A review by impla77
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

slow-paced

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

2.5

One of the more distracted books from the Brontes, Shirley seems to have more characters than it can deal with. In lieu of following one character, we flit from one to another, in a way that is not very satisfying to the whole story. Our title character, and easily the most interesting character in the story, only shows up about halfway through (or it feels that way anyway), and we follow the sympathetic but also quite pathetic Caroline Helstone before that, who does nothing but be depressed and pine, and Robert Moore, her ‘love interest’ who does nothing but lowkey ignore her and antagonise the locals until the end of the book. Shirley’s love interest, Louis Moore, shows up even later, and after some pining from Shirley (who thinks shes contracted rabies lol) alls well that ends well.
An interesting look into hard times for the working class in the North in the Napoleonic era, and some great feminist passages from Shirley and Caroline but on the whole just too scattered and messy to really excel.