Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

36 reviews

flowergirlannaaaaaaa's review against another edition

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? No

3.0

Jane Eyre, while widely regarded as being an iconic feminist novel, is nothing groundbreaking. The protagonist, Jane, is a very dull one to follow, especially given the extremely slow pace of the book. Rochester, her love interest, is abundantly older than her and extremely manipulative. Bronte takes an abundance of time embellishing her text with description--while it is pretty prose, it amounts to little more than that. My main issue with the book, however, is the blatant way

Bertha Mason, one of the characters, is handled. She is written off as unfeminine, insane, and disgusting, and is frequently juxtaposed to Jane. It seems as though Bertha's exclusive purpose within the story was to be a plot device: her agency is only relevant when it comes to developing Jane and Rochester's toxic romance. If Bronte wanted to write a trendsetting feminist novel, she should have done so by not weaponizing lack of femininity and mental illness as a means of degrading any woman close to Rochester other than her beloved protagonist. Bertha was his lawful wife, but Rochester decided she was 'too Black' and 'too unfeminine,' to be around, so he locked her in his attic and was confused when she began acting genuinely erratic and hostile. Bronte portrays her repeatedly as a monster rather than as a person. It was painfully obvious reading that book that those who hail it as iconic and inclusive refuse to acknowledge the flaws in the "happy ending." As a segway into that, Jane is seen to have no flaws throughout the book, other than her lack of ability to exit a toxic relationship, which isn't at all portrayed as a flaw in the text. On the contrary, Bronte treats Jane's return to Rochester as a 'deeply sympathetic act.' This only further promotes the widespread mentality of the time that women must give up and devote their lives to men 'out of the kindness of their hearts,' regardless of how much abuse they endured. He tried to trick her into committing bigotry when she did not consent. He held his past suicidal thoughts over her head to justify how he locked Bertha in his attic for decades (and our 'feminist' protagonist took no issue with the notion of locking 'unfeminine' women in attics). He threatened Jane. He intentionally flirted with other women just to make her jealous. And yet she still went back to him. Why? 'Because of true love?' That is not feminist by any stretch, it's just a bad romance novel. Jane also is never seen struggling to cope with her trauma or lashing out, because 'God forbid an accurate portrayal of mental illness, or just God forbid a woman being mentally ill. God forbid having a protagonist like Bertha.' The "happy ending" is a mary sue protagonist being put on a mantle with a horrible husband, and it sure as hell isn't happy for Bertha, who commits suicide towards the end of the book. And look, maybe Jane didn't know that Bertha was dead when she went back to Rochester, since the suicide happened beforehand. But Charlotte Bronte sure as hell did. She made the conscious choice to have Jane and Rochester be wed immediately after Bertha Mason kills herself. It leaves an incredibly bitter taste in my mouth to know that the female character most fucked over by the patriarchy, Bertha, was only treated as an obstacle so the male and female lead's relationship wouldn't be 'too easy.' I listened to someone suggest once that she 'killed herself so Jane and Rochester could be together' and wanted to vomit.

And you know what, maybe I'm just a random person on the internet that very passionately hates the way this book is received, but a spin-off book called "Wide Sargasso Sea" was written many years later by an entirely different author. It handles many of the topics I just addressed and

is unafraid to portray Rochester's manipulative, controlling disposition from a lens that isn't rose-tinted. Bertha Mason is the main character, and it's the (different) author's take on how she came to marry Rochester, be abused by him, and go insane.

I would highly recommend reading it.

All in all, I found this a highly boring and uninteresting read. Once again, the prose itself was gorgeous, but that's all I can say in its favor. I wouldn't hate this book so much if it weren't for the reputation and reception it tends to have. I had to read this for a feminist literature curriculum and was embarrassed by how terrible the feminist themes were executed. It made me sick to read what felt more like a blatant attack on feminism. Yes, it was original for its time, but that's where it ends. Stop teaching that this book is the pinnacle of feminist literature, old or new.

Teach about the history behind neurodivergent, 'unfeminine,' 'unruly,' and colored women (people in general, but especially women) being shoved into asylums that equated to torture facilities because they didn't fit the mold.

Teach about the way people with genuine mental illness were treated and still are treated. 

3/5 from me exclusively on the basis of significance and prose.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

quinna_corinne's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

annapox's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Colonisation

epsyphus's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I can't imagine why I'm always hearing about Wuthering Heights when this book exists. I loved the romance and the mystery. I liked the narration a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

lal145's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

downsophialane's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

How does one even review Jane Eyre? It's lush and atmospheric, creating the vibes and tropes that have been so central to my favourite genre for two hundred years. If there's anyone left in the world who doesn't know the big revelation at the end of this book, I won't spoil it but... yeah. Mr R. does some rough stuff in this book, and honestly, so does Bronte, considering who is reduced to a literary device. On that note... It's also pretty racist. So much phrenology, Lottie, why?
So, okay, it's complicated. There are reasons to avoid it. But there are also reasons that you may be interested, particularly if you're a romance reader. If Pride and Prejudice is the mother of modern romance, Jane Eyre is the cool younger auntie.
I would highly recommend podcasts Whoa!mance's Public Access Read-a-Long and Hot and Bothered "On Eyre" series for audio reading companions. 

💛💛💛💛

TO TEACH?  🍎
Jane Eyre is delicious for the Gothic, of course. I've been assigned Jane and R's first meeting for year 10. We'll see how that goes (honestly, that meeting is real sexy and I feel like my colleague who made this decision... maybe didn't register how sexy it is...  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Racism, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Racial slurs and Suicidal thoughts

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

mme_carton's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

nerdkitten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Death, Blood, and Death of parent

chloereadds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts