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A review by lindseysparks
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
4.0
This starts off slow and it wasn't until the narration switched to Caroline that I began to enjoy it. Caroline made me laugh, she likes learning, she avoids silly company whenever possible and she wishes she were a man so she could get a job and actually use her brain. The intro said she is modeled somewhat on Anne Bronte, which just makes me like Anne more, and makes sense considering my love for Anne's novels.
We don't meet Shirley until page 193 even though she's the title character! I enjoyed her and Caroline's friendship, and Shirley's ability to not take crap from anyone. When one character tries to pressure her into giving a bigger donation, she goes off on him and kicks him off her property. She also refused to be told who to marry or to appreciate being asked. She is perfectly content to stay single unless she falls in love. When her uncle questions her, she says she denies his right to the answer to his questions. She and Caroline also laugh at the idea of women having to hold the same opinions as their husbands. Overall, it's a very feminist novel except one scene where Shirley talks about wanting a husband who can master her, although I felt like she meant someone who can hold his own with her, but she still said "be her master" at one point. I know it was 1848 when she wrote this, but Anne's heroines wouldn't say such a thing. But Shirley and Caroline also talk about how they are wasted on domestic pursuits and not being able to use their brains to do more than keep house and raise children.
There was also a great scene where Caroline explains that her uncle likes shallow women who care only about their looks because it proves him right in his opinion that women are inferior, just toys to be played with.
The novel is also about the Luddites and although I appreciated her treatment of the mill owner I felt like those scenes tended to be less well developed. The novel is set about 40 years earlier and it seemed like she wanted to throw in a lot of details but didn't really blend it with the rest of the story and Robert just doesn't come alive like some of the other characters, even though I liked him.
I just reread Jane Eyre recently and had more problems with it this time. I am surprised that I actually liked Shirley more.
We don't meet Shirley until page 193 even though she's the title character! I enjoyed her and Caroline's friendship, and Shirley's ability to not take crap from anyone. When one character tries to pressure her into giving a bigger donation, she goes off on him and kicks him off her property. She also refused to be told who to marry or to appreciate being asked. She is perfectly content to stay single unless she falls in love. When her uncle questions her, she says she denies his right to the answer to his questions. She and Caroline also laugh at the idea of women having to hold the same opinions as their husbands. Overall, it's a very feminist novel except one scene where Shirley talks about wanting a husband who can master her, although I felt like she meant someone who can hold his own with her, but she still said "be her master" at one point. I know it was 1848 when she wrote this, but Anne's heroines wouldn't say such a thing. But Shirley and Caroline also talk about how they are wasted on domestic pursuits and not being able to use their brains to do more than keep house and raise children.
There was also a great scene where Caroline explains that her uncle likes shallow women who care only about their looks because it proves him right in his opinion that women are inferior, just toys to be played with.
The novel is also about the Luddites and although I appreciated her treatment of the mill owner I felt like those scenes tended to be less well developed. The novel is set about 40 years earlier and it seemed like she wanted to throw in a lot of details but didn't really blend it with the rest of the story and Robert just doesn't come alive like some of the other characters, even though I liked him.
I just reread Jane Eyre recently and had more problems with it this time. I am surprised that I actually liked Shirley more.