Reading #1

[lucie_p]

I'm currently four fifths through Jane Eyre and wanted to ask you literature-savvy flisters why this boring piece of crap lengthy non-story is supposed to be a classic? What is it I don't understand? (That is the standard reply to all the 1-star reviews on amazon.com: that the reviewer simply didn't "get" it and is too uneducated to understand

Comments

[shiv5468]

I don't like it, and think it's boring, but it is important in relation to the formation of the idea of what a novel is, and also the role and status of women.

[lucie_p]

Thank you. I have to say, though, that it rather makes me see what a novel not is, or should not be like.

[shiv5468]

Then you should really try reading Pamela, to get a sense of how boring novels were before the Brontes got hold of things. People cared more in the past about the sort of things that Jane was going through and her moral dilemmas, and they had more time on their hands to fill with reading.

[lucie_p]

Yeah, I guess I'll have to see it in that light. More time for reading and fewer books to choose from.

Too bad, though, for all the students who have to read this - just imagine having to learn to ride a penny-farthing just because those were the first real bikes, the one all current ones were derived from.

[thistlerose]

I've tried three times to make it through the book, and each time I've failed. One of these days I'll read it all the way through just so I can say I've done it. *sigh* I do like Jane and I do like the story, so I've actually quite liked a couple of film adaptations, since they cut away all the lengthy speeches.

[lucie_p]

I'm glad to see I'm not along in my struggling with it.

My reasons for keeping on reading are that I also want to be able to say I read it (and thus am entitled to an opinion) and the fact that I'm doing the read-through along with a group of fellow (German) booklovers (who are reading the translation) in a forum, with a set reading goal of two or three chapters per half-week and ongoing discussions about the book up to the current scene. Those mostly are speculations about what is going to happen, though.

[wildwinterwitch]

I approached the book skeptically, but I closed it after reading it and loved it. I think I tuned out Rochester's lengthy speeches, but I do remember feeling great sympathy with Jane, particularly when she was at that horrible school, and I found the mad woman in the attic intriguing, as well as Rochester, who, despite his lenghty speeches, remains a mystery.

Jane is also a woman who stands up for herself -- so what disappointed me at the end is that this idea is stripped away. You'll see how if you make it through. This is of course early to speak of feminism, but I admire Bronte for creating Jane as such a strong person, rather than a playball of the ruling classes. It's a seminal novel to me (!) for this reason.

[lucie_p]

Jane is strong indeed, and definitely acting in a way not at all common at the time.

Sadly that isn't enough for me. The book might have its merits when regarded in the historical context but it's still absolutely boring to read. That horrible school and the Reed family weren't as hard to take (having read my share of Dickens) as Mr Rochester, who simply gives me the creeps every time he starts talking.