As I admitted in my Jane Eyre preview post, I have treated the first two books in our Classics Book Club like I treated most assigned reading in high school and college — I waited until the last minute.
In fact, even when I realized that I had a lot more time left to read this one than I thought (because I was a bit confused about the calendar and the timing), I still ended up cramming.
Honestly, 150 pages in, I considered just giving it up. Long sentences full of clauses made the reading slow and difficult, and the book is pretty long.
Also, it was just a bit depressing (and this from someone whose favorite genre these days is memoir, where the author is generally overcoming some horrible tragedy or upbringing or bad choice).
(Spoiler Alert: I don’t normally discuss plot details in a book review, but since this is a book club discussion, I don’t think a book can be discussed without discussing the details of the plot. If you haven’t read it, and don’t want to know — don’t read these posts.)
And then, when it started to get more interesting, I was still a bit troubled by Mr. Rochester’s treatment of Jane, “his little pet.” It seemed a bit . . . . well, creepy. I mean, she’s 19 years old, and he’s almost forty. He’s had mistresses galore, and she’s never known the love of a man — not even a father.
But by 2/3 into this very long book, I was hooked. The relationship between Rochester and Jane fleshed out and I saw how they were a good match. As I alluded in my suggested questions, I saw great parallels between these relationships and Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Rochester and Mr. Darcy are similar in character and they each have to grow on you. I suppose that some big Darcy fans (Lisa?) might disagree with this comparison — if so, let me have it. But could anyone deny the similarities between Elizabeth and Jane? Both independently thinking women before their time, and each unattracted to marriage simply as an institution and refusing to marry for anything but love.
I asked an “English major-y” type question in the preview (you can use some or all of the questions in your response, or none at all) about prototypical characters. But since Pride and Prejudice came first, I have to say that Austen has a corner on the feisty female and the brooding male.
Even so, I enjoyed it. By the end, I was racing through to finish. I enjoyed the stereotypical actions of the characters, yet found myself amazed by the depth and strength of Jane herself. She broke through the perceptions of what one would consider as “good” or “bad,” I thought.
Thursday in Books on Screen I’ll give my thoughts on two screen versions of Jane Eyre. I’d love for you to join in in the comments if you have feelings (good or bad) about any of them.
Managing Editor Jennifer Donovan is a contributing editor at 5 Minutes for Mom. She has been blogging at Snapshot for over two years.
Join us November 4 as we discuss an American novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I think it’s quite before it’s time. I’d love to see if you agree.
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I haven’t watched any version of Jane Eyre, but I won a copy of the 1970 version in a giveaway a couple months ago. I’ve been saving it for after this review. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to watch it later this week!
I have viewed 2 versions of Jane Eyre. Today, I start viewing a 3rd version. I look forward to reading your thoughts about about the screen versions of Jane Eyre.
I’ve never seen any of the film versions, but I sure loved the book.
Jennifer!
Help. I managed to make a mistake on mister linky and he took my Pride and Prejudice link…not the Jane Eyre one. What do I do now? I can’t seem to manage to delete it and re “link” up. Can you Help?
Okay,
Now I was able to re link but I can’t remove the #7 link that is to the P&P. I guess you will have to do it. I’m so sorry! A quick click of a button without a double check and it is stuck! UGH!
Sounds we like had a similar reading experience. Oh and btw, I was being sarcastic when I said St. John was awesome. I disliked him worse than Mr. Rochester!!
I’m really looking forward to your books on screen post about this same title. Can’t wait!
I love the choice of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! That is one of my absolute favorite books.
I really need to watch a couple film versions of Jane Eyre; I look forward to hearing what you think.
I read and reviewed this book here about a year and a half ago (I didn’t link it above since it was more of a review than a discussion and it wasn’t recent). It quickly became one of my favorites. I was amazed at the humor in it — I had thought it was all dark and brooding. And even though it is not a Christian book per se, I loved the Christian principles in it. One of my favorite passages is Jane’s reasoning about how she cannot be Rochester’s mistress though strongly tempted.
Thanks for the inspiration to finally read a book that has been on my list for years! I enjoyed it very much despite it’s being a bit dark. I agree with Barbara H. in that one of the passages I loved the most was her refusing to become Mr. Rochester’s mistress. “Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation.” – my favorite quote.
I’ll be looking forward to reading your reviews on the two versions of Jane Eyre! 🙂 Thanks for this, I so have enjoyed it!
I too am looking forward to your books on screen thoughts! I really enjoyed the Masterpiece Theater version!
I love the point you make about Pride and Prejudice coming first. How true! I forget sometimes that classic authors could still have been influenced by folks before them.
🙂
– Jillian