Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

185 reviews

peytonktracy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This is easily my favorite “classic” novel. Man, I love Jane Eyre. She’s truly hilarious, witty, clever, and knows herself thoroughly. Mr. Rochester is so complex and interesting - the very definition of a morally gray love interest. This particular audiobook version really brings forward a lot of the wit and humor as well as the less-melodramatic emotional humanity that often gets lost in the gothic mystery of most adaptations. 10/10 would recommend.

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stephmcoakley's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

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erica_cronje's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Immediate Initial thoughts

Oh My Word.

I am absolutely in love with this novel. It is the perfect combination of character and plot and descriptive language. I adored annotating and as such, analyzing this novel and all it's characters. Everything was absolutely amazing, it was much better that Pride and Prejudice in my opinion, the entire character development, love story and progression of the love story, i just enjoyed it much more, it felt like there was more depth with the characters even though, there is arguably less information and character growth in Jane than in Pride. In simple terms, I enjoyed Jane more in every wat possible.

Day-after-thoughts

I adored this book, have i mentioned that by chance?

There were so many aspects of this novel that just, it was just perfect, in my opinion. The characters, the plot, everything, the progression in the characters and such.

Plot and Characters: although it is not perhaps the most essential part of the novel, there is no lack of plot. The thing that made this novel so wonderful to read , is the characters and the plot intertwines with each other. The characters thoughts and actions are integral parts of the plot. The characters and the plot is not two different things, instead they work as a team, enhancing each other even more. For example, when Jane is shoved into the Red Room, we see her lash out, people commenting on her behavior and yet the plot moves on, they keep tying her to a chair, we keep seeing Jane's thought process, it should be a very chaotic scene, yet it is perfectly balanced.

Writing Style: I am so absolutely in love with the writing style of Charlotte Bronte. the way that 'Jane' is constantly addressing the reader personally, it makes the entire experience just even more personal and you connect easier to Jane as a character. I wrote in an annotation on page 93,

Its almost like it is a long personal letter to a friend, almost like she wrote it for you.

Then the descriptions in general were absolutely gorgeous, of both Jane's thoughts, as well as what is around her, and her actions.

Chapter 2, pg. 13, "The reproach of my dependence had become a vague sing-song in my ear, very painful and crushing, but only half-intelligible.
Chapter 9, pg. 75, "When mists as chill as death. . .for the forest on its banks, that showed only ranks of skeletons.
pg.76. " Disease had thus become an inhabitant of Lowood, and deaths its frequent visitor.

My favorite of all though, is the descriptions of nature and feelings in general. They are personalized and due to this personalization, it just adds something so eloquently beautiful, it just reads beautifully, as often seen in the descriptions of the moon.

pg. 116, "a blue sea absolved from taint of cloud, the moon ascending it in her solemn march, her orb seeming to look up as she left the hilltops, from which she had come. . .
pg. 158, " Memory had giving given her evidence of the hopes, whishes and sentiments I had been cherishing since last night. . . Reason having come forward and told, in her own quiet way, a plain, unravished tale, showing how I had rejected the real and rapidly devoured the ideal.

the discussion of the themes: Bronte has various commentaries on the society of the time, the way love was seen and portrayed, gender roles and how they are enforced into people since birth, women being learned and expected to repress their emotions, as seen with Jane herself. Bronte intertwines it into characters that, if one is nor looking for it, it would be unnoticeable, yet it is prevalent throughout the novel.

In conclusion, there s nothing about this book that i do not love, it is is unbelievably perfect, from the plot, to the descriptions, to the commentary on society and all the themes prevalant in general.

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jminaprisc's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

2.25

Some lovely writing but personally found it rather boring and frustrating to read, especially as the protagonist lacks significant agency

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kelisabeth's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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justovereherereading's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

I’ve finally read a classic!
It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but I didn’t know where to start, I’m glad I started with this one.
Did I love it? No! Didn’t I like it? Yes!
The story of Jane Eyre is a sad one full of melancholy, but there is always hope. It isn’t always an easy read and there are times when I didn’t want to continue, but I’m glad I did.
Sometimes the prose was long winded and didn’t add anything to the story other than poetic language and description and whilst I sometimes felt it unnecessary I did enjoy the older language and detail.
It was a times annoying to have to go to the back of the book and read the French notes, but I’m glad they were there so I didn’t have to guess it’s meaning.
What I lovely ending though.

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