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A review by nas12
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
5.0
It feels like it took me forever to finish this novel, but that doesn’t mean I’ve found its reading tedious. I think I made the right call when I decided to read Jane Eyre little by little, as it is a dense novel that should be palated in small quantities, like the most exquisite delicatessen.
One of the things I liked the most about this novel is the way it’s written. As much as I don’t tend to like the first person point of view, in this story it worked very well, and the reason I didn’t suffer from one of my literary pet peeves the way I tend to do, it’s because the writing style was extremely beautiful. In fact, I had to stop several times to write down certain passages since they felt like poetry in prose form. I’m aware that this “affected” and more “lyrical” style of writing can be usually found in any centuries old novel by the sole reason that language is a living creature and it changes, so it feels different compared with our actual, more direct and succinct, way of writing. But, in other occasions, I’ve found that old style of writing boring and unnatural, while in this novel it truly moved me.
The other big positive point on favor of this novel is, in my opinion, Jane Eyre herself. In this book we get to learn about her entire life story, and we get to dwell into her more deep and hidden feelings and thoughts. By the end of the story you feel like you know her, like a long lost friend, and what you know is wonderful. Because Jane is not like other heroines of her time. She has a mind of her own, a beautiful mind, and a strong character without it making her unlikable. She is a free bird in a small world, alternating between jails and the sky, without losing herself or her dignity in any of those environments.
Edward Rochester is also a character to behold. He is not the attractive man that tends to saturate the romantic novels of this time period, but a coarse man with a great mind and a level of disappointment in life that seems unusual in a novel of this genre. What I liked is that, even though both Jane and Rochester talk about bettering him, he doesn’t really change in excess. He is loved as he is, and it only seems fair since Jane doesn’t change herself either, even though her personality doesn’t seem propitious for her time and final social position.
Their conversations were extremely entertaining, maybe because they were anything but romantic or cheesy, although you could feel their mutual affection growing.
This novel is also unexpectedly dark, with the big isolated house being at its center and the mystery that floats over it until the big reveal, which was shocking. I also liked that the novel didn’t end when happiness was found, that there were still trials and tribulations to endure until reaching the real ending that, by the way, was to a certain extent unexpected.
All of it make an amazing novel I’ve truly enjoyed, and that I would like to read again, but maybe not anytime soon, because as I said, its main and maybe only downside from my point of view, is that it’s a heavy reading.
One of the things I liked the most about this novel is the way it’s written. As much as I don’t tend to like the first person point of view, in this story it worked very well, and the reason I didn’t suffer from one of my literary pet peeves the way I tend to do, it’s because the writing style was extremely beautiful. In fact, I had to stop several times to write down certain passages since they felt like poetry in prose form. I’m aware that this “affected” and more “lyrical” style of writing can be usually found in any centuries old novel by the sole reason that language is a living creature and it changes, so it feels different compared with our actual, more direct and succinct, way of writing. But, in other occasions, I’ve found that old style of writing boring and unnatural, while in this novel it truly moved me.
The other big positive point on favor of this novel is, in my opinion, Jane Eyre herself. In this book we get to learn about her entire life story, and we get to dwell into her more deep and hidden feelings and thoughts. By the end of the story you feel like you know her, like a long lost friend, and what you know is wonderful. Because Jane is not like other heroines of her time. She has a mind of her own, a beautiful mind, and a strong character without it making her unlikable. She is a free bird in a small world, alternating between jails and the sky, without losing herself or her dignity in any of those environments.
Edward Rochester is also a character to behold. He is not the attractive man that tends to saturate the romantic novels of this time period, but a coarse man with a great mind and a level of disappointment in life that seems unusual in a novel of this genre. What I liked is that, even though both Jane and Rochester talk about bettering him, he doesn’t really change in excess. He is loved as he is, and it only seems fair since Jane doesn’t change herself either, even though her personality doesn’t seem propitious for her time and final social position.
Their conversations were extremely entertaining, maybe because they were anything but romantic or cheesy, although you could feel their mutual affection growing.
This novel is also unexpectedly dark, with the big isolated house being at its center and the mystery that floats over it until the big reveal, which was shocking. I also liked that the novel didn’t end when happiness was found, that there were still trials and tribulations to endure until reaching the real ending that, by the way, was to a certain extent unexpected.
All of it make an amazing novel I’ve truly enjoyed, and that I would like to read again, but maybe not anytime soon, because as I said, its main and maybe only downside from my point of view, is that it’s a heavy reading.