Jane Eyre - book of the week

OpenDemocracy have chosen Jane Eyre as their 'book of the week'. With all the cheap editions available perhaps this will encourage some of those people who have never read the book to go and be grabbed by that walk that there was no possibility of taking that day. Who knows?

This is what the reviewer - Herpreet Kaur Grewal - says on the book:

“The idea of a passionate and independent heroine choosing her life when the status of women in Victorian times was limited is the great appeal of Jane Eyre. Although countless books with female leads now exist, there are few contenders to Jane Eyre – an individual whose rebellion is thought-out and profound not rash and superficial. Our unconventional protagonist is plain, orphaned and a loner, but determined to seek love and retain some autonomy and equality in her relationship with Edward Rochester. In many ways the narrative can be seen as a standard melodrama – a poor girl rising above her conditions and fate - but its memorably crafted characters and vivid scenes, written in an engaging prose style make it anything but. Bronte’s use of the supernatural adds an otherworldly luminosity to the novel, which is set against isolated, grey and gothic landscapes evocative of Eyre and Rochester’s stormy yearning for belonging (and each other) and their deprived, long-suffering histories.”

And for those who have already read it - reread it. There's plenty of new things to be discovered every time you get lost in the pages of Jane Eyre. Make it your own 'book of the week' and you'll see how your week gets better.

Categories: Jane_Eyre, Charlotte_Brontë