Reviews with content warning for Classism - Jane Eyre

I studied this for Uni and it is brilliant, the plot is heavy but amazing to analyse. But Bertha, or Antoinette, is ignored. To take Spivak’s criticism this book is an allegory of colonisation and it is sad that her story is ignored and erased under Jane and Rochester’s love. While we need to understand the time the author wrote in, this criticism still remains when modern readers view this.

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uchuflowerzone's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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ifweweresorrows's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

2.25

I went into Jane Eyre with surface level information about it and I was so confused about what was so appealing about Mr. Rochester.

I think Jane is dumb for going back to him when he basically told her that he was going to ‘chain her up’ with jewellery. He is by far the most unlikable character I’ve ever come across in a book

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knottmad's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This book is very well written, but the themes and the moral of the story is so awful. It's better to just Google best quotes from this book than read it.

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demi_tang67's review against another edition

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3.0

I HATE ROCHESTER *feral dog noises*

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memorable's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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rebeccaxpaige's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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directorpurry's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

Most of my thoughts are better suited to a series of academic literary analysis/research papers, so I'll do my best to cut those. I will also attempt to ease the other side that might just turn into heated keyboard smashing.

I forgot how much I enjoy this book. I really did. The first time I read Jane Eyre was in high school. And then in college I read Wide Sargasso Sea (and hated it, but that's for another review). But this reading left a much stronger impression on me, both of the negatives and the positives.
The pacing of this novel can be questionable. Far too much time is spent following Jane through Lowood School, and similarly on her love for the Rivers siblings. Many of the characters are quite dislikable - Rochester is rude and sometimes scary, St. John Rivers is straight up abusive by our standards, and Helen Burns is annoyingly preachy and almost disgustingly pious. Another critique from a modern perspective, but I forgot about the religious aspect, which was a personal annoyance as a non-Christian. There was also a fair amount of casual racism and anti-Semitism, a hallmark of the time period.
But I found I didn't care. The writing of Jane Eyre is some of the most gorgeous prose I've read in a while. It flows wonderfully and heatedly. Rochester's speech before Jane leaves is probably my favorite passage in the novel because the words are so wonderful.

The Brönte sisters are (somewhat) well-known for their hatred of Jane Austen. Although I won't be doing the full comparison I might wish to do, I couldn't help but think about the similarities of the two writers, having just finished Pride and Prejudice last week (again). Even as they go about their message in opposite ways, there are definitely some very similar themes. They even equally mark certain character quirks for the reader's inspection. I'll leave those thoughts unfinished for the time being (but HMU if you want to talk Brönte/Austen discourse lol) but there is certainly more to say on the subject.

I love Jane Eyre. Until Rochester entered the page I thought this would be a 3 star read, because I had forgotten so much of the prose.
If I'm being entirely honest, it would harm no one if when attempting to read this for pleasure, you skim up until Jane enters Thornfield, which is where the real power of the writing begins.

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