A review by poorlywordedbookreviews
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

3.0

I finally read a Brontë! Well listened to one (the Thandie Newton narration was great). The first two thirds or so, up until the bigamy call out in the church, was really engaging, but the last section really loses momentum after the brief stint on the streets. All the tension in Jane’s relationship with Rochester dissolves - come the reunion I could not care less. The only bright point in this section is when St John Rivers demonstrates that the male loneliness epidemic is nothing new… uttering “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘳, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.” during a marriage proposal has never, ever, made the ladies swoon.

   

Overall it’s an eminently readable classic, no impenetrable prose (although I did find it jarring every time someone ejaculated), that’s characters and themes are complex enough for it to hold up as a great discussion book today. A commentary on boarding schools, the value (or not) of name without money, female independence, the conflating of looks with goodness, loneliness and the desire to be seen. Held up to today’s standards there’s a lot of obliviousness/lack of agency, deus ex machina etc, but also modern sounding humour. The central relationship could be examined for eternity, with both negative and generous readings of Rochester, regardless of a Victorian or 21st century lens. I say generous not positive, because even his biggest fans have to agree that the man is an absolute mess.