Jane Eyre – completed!
Jane Eyre – in one sentence, I loved it!
The book is narrated by the eponymous character throughout – and she is wise enough to indulge the reader with every little detail on certain life events, and doing us a favour in skipping over irrelevant facts. The events are typically Victorian-literature in nature – riddled with tragedy and disaster, interspersed with comedy. They are enough to motivate the reader to turn pages, but the events are propelled along by excellent characters that have influenced Jane throughout her life.
Jane’s early life is peppered with unkind characters, with selfish or evil tendencies – epitomised by Mrs Reed, the cruel aunt. John Reed, Jane’s cousin, torments her with cruelty during her formative years.
Miss Temple is clearly the first positive character that Jane stumbles across in the book, and her good nature, patience and virtues are something which Jane carries with her through her adult life.
Alice Fairfax, the maid at Thornfield where Jane becomes the Governess once departed from Lowood. It is through her that the strange laughter often heard in the halls was attributable to Grace Poole – when in fact it is those of Bertha Mason, Edward Rochester’s clandestine wife. Scandalous stuff!
And what of Edward Rochester? The mysterious, brooding male lead of the story is fascinating – and despite the secrecy surrounding Bertha Mason, you can’t help but feel for the man. Especially by the end of the novel – which I won’t ruin for those of you who have not yet read it. I’m genuinely of the opinion that Mr Rochester is the blueprint behind the ever-increasing popularity of a certain Mr Christian Grey – but take my word that this novel beats the Fifty Shades trilogy hands down!
I know I haven’t given much away of the plot – that is not the purpose of this post. This is just to summarise my opinions on the novel, and evidence that I’ve completed one of my bucket list aims! If you do ever get the chance to read this book, then do. I was pessimistic before reading the book that I would enjoy – I have tried on numerous occasions to read other classics such as Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, without much success. But this was a real page turner, a story with real heart, and one that I will re-read in future.
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