A review by theblushbookworm
Villette by Charlotte Brontë

informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“Villette” by Charlotte Brontë is an underrated classic. I liked it as much as I liked “Jane Eyre”. It was classed as a romance at the time, but I like it much more thinking of it as a contemporary fiction (now turned classic) or a Bildungsroman. I continue to not be a fan of her male love interests, but I adore her heroines. The novel was so ahead of its time in its portrayal of Lucy Snowe, an English teacher in the fictional town of Villette based off of Brussels, Belgium. We see Lucy deal with depression, which is surprisingly written about without judgement despite this being a 19th century novel, and we also watch her fight for workplace autonomy and subtlety critique slavery. The novel is full of imperialist and anti-Catholic sentiment. As much as I disavow prejudice, I find it interesting to reflect upon how people thought incorrectly in the past. It brings clarity to how we’ve corrected these prejudices with time. I highly recommend reading this and really any classic in the Penguin Clothbound editions. They have notes and an introduction (don’t read that until the end) that add a lot of valuable context to the novel like that “Villette” is largely auto-biographical. I loved the ending and find it so subversive in its original intent. Brontë’s father did influence it to be more ambiguous to fit the desire for a HEA, but I still loved it. Overall Brontë’s writing style is consistent, so if you like Jane Eyre for any of these reasons, I encourage you to try “Villette”.