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pixie_d's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Rhys does a marvelous job with atmosphere, but the plot is lurid and disturbing. If I weren't trying to fulfill a book challenge prompt to read a "prequel," I might have dnf'd it despite the writing skill and the short length. So many trigger warnings. You'll need a strong stomach to get through this.
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury
chanatova's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment
david_slack110507's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Incest, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Cultural appropriation
jose_kg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
The whole book felt very dream like and it was hard to keep up with what was happening when, what was true and what was madness. I appreciate this is probably the point, a fair amount of the book is from Antoinette's perspective and you have to question what is real, but I actually found Mr Rochester's part more the more confusing of the two perspectives.
My main take aways from this book are 1) that I came to really hate Mr Rochester for being such an awful person who was so easily swayed by gossip and racism, to the point I had to disconnect him from Jane's love because there is no way she could love such an awful man. 2) it is really hard as a modern reader to read anything from the perspective of a white ex-slave owner, even when a more modern writer is trying to show how awful those attitudes were. It makes it hard to love a character who uses the N word and believes that black people are fundamentally lesser to white people, even when this is historically appropriate for a person with this background in this time period.
Overall it is an interesting book, but I enjoyed Part 1 much better than the rest.
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
cyberhavok's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal death and Child death
tinyjude's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
3.75
In some senses, it does a great job at giving depth both to Bertha's character and background, and Mr. Rochester's feelings about her (which I did not expect to find here), as well as the racial complexities in Jamaica after the end of "legal slave ownership" (we know it was still being enacted nonetheless), colourism, women's autonomy and the treatment of (women's) madness and how these poor women are driven into these unstable mental states by their environments, and mostly their husbands.
But it was also confusing in a lot of instances and felt short when depicting more the nuance of the black characters' feelings towards their previous slave owners. I wish we had focused more on them in general, than the white Creole perspective, but I understand Rhys' background and how that shaped this re-imagining of Bertha's story. Still, I think it should be an essential read after Jane Eyre because it adds more depth to her character and a more complex post-colonial context than the original book did.
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Moderate: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, and Classism
rtrotzko's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Mental illness and Alcohol
pippagrace's review against another edition
2.5
Graphic: Mental illness and Rape
pencilspeaker's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Slavery, and Colonisation
ifweweresorrows's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death