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A review by bashsbooks
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
It is my current opinion that Emily Brontë was the best writer amongst her sisters, which is a shame given she has the smallest corpus.
That said, I liked Charlotte's Jane Eyre better than Anne's Agnes Grey. Jane is an endearing character, one who is far more flexible in her morality and ambiguous in her actions (though not too much so, I assume, to make her unsympathetic to contemporary readers, which is kind of a shame to me as a modern reader, but I digress). Mr. Rochester is a fucking piece of work, and I do hate him, but I totally understand why Jane wants to fuck him. I'm weirdly charmed by St. John Rivers as well, but he's also an asshole, and why are all these men trying to manipulate my girl Jane? On a somewhat related note, it's so funny that Jane's ugly appearance comes up CONSTANTLY. And that Jane's Aunt Mrs. Reed has beef with her. Like, she's ten.
I'm fascinated by Bertha Mason and the idea of a dude having a crazy wife he keeps in the attic, so I will be reading Wide Sargasso Sea. I also think Jane's life would've been better if she'd decided to be a lesbian spinster with the Rivers sisters.
That said, I liked Charlotte's Jane Eyre better than Anne's Agnes Grey. Jane is an endearing character, one who is far more flexible in her morality and ambiguous in her actions (though not too much so, I assume, to make her unsympathetic to contemporary readers, which is kind of a shame to me as a modern reader, but I digress). Mr. Rochester is a fucking piece of work, and I do hate him, but I totally understand why Jane wants to fuck him. I'm weirdly charmed by St. John Rivers as well, but he's also an asshole, and why are all these men trying to manipulate my girl Jane? On a somewhat related note, it's so funny that Jane's ugly appearance comes up CONSTANTLY. And that Jane's Aunt Mrs. Reed has beef with her. Like, she's ten.
I'm fascinated by Bertha Mason and the idea of a dude having a crazy wife he keeps in the attic, so I will be reading Wide Sargasso Sea. I also think Jane's life would've been better if she'd decided to be a lesbian spinster with the Rivers sisters.
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Racism, Xenophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Racial slurs, Suicide, Alcohol, and Colonisation
-Ableism abound of both the mental and physical varieties
-Missionary work portrayed as a good thing