Reviews

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë

annrhub's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted 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? No

5.0

itsdanixx's review against another edition

4.0

RE-READ 2020: Re-reading this classic becasue I haven’t read it since I was literally 13 years old.
I quite liked it at 13, but I loved it this time. I definitely appreciate it more with age and experience.

rmarieb's review against another edition

sad tense medium-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

4.5

evelina96's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? Yes

3.0

This book took forever to read, but I'm so happy I finished it. I started reading the physical book but it felt too slow so I switched to the audiobook which helped a lot. In the beginning, I found the book kind of boring, but throughout the book, I started to care more and more about Jane, and in the end I'm quite satisfied with the book. Since it's a classic I also believe I had way too high expectations. I think I expected Jane Eyre to be some kind of swoony romance, but it's not (at least not in my opinion). I didn't care much about the "love story" and I thought Mr Rochester was annoying and condescending. 

marla0505's review against another edition

5.0

This is one of my all time favorites, I like Jane Eyre much better than Wuthering Heights!! Jane and Edward = classic, beautiful love story.

alitrevisan105's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

riverandstone's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Woof. Christian propaganda and toxic relationship styles. Manipulation, lying, calling your partner “master” and “sir”, men with volatile tempers, gaslighting, coercion… it’s a lot. The narrator was absolutely INCREDIBLE!! She is an amazing actress and knows so many languages and accents! Book? Trash. Narrator? Amazing!

amandagstevens's review against another edition

4.0

Glad to have read this at last. Love the language, love Jane. I'm not sure how the author managed to convince her world that a man wrote this; the perspective is clearly feminine. I enjoy that the narrative focus is Jane's journey and not the romance, though on the whole I came around to their being right for each other in the end. My one qualm with the romance is

Spoiler

Jane's decision to return to him, or rather the timing of it, given she has no idea he is now a widower. I guess that quasi-supernatural moment of hearing each other's voices is a divine intervention to get them back together ... or something.

Or maybe Bronte knew it was problematic and chose it deliberately to remind us that as much as Jane has grown, she's still fallible like everyone else. Which is the thing I enjoyed most: the layers of character developed for both Jane and Rochester. They are fascinating, complicated, flawed people who sometimes contradict themselves, as all humans do. I love the humor they share, a bit dark and usually missed by everyone else in the room.

I'm currently halfway through watching the Masterpiece 2006 version (Toby Stephens/Ruth Wilson) and this cast is really perfect.

amateur_reader's review against another edition

5.0

I want to read this novel again. Mr. Rochester has stolen my heart. This has became on of my favorites.

amber_lea84's review against another edition

3.0

OOooooooooooh my god, that was long. I put off reading it until now because it's so long.

I'm glad I finally read it because it's hilariously weird, but also genuinely good. The first third of this book is amazing.

Spoiler

Let us stop to pour one out for Helen Burns.

The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because I started to lose my will to live every time Mr. Rochester or St. John would speak. And so much of this book is them speaking. I was groaning on the inside the entire time. Pleeeeeeeeease shut up.

Also, Mr. Rochester is insane. I find it hard to believe she didn't get sick of his shit at some point.

I don't really get how she's not okay with being his mistress, but she IS okay with his games.



I get it, he seems to be able to read your mind sometimes and you guys can scream across the abyss to each other but...he's pretty annoying.