Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Rating: ★★★★★
Charlotte Brontë is the master of beautiful writing. Every paragraph reads like a poem. Every description orchestrates an atmospheric image in the mind. The banter between Jane and Mr. Rochester had me dreaming of what it would be like to speak in such a way with my own friends. There conversations were so brilliantly constructed, and their jabs back and forth were witty and sharp. If only I could speak like Jane Eyre.
The writing is not the only good thing about this novel. Jane is an incredibly captivating character. She is normal and relatable, but she is so strong. I think she is one of the most bad ass female characters in literary history. She may not fight in battles, but she knows who she is and she will not lower herself to the level of anyone else. She proves herself an intellectual match for every man that questions her. Jane Eyre should be every little girls hero.
Speaking of little girls dreams, Mr. Edward Rochester is a better prince charming than any Disney prince. The relationship Edward and Jane develop is that of two equals who love each other more than anything in the world. Jane does not look to Edward to save her from anything. Jane takes care of herself. They only need each other in the sense that they need to live for the other person. They love each other so much that nothing is more important than being by their side. I want to teach little girls to dream of that kind of love. Way to go Charlotte Brontë!
Such poetic language used to tell such a brilliant, original, completely engrossing story of romance, mystery, and integrity.
If you like Jane Austen, but you find the stories too dull, pick up Jane Eyre! It is written with similar brilliance and elegance, but the story is brilliantly thrilling.
Favorite quotes:
"The two ships becalmed on a torpid sea, I believed to be marine phantoms" (11).
"I feared nothing but interruption, and that came too soon" (11).
"To this crib I always took my doll; human beings must love something, and, in the dearth of worthier object of affection, I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, shabby as a miniature scarecrow" (30).
"Even for me life had its gleams of sunshine" (42).
"Her eyes are fixed on the floor, but I am sure they do not see it - her sight seems turned in, gone down into her heart- she is looking at what she can remember, I believe; not at what is really present" (54).
"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you" (254).
"He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol" (275).
"till now I had only heard, seen, moved -- followed up and down where I was led or dragged -- watched event rush on event, disclosure open beyond disclosure, but now, I thought" (295).
"Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?" (318).
"I still possessed my soul, and with it the certainty of ultimate safety" (318).
"And it is you, spirit -- with will and energy, and virtue and purity -- that I want: not alone your brittle frame" (318).
"Reader, I married him" (449).
