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zinn24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Animal death
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
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
sarasreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This prequel take on colonialism and feminism was definitely interesting, and packed a lot into a short book. There were so many metaphors and details that held deeper meaning. It's a little rough to read though, as there is a lot of racism, racial slurs, violence and powerlessness. An interesting and eerie take on the story of Bertha.
Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Colonisation
edwardian_girl_next_door's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Gaslighting
janenx01's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism and Animal death
mercedes's review against another edition
3.0
Some common criticisms I see popping up in most negative reviews of this book is that it is confusing and makes no sense, and I have to say that this was not my personal experience with the book. I didn't think it was that difficult to follow along with the story, and while the flow of the book is definitely not typical, it works for a novel about two very lost characters. I don't think I could have asked for more from this book and it works excellently for what it is.
(Minor spoilers for Wide Sargasso Sea, spoilers for Jane Eyre)
Graphic: Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Rape
ruffian23'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? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
clevermird'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? Yes
2.25
Wide Sargasso Sea is the latest in my quest to read through the "great classics" of Western literary canon, and it's the first one I can truly say I didn't like.
I should start by getting the elephant in the room out of the way - this book is essentially published Jane Eyre fanfiction. Now, that's not inherently a bad thing. The story makes little secret of it and the premise was intriguing. Who was Rochester's mad wife really? What was her side of the story? Sadly, although it does deliver the promised tale, Wide Sargasso Sea fails to offer much to a reader that they couldn't already have figured out for themself.
Antoinette Cosway lives with her mother and disabled younger brother in the crumbling ruins of their family's estate. When slavery was abolished, the family was plunged into near-poverty and rejected both by the freed slaves (who were understandably resentful of their former masters) and the white community (who saw them as both morally deficient former slave owners and as social inferiors). As she grows, the constant feelings of outcast will weigh down her mind and combine with her husband's own problems and lead to madness, infidelity, and a disaster of marriage that threatens to destroy both of them.
I was really disappointed in this book. I found Antoinette to be irritatingly childish and helpless. I know that the lack of agency she has in her own life is kind of one of the points of the book, but for me it moved past that and into "good grief, woman, stop wringing your hands and do something". Her husband, meanwhile kept oscillating between "very reasonable" and "what on earth is wrong with you?" In the end, rather than a portrait of a woman kept down by a cold and unfeeling man, or a tragedy of two hopelessly mis-matched souls, I wound up almost feeling like they deserved each other.
The reason this book got more than two stars (instead of the 1.5 I would have given it otherwise) is the prose. It's beautiful, dreamy, almost stream-of-consciousness stuff that makes every line interesting to read on its own and really captures the almost fever-dream like nature of the story and the lush tropical setting. However, this proves as much a hindrance as a help, with major events often glossed over in favor of more mood setting. There were several important plot points that I was confused on because the writing style obfuscated them so much.
Overall, a book with a promising start and an enjoyable writing style that fails to offer much of substance or deliver on the promised narrative.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Colonisation
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, and Alcohol