A review by bookbelle5_17
Villette by Charlotte Brontë

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Review of Villette
By Charlotte Bronte
            This was Charlotte’s last book writing it when she had loss two of her siblings and she was in bad place. One of Lucy’s love interests was based on a romantic relationship she had.  Lucy Snowe lost her parents and siblings when she was a girl and had to live with her Godmother, Mrs. Bretton.  As a young woman she moves to the town of Villette in France and gets a job as teacher for Madame Beck’s school for girls. She strives for independence and finds herself developing feelings for two very different men.
            The bookends to Charlotte’s career, Jane Eyre and Villette, are very different from each other.  Jane is kind and nurturing while Lucy is blunt and opinionated, but both are lonely desiring companionship.  Unfortunately, Lucy’s loneliness is taken one step further.  She experiences depression and struggles with anxiety.  She is reunited with her Godmother Mrs. Bretton, and realizes Dr. John is her son, and forms a friendship with them.  Dr. John takes care of her when he finds her passed out lying in the streets and restoring her health, he promises to write to her.  When his correspondence is put on hold for 7 weeks, she panics and fears something has happened to one of them. Her most interesting relationship for me was the complicated one she has with M. Paul.  He is the literature professor and a passionate Catholic.  He tries to convert her as she is Protestant.  He is arrogant and condescending, lecturing constantly, but at times she shows affection towards Lucy that is kind and less controlling.  They challenge each other constantly and slowly develop feelings for each other.  He comes off as a mixture Rochester and St. John.  Her relationship is far less complicated.  It is sweet and you know how Dr. John feels about Lucy.  Lucy other two relationship are with cousins Ginerva and Paulina.  Paulina is kind and respectful towards Lucy and sees her as true friend, someone to look up to.  Ginerva takes Lucy for granted and belittles her, but Lucy isn’t afraid to speak her mind on what she things of Ginerva.  She is rival in her affections for Dr. John, who falls for Ginerva, and doesn’t understand his rose-colored view of her.  Ginerva is spoiled and assumes that Lucy would be the many people jealous of her, but Lucy is content with her life.  She doesn’t care about Ginerva unless she is hurting Dr. John.  Being my first time reading this the novel read slow and I didn’t know where things would go with Lucy’s story.  Her personality makes her unlikable in the sense she isn’t as nice as Jane, but makes her interesting and compelling to her about.   She is full of delight snark, but her opinionated nature can be frustrating.  She feels alone despite being surrounded by people.  They don’t always understand her and there is divide between herself and them.  My favorite scenes are when Dr. John takes her first to the opera and then the theater.  The two scenes are funny and serious too.  They highlight the blooming friendship of the pair.  Minor complaint is that there is quite a bit of dialogue written in French, so if you haven’t studied the language you need to make sure your copy has notes that are translations of the French.
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