Jane Eyre (Signet Classics) by Charlotte Bront? Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Jane Eyre (Signet Classics)
Book Review: A Perfection of Types
Summary: 5 Stars
The story of an innocent young woman who falls in love with a mysterious older man with a dark past is tried and true. In the hands of Ms. Bronte, it acquires a depth of feeling and sincerity of emotion that raise the story type above the maudlin. There may have been other gothic romances similar to "Jane Eyre" before this was written, and there have certainly been many after it, but none have been quite so wonderful.
Lord Byron may have supposedly invented the Byronic hero when he wrote about "Manfred", Mr. Tortured By A Troubled Past... but Bronte's Mr. Rochester is a perfection of the type. He's sensitive, yet abrupt. Demanding, yet tender. Proud, yet remorseful. Every time I read this book, I fall in love with him all over again.
Jane Eyre herself is an even more complex character than Mr. Rochester. She's tough and stern, yet playful. She has a firm moral center and does not hesitate to do what she believes is right, even when it hurts herself or those around her. And by being true to herself and what she knows is right, she ultimately triumphs over a variety of people who might do her great injury (intentionally or not). Again, literature has seen many sturdy, spunky heroines come and go, but Jane Eyre is a perfection of the type.
Book Review: Truth and Lies
Summary: 5 Stars
Penniless. Defenseless. Powerless. This is the reality of Jane Eyre, a young orphan girl forced to cope with the callous world around her as a child. After the death of her parents, Jane is forced to reside with her cruel aunt, Mrs. Reed, who despises her, and consequently sends Jane away to Lowood, a boarding school with little resources and poor housing conditions. Despite malnutrition and a harsh atmosphere, Jane strives to make her mark at the school, eventually becoming a teacher. Before she realizes it, Jane tries to escape from her old life and embarks on a new journey as a governess under the employment of a secretive and guarded gentleman. As Jane falls in love with her mysterious employer, she struggles to safeguard the little confidentiality she has left to protect herself from the secrecy and ill-will of others. Although Jane cautiously guards her heart instead of exposing her soul, a revelation of truth eventually catches up to her, causing more harm than the wrath of the deepest secrets. Jane finds herself trapped between truth and lies as she faces her past, her situation, and herself in a world where all odds are against her. Jane Eyre has remained a classic in literature because Bront? illustrates the necessity of secrets in life, therefore supporting the tendency of human nature to occasionally slip in a guilt-free secret or two into one's life. Book Review: Most deservedly a classic, but curiously modern.
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book on a sort of whim, because I'd been harboring a copy about a hundred years old (cloth cover, and kind of cool in it's own right), and because I had just read 'The Eyre Affair' by Jasper Fforde. In his story, the plot for Jane Eyre gets 're-written' to have a 'newer and more popular ending'. While Jasper Fforde is as loopy as Douglas Adams, that is another review. He seizes on something great though, which is the last section of the book where Jane has gone off from Rochester, and (under terrible pressure) is next to assenting to go off to India with her cousin to work herself to death and bear his children. In the Fforde story, that is how Jayne Eyre ends, until his heroine Thursday Next comes in and sets things on a different path. But enough of that. It's worth mentioning that I was intrigued by the glimpse I got of the story from a single remove. I am very glad I was compelled to read it. I found Jane Eyre very enjoyable, and as I mentioned very modern in many of it's features, from plot movement,to the confidential nature of the narrator's speech, to a certain darker caste, which, while gothic certainly, is also the color of the paper that nearly every screenplay and t.v. script is written on today. The rush & dash of the romance is first rate, and I am sure it was ground breaking when it was written. I look forward to reading a morsel more from each of the Bell (Eyre) sisters.Book Review: Deserves to be the classic that it is
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read Jane Eyre in 8th grade and re-read it this month as I turned 40. I was struck by how beautifully written it was, and the depth of the feelings conveyed. This was a reminder that the quality of thought and writing of the classics of English and American literature is far superior to so much of what gets churned out today. And, the interest and excitement of the storyline is not lost in the process. If this was assigned to you in jr or high school English class, re-read this great book. Book Review: Quite a good novel
Summary: 4 Stars
From the novels of this type (the romantic classics) that I have read, I would say this is one of the better ones. Her other book Wuthering Heights (that I read few years before this), left me baffled at the notion that that was a love story. Jane Eyre, however, is a true love story. It is beautifully written, and Bronte does a wonderful job in developing the character: Jane. By the end I felt I knew her.
The book is quite lengthy, which is its only fault. There are many places in the book that could have been shortened. I tried to read the book a second time, but I managed to get only a third way through.
It is a lovely story. I recommend it if you hunger for a love story. It is lengthy, so some patience is needed at times, but it is well worth it.