Friday Feature is where we share books we love that have been out for several years. We don't want these treasures to get lost just because they aren't babies anymore!
Jane Eyre
By Charlotte Bronte
458 pages
first pub. Jan 1847
Having grown up an orphan in the home of her cruel aunt and at a harsh charity school, Jane Eyre becomes an independent and spirited survivor-qualities that serve her well as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him whatever the consequences or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving her beloved?
****
I wish I could have read this before having seen any of the movies, I think I would have connected emotionally to the story. But, having said that, I absolutely loved this book! I loved that the characters weren't typical - they were very flawed. Totally my kind of story - through heart ache and set backs and hardships, they earn the ending. Happy endings are best when earned through sorrow, in my opinion. Though the ending did feel a little cheated, I don't think it took away from the story. I loved Jane Eyre's character. Though she was rebelious to religious hypocracy, she didn't shun religion altogether, which is a much more common form of rebellion. Almost as interesting as the story were the critiques from her contemporaries and figures since. Her contemporaries (since it was published under a psuedonym at the time) debated the sex of the author and many said it couldn't be a female, unless she was completely unsexed, because the style was too strong, too free, and Jane Eyre herself was an immoral character. Then you have Virginia Wolfe who said that Charlotte Bronte was still tied too tightly to her Victorian dogmas. Highly highly recommend this classic! I also felt it was very easy to read for the time period it was written in - I thought it almost felt contemporary in it's tone.
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