BOOK REPORT: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Title:                            Jane Eyre
Author:                        Charlotte Bronte
Original Copyright :  1847

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars ( classic )


My Thoughts
A few years ago, I started reading Jane Eyre but didn't finish it. I got about twenty percent through before I had to put it down to focus on other things.  Up to that point, Jane Eyre didn't engage me; I found it verbose and dry.  Once I was finally able to make enough time to pick up the book again, I didn't have the motivation to re-familiarize myself with the characters and story line   As a result, the book sat on the shelf in my bedside table for a long time.

Now, fast-forward to last September when I started up the Olio Scholar project.  Jane Eyre was still sitting on the shelf haunting me. I knew that I wanted to finish it.  It was too high on most reading lists to be ignored.  Too many people I knew listed it as an all-time favorite.  I vowed that I would try to read it again as part of the project.  However, I saved Jane Eyre until I got close to my goal of 25 books in a year before I picked it up.  I figured it would take me a while to push through the approximate five-hundred pages my edition contained and I didn't want to have success hinging on it.

Jane Eyre definitely exceeded my expectations.  I was expecting a dry story about a strong woman in a man's world finding love similar to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  I expected it to be written in a dry, grammatically correct manner, providing insight into the human psyche with stuffy Victorian wit amid an oppressive social structure.  The language was definitely formal  but this wasn't the typical uptight British love story.  It is about a pious woman who desires a full life, with love simply being one piece.  This is one of the reasons that, in 1847, the book was controversial.  It was not a woman's place to be unsatisfied with her lot in life.  Her role was to marry as well as possible and then do everything she could to ensure the husband was well tended to.  

One thing I didn't expect the was the dark, Edgar-Allen Poe like undertones foreshadowed by the rookery looming over Thornfield Hall. I didn't expect the mysterious noises in the attic and unexplained fires.   I didn't expect the secrecy of Mr Rochester's staff.  I welcomed this dark layer as it added a depth to the story that kept me engaged.

One other thing that I noticed reading Jane Eyre.  I now know where J.K. Rowling got her inspiration for Harry Potter's upbringing; the parallels are undeniable.  Does this sound familiar? Jane's parents die and as an infant she is left at the door step of her aunt who promises to raise the child as her own, but instead treats her like dirt.  The children already in the household are pompous, rude brats who get everything they want and forever torment the new addition to the family.  The protagonist orphan is rescued from this domestic hell by going off to boarding school where she make a few friends and excels in her studies.  I wonder if the Bronte estate gets any of the money from the Harry Potter series?

I am glad I finished Jane Eyre.  It was an excellent book and It is easy to see why it is such a lasting story.  It still had its dry parts, don't get me wrong;  I said, "Get on with it!" on several occasions but I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a layered, well-written story.