Finished this book one minute ago. I read the last 100 pages in one sitting and it’s now 2am. I’m just stunned and so relieved by the ending. It’s been so long since a story had me so invested that I felt physical ache for the characters’ love and misfortunes. Jane is such an icon I love her strong sense of self. I love the motifs in the imagery like the moon and wind and woods and fire etc It’s exquisitely written. I underlined the shit out of this book to the point i think I’ll have to buy a new copy since I destroyed this one with love. Definitely one of my all time favourites now

hey. 
I hated this book. 
- the age gap. 
- she doesn't really have any personality. 
- his personality is "oops I locked my ex-wife in the attic haha"
- it was just really f*cking boring. 
for me this was the epitome of "it is so bad, I want to give you a zero. but that's not possible, so I give you...a one."

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.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

Jane Eyre truly revolutionized fiction and paved the way for modern day literature. Most books were not  written in first person perspective, but Charlotte Brontë used it to create a sense of intemacy. 
Jane Eyre tells the story of a female protagonist looking for agency and meaning. 

“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you!”

Jane Eyre is active and fights back and stands by her values. 

“I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.” 

And although I am not a big fan of Rochester (

I feel terrible for his 1. Wife

), I do enjoy their lovestory.

“Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear.”

It's just so beautifully written. 

“If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.”