë novel in my repertoire - the sisters inspire me every day to write and read more and I look forward to reading the whole works eventually.