You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Oh man. It took me a few months to read through this, which is unusual for me. The reason was that it just struck too close to home and I had to have a long, big break from it if I wanted to remain non-depressed.
Jane Eyre is one of my favorite old-timey books, and my favorite from all the Brontës. In my mind's comparison between the two, Jane Eyre remains being my fave, even if Villette has all the things that make me love Jane Eyre so much and MORE. The main reason I love Jane Eyre so much is that I admire Jane's capacity for picking oneself up, her restraint, her fortitude, her ability to eschew all frippery and drama. Villette is THE fortitude-and-restraint-in-a-woman festival, but it was just too much of a good thing, and it tipped the boat over.
Reading about these kind of women is rare, which is why I love Jane Eyre so much. But reading too much about it made me go to the other side, and really examining and questioning things I didn't want examined and questioned. I don't think I've ever read a woman like Lucy Snowe before-- not even Jane Eyre. And it was highly masochist of Charlotte Brontë to write about her, I imagine. Acknowledging the feelings and thoughts that come with being a woman like Lucy Snowe (and in a lower degree, like Jane Eyre) is painful. Rare, beautiful, illuminating-- but painful.
When I finally finished it I was already expecting the blow, thankfully, which made it a very different experience than if I had finished this months ago, when I started it.
Jane Eyre is one of my favorite old-timey books, and my favorite from all the Brontës. In my mind's comparison between the two, Jane Eyre remains being my fave, even if Villette has all the things that make me love Jane Eyre so much and MORE. The main reason I love Jane Eyre so much is that I admire Jane's capacity for picking oneself up, her restraint, her fortitude, her ability to eschew all frippery and drama. Villette is THE fortitude-and-restraint-in-a-woman festival, but it was just too much of a good thing, and it tipped the boat over.
Reading about these kind of women is rare, which is why I love Jane Eyre so much. But reading too much about it made me go to the other side, and really examining and questioning things I didn't want examined and questioned. I don't think I've ever read a woman like Lucy Snowe before-- not even Jane Eyre. And it was highly masochist of Charlotte Brontë to write about her, I imagine. Acknowledging the feelings and thoughts that come with being a woman like Lucy Snowe (and in a lower degree, like Jane Eyre) is painful. Rare, beautiful, illuminating-- but painful.
When I finally finished it I was already expecting the blow, thankfully, which made it a very different experience than if I had finished this months ago, when I started it.