annaka_haynes 's review for:

Villette by Charlotte Brontë

2.0

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When our book club chose this as 'the classic book you always meant to read but didn't,' I was all in. Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favorites, and if Villette garnered even more critical acclaim than Jane, how could I not love it? Alas, gentle reader, I did not. The language is as gorgeous, but the action fell far short. Lucy Snow's mental perseverations are frustrating, and the sense that she's not a reliable narrator grew throughout the novel, making it hard to sympathize with her. Even within the limiting social norms of the period, Lucy seemed full of self-censure; I wasn't sure if her frequent inability to act signaled her psychological state or just a rambling author. Many of the characters were too exaggerated to be quite believable, and, as in most novels of the period, characters disappeared and reappeared in a series of incredible coincidences. I'm glad I read it, and it was laugh-out-loud funny at times, but I doubt it will be a frequent reread the way Jane Eyre is.