twentyventi's reviews
129 reviews

I had never read Jane Eyre all the way through until now. Such a beautifully written book - Charlotte Bronte’s writing is so evocative, and there are so many gems of dialogue between her characters. The reader is attached to Jane Eyre from the start, a reliable and worthy narrator of her story.

Note: There is definitely some expression of views towards race within this book which is unfortunately not uncommon in books written during this time period/within English literature. It’s a shame as it is not at all relevant or necessary to the plot of the book.

3.25 stars. Was in the mood for the typical cliche rom com setup, but this book ended up being a little more unexpected in a way that I ended up finding refreshing. I have some mixed feelings about some of it (pacing, some character development) but overall it was an easy, entertaining read, though that doesn’t mean it lacked any depth. I found that the dialogue was the area the author most excelled at, for me: It read naturally to me and I often laughed out loud at the cheeky humour. I genuinely loved the MC, the imagery of Scotland, and am always a sucker for stories that mainly take place in a bookshop.

Reread this after probably 15 or so years. A true classic.

I truly didn’t want this novel to end, and yet, was dying to solve the mystery. Compelling, exceptional, creating a new murder mystery genre altogether.

My one grievance with it is some pretty unsettling fatphobia in one section of the book, which I think was pretty unnecessary and heavy-handed. It didn’t add anything to the story and what the author was trying to convey could have been dealt with much more sensitively and thoughtfully.

Honestly was surprised how popular this book was — it was recommended to me by so many people. I made it about halfway through and gave up. It was predictable to a fault and I just found the writing incredibly generic - figured out the entire plot within the first 4 chapters (when I couldn’t bear to read it anymore I looked it up and had predicted 99% of it).

Read this book with my six year old - we both enjoyed it very much. Full of adventure and humour and a wonderful message about lifelong learning. It is full of clever jokes and play of words and puns that make it enjoyable for adults to read even if they go over children’s heads.

I made it about halfway through this book, having loved the very cheesy TV movie as a kid. I loved the premise and I also was prepared to read a more simplistic mystery targeted towards kids, but it just all started slowly falling apart for me with one-dimensional characters and the writing style so erratic that it bordered on confusing even for an adult. I did not care about a single character.

Also the ableism in the book was incredibly off putting — I realize this book is old and so using outdated terms and attitudes, but it was just incredibly difficult to stomach.