A review by kikilarouge
Villette by Charlotte Brontë

challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

I struggled initially with this one. It’s not only a long, difficult read (500+) but some of it is in French and my edition didn’t have translations or footnotes which I highly recommend and will definitely have on a reread. There were times midway where I wanted to throw the book against the wall and considered my first DNF. I know this is blasphemy for lovers of literature and particularly the Brontës. I mean I LOVE them so I was surprised at my lack of connection with this novel. BUT, and this is exactly why I always push through a book, it ended up being a slow burn and the ending was one of favorites of all time. I think it may be helpful for new readers to go into knowing how autobiographical it is and also to take it slow while understanding how complicated and unreliable a narrator Lucy Snowe is. I read this while traveling with friends so it took me some time - three weeks which is a lifetime for me - but now that it’s done, I miss it. Fun side note: I was reading it while in Haworth and visited the parsonage where all the women lived and wrote. I even got to walk in their footsteps through the moors and made a ten mile loop hike one morning out to the ruins of a lonely farmhouse which is purportedly the inspiration for Emily’s “Wuthering Heights.” #dreamtrip