When we experience the death of someone dearly loved we go through significant personal change. We are confronted with the loss of identity which has been built intertwined with our loved one. This loss shakes the foundations on which our personal security and life’s stability are built. The loss forces the examination of values and priorities held on what is meaningful in our lives. As our loved one is not longer physically present we focus on the spiritual, transcending the physical. Our thought, emotions, and spirits deepen while at the same time are always directly under our thin skins ready for immediate awakening.

Charlotte Bronte lost her brother and two sisters right before writing Villette. Through the character of Lucy Snowe, Charlotte explores personal identity and stability, delves into the question of what is meaningful in life, and makes a deep spiritual journey. The beautiful writing combined with her emotional and spiritual passion makes Villette a truly great book. I though Jane Eyre should be considered when constructing a list of the Canon of Western Literature. Villette should definitely be on such a list!

Lucy Snow doesn't like you, Reader, doesn't trust you, doesn't conform to expectations or stereotypes and doesn't make anything easy for you. This is a novel crafted with the utmost skill and subtlety, one that makes the reader think and fight for every piece of information. Lucy hints and contradicts at every turn, insists that she is cold and logical at her greatest heights of emotional turmoil and almost never admits the truth of her feelings or tries to explain herself to us. We're left, us pathetic readers, to figure out her world from the clues she gives us and the glimpses of the world we see through her eyes. It's harsh, sad and beautiful and there is no happy ending. If Jane Eyre is a book for high school, Villette is the master class in building an unforgettable psychological novel.

My favorite novel. “Lucy, take my love. One day share my life. Be my dearest, first on earth.” My heart is breaking. “I thought I loved him when he went away; I love him now in another degree; he is more my own.” I’m sobbing. 5 stars.

Kirjan tapahtumapaikkana on kuvitteellinen kaupunki Villette kuvittellisessa keskieurooppalaisessa ranskankielisessä maassa. Päähenkilö Lucy Snowe joutuu ansaitsemaan oman elantonsa, perheensä ja sukulaistensa joko kuoltua tai jouduttua varattomiksi. Se perustuu osittain Charlotte Brontën omiin kokemuksiin opettajana Belgiassa.

Lucyn epätoivoista tilannetta kuvastaa hänen 1800-luvun kontekstissa päättömältä vaikuttava ratkaisunsa jättää Englanti taakseen ja heittäytyä kohtalon vietäväksi lähtemällä ulkomaille ilman kielitaitoa, kontakteja tai varallisuutta.

Hän kuitenkin löytää paikkansa tyttökoulun englanninopettajana, mutta kärsii yksinäisyydestä ja masennuksesta. Ystävien tulevaisuudennäkymät ovat valoisampia ja niihin verrattuna Lucyn oma kohtalo vaikuttaa onnettomalta. Monet Lucyn kohtaamat ihmiset ovat joko käsittämättömän ilkeitä ja julmia tai ajattelemattomia muiden tunteita kohtaan, eikä kirjan loppupuolen käänteet olleet tämän takia mielestäni järkeenkäypiä.

Tätä kirjaa on kehuttu Charlotte Brontën parhaimmaksi. Itselleni viime kesänä luettu Jane Eyre kolahti enemmän. Villette oli mielestäni epätasaisempi kokonaisuus. Lucyn periksiantamattomuus ja resilienssi kuitenkin lämmittivät ja kirjan kieli oli jälleen uskomattoman kaunista.

I can't believe that is how Villette ends. Charlotte Brontë is playing with our minds. Seriously, what just happened? The end was fantastic and crazy. Reading the entire novel was worth it for the build up to those final scenes, to the final lines of the novel. For anyone who has read it, what do you think happened? It's obvious, right? What do you imagine? What are you sure of? What? What?! Seriously, I can't believe what happened.

As a Bronte aficionado, I am ashamed that I have never read this book up until now. It is beautifully written and psychologically complicated. It is one of the most anomalous 19th century novels I have ever encountered. I still don’t know entirely what to make of it... its narrator so perceptive, so sensitive, and yet so detached at times in her narration. The supporting characters are more complex and well rounded than those in Jane Eyre in many cases, and the encounter with the Professor’s family could have been a scene in a Gothic novel. Yet, these scenes and characters stand in contrast to the workaday setting and multiple scenes in a girl’s school. If I were to give three words to describe this book, I would say deep, perplexing, and enigmatic. But highly recommended.

Jane Eyre over Vilette but Lucy over Jane