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Aug 19, 2011

Tatiana rated it:

In short - incoherent overpraised rubbish.

I have read my share of classics over the years. Some of them were boring, some outside the area of my interest, but never had I come across one that was so dreadfully bad and at the same time so critically acclaimed.

I simply can't comprehend how this jumble of disjointed sentences can be seriously called a "masterpiece." The story was almost impossible to follow. Had I not read "Jane Eyre," I'd be lost in thi More...

37 comments like (18 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2008

Elizabeth rated it:

I'll give you that it is one of the worst films adaptations ever. But I didn't just give it 5 stars; it's one of my favorite books of all time. (Just don't watch the film).

This isn't a book for high school students. Jean Rhys was relatively famous as an author in the nineteen-twenties. She wrote a series of seriously depressing books that were caught up in her abusive relationship with her violent, wild husband and her own alcoholism. She stopped writing in the thirties, sunk off to More...

4 comments like (29 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2010

Paquita Maria rated it:

So it turns out that I maybe should have read Jane Eyre before taking on this novel. Despite the fact that ambiguity seems to be the hinge upon which the end of this novel swings, it still seemed that that very ambiguity was more than likely the twist to the original story that moves this novel from "loose reference to a classic" to the realm of "fantastically effective literary poaching." All the same, the text itself was haunting, from the still moments of lovemaking (sort More...

3 comments like (13 people liked it)

May 29, 2007

Jessica rated it:

I have read several books over the past year that were inspired by or offered different viewpoints on other books and stories. These included "The Red Tent", "Wicked", "The Hours", and most recently "Wide Sargasso Sea." I have enjoyed reading all of them and love seeing new perspectives on classic tales. "Wide Sargasso Sea" is Jean Rhys' take on Bronte's "Jane Eyre". However, instead of focusing on Jane Eyre, Ryhs instead turns the lens More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2008

Alison rated it:

This is a must-read for anyone who's read and enjoyed "Jane Eyre." It's the story of Bertha...Mr. Rochester's first wife. This short novel (around 100 pages) is divided into three parts.

Part I tells the story of Bertha's childhood in the West Indies from her own point of view. It outlines her relationship to her mother, her few aquaintances, and her homeland.

Part II is from the point of view of Bertha's new husband (an unnamed Mr. Rochester) and details his More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Amelie rated it:

This book was incredible, lyrical, subversive, and engaging. I particularly enjoyed analysing it for my English HL Paper II, what with the suggestion of Rochester and Antoinette's marriage as an essentially colonialist encounter, and the use of symbols that linked Antoinette's experience to Jane's.
I've never actually read Jane Eyre, and I don't think I ever will...when I heard some innocent middle schoolers discussing how much of a monster Bertha was, and "ugly", too, I totally More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kathryn rated it:

An amazing book, but be very careful if you adore Jane Eyre——you will never feel the same way about Jane or Rochester again.

The book is pretty good in its own right: a beautiful sense of place, interesting narrative style, but it's the way it completely recasts Jane Eyre that makes this a must-read for Brit lit lovers.

And somehow it feels very honest too. I read this and then instantly grabbed Jane Eyre to read Rochester's description of his early married life, and it ma More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2008

Xio rated it:

I am still processing this short novel and am unwilling to say too much about it while under its influence.

Rhys is, was more than a talented storyteller, she had a very keen notion of in/justice and what kind of living narrative can drive a person to means and ends.

If wanting a comparison, I would be forced to point to Franz Fanon or the poetry of Aime Cesaire. The similarities are immediately evident, I suppose.
-------------------------------------

So More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2008

Inder rated it:

*** This review contains spoilers for the book Jane Eyre, and because Wide Sargasso Sea is based on Jane Eyre, there are some spoilers for this book as well. However, I imagine that most readers, like me, know the basic premise of both books before they start reading. Thus, I am not hiding my review.***

Haunting and lovely and very dark. A troubling book about passion, obsession, lust, and deep loneliness, written by a woman who ought to know. This is "Caribbean gothic," and More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2008

Kelly rated it:

The entire point and purpose of this novel is the atmosphere and the mood that it creates both in the minds of the character and the reader. That's really what I felt was the most accomplished thing here. It was very gothic, but managed not to feel antiquated or like all we needed was a few vampires and we had an Anne Rice novel. Rhys makes you feel the scents, the breezes and the raging emotions of the west indies that she is presenting, and I always love that in a novel.

The narrat More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2008

leighcia rated it:

I was drawn to this book when I heard about its premise—it is about Bertha, the crazy wife of Mr. Rochester who is held captive in the attic in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. The novel explores her life in the Carribean and her subsequent existence in England, as a way of uncovering untold narratives. As fascinating the premise was, the book was disappointing. The prose was very lyrical, with a dreamy and dazed tone, which made it beautiful but also very confusing to follow. Despite the strength More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Amanda rated it:

This novel is meant to be a preface to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and give the history of "the mad woman in the attic" as a woman raised in the Caribbean and shaped by the violent politics present there during her youth. It creates a heroine out of a mysterious figure and a villian out of a romanitc hero, turning a classic work of English literature on it's head a bit. Fascinating and one of the few books from my Caribbean lit class that I truely enjoyed.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2011

Shirley rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 26, 2011

G rated it:

I loved Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, but the character in that book I was most interested in wasn’t Jane, it was Mr. Rochester’s “mad wife in the attic,” Bertha. I felt sorry for Bertha. I didn’t feel she was treated right. I also wanted to know more about her. I was fascinated by Bertha. I wanted to know where she came from and what it was that drove her mad. In Jane Eyre, Bertha is a raving lunatic, almost inhuman. But something had to drive this poor woman insane. Surely Rochester didn’t mar More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 14, 2008

Melody rated it:

An unexpected eerie little delight of a book that attempts to answer the question of just who is Bertha Antoinetta Mason. The book takes place in Jamaica and presents us with a possible explanation for the madness of Rochester’s (from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre) mysterious wife that he keeps imprisoned in Thornfield. There is a distinct atmosphere created in this book engaging all the senses: the strong, almost nauseating scent of the night-blooming moon flowers, the sight of the heap of ch More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 13, 2011

Nandakishore rated it:

Every once in a while, I stop to think about the neglected characters in various novels who exist only as plot devices. What are their stories? If you saw the novel through their eyes, what would it be like?

Therefore, ever since I heard the premise of Jean Rhys's novel, I was eager to read it. Bertha, Mr. Rochester's first wife, must have had a life other than as the "madwoman in the attic". I do not know if Charlotte Bronte ever thought about it, but Ms. Rhys obviously More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Sep 20, 2011

Zeruhur rated it:

Il grande mare dei sargassi è un dramma intenso e assurdo. L’intera struttura narrativa è giocata sul contrasto culturale tra creoli, caraibici e inglesi. I creoli, come prodotto di entrambe le altre culture, non sono considerati né dagli uni né dagli altri. Gli inglesi li definiscono negri bianchi, considerandoli un incrocio inferiore, i caraibici mutuano questa espressione e ciò che sottende, invidiando la loro ricchezza. Antoinette, la protagonista del romanzo, cresce in questo ambiente e sof More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 26, 2010

Carolyn rated it:

"Our garden was large and beautiful as that garden in the Bible -- the tree of life grew there. But it had gone wild. The paths were overgrown and a smell of dead flowers mixed with the fresh living smell. Underneath the tree ferns, tall as forest tree ferns, the light was green. Orchids flourished out of reach or for some reason not to be touched. One was snaky looking, another like an octopus with long thin brown tentacles bare of leaves, hanging from a twisted root. Twice a year th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 18, 2010

Cheryl rated it:

I was so interested in reading this book that I had my library bring it back from an inter-library loan. Most of my eagerness was based on my love of "Jane Eyre" coupled with the curiosity I had always had about Mr. Rochester's first wife. However, while the book is not a total disappointment, it was not all that I hoped it would be.

First of all, let me say that the descriptions of the Caribbean Islands are detailed and beautiful. Having just returned from the island o More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2010

Jamie rated it:

I rarely find myself questioning how I'd rate a book, but Wide Sargasso Sea threw me into that little predicament. As I'm writing this, I'm inclined to say 4.5 and mark it as 5 stars (since GR.com refuses to grant us the pleasure of half-stars), but if you'd asked me as I slogged through the latter part of Part II yesterday on a long car ride, I would have said that 3 stars was generous. In short, I'm uncertain where I stand with this novel. I think the first 40 or 50 pages are fabulous, I th More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2008

Lavinia rated it:

It’s worth reading it, even if it has been compared to Jane Eyre over and over. It has a very powerful olfactory and visual impact that reminds me of Marquez and The Caribbean. It smells of rum, cloves and vetiver, a real feast for the nose :)

***
e o carte care merita citita, chiar si daca nu ar fi fost atit de mult asociata cu jane eyre, oferind un impact vizual si olfactiv extrem de puternic [ce aminteste de marquez si marea caraibilor, rhys ramine in zona indiilor de ve More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 05, 2008

Melissa rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2008

Capitu rated it:

Wide Sargasso Sea was such a pleasant surprise. It was a bookclub choice from an internet forum I enjoy, and I picked it up without much knowledge of what it was about, other than the notorious Jane Eyre connection. Fan fiction is a much older concept than many of us had previously considered. But, calling it fanfiction is too narrow a definition.
Jean Rhys novella – it is quite a short book – wrestles with the human necessity of belonging, and the dire cost of not belonging. The l More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 02, 2008

Tegan rated it:

This book was just gorgeous. Sadly, I must admit that I haven't read Jane Eyre, but I know the story well enough (There was a summer when my mom became obsessed with the book and watched every movie version of it ever made.) and I definitely am interested in reading it after this novel. The writing style is a bit difficult to get into, but after a while the words began to flow beautifully and I just fell into the story. The imagery was very vivid and intense. Watching how completely Rochester More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 15, 2011

Gail rated it:

And now for something completely different...
At first I disliked this book intensely because it wasn't what I thought it was. I'd built up some sort of idea that the book was a close reworking of "Jane Eyre".
Well.
It isn't, and I was ticked (can you say immmature?) because I was surprised and felt let down. In my anal way, I didn't just pitch the book, but kept on reading, and I'm mightily glad that I did.
"Wide Sargasso Sea" is a great book about lif More...

10 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 28, 2007

anja rated it:

After reading 'Jane Eyre' I was pretty curious to get to know the other side of the story...

The idea of og giving the 'fury in the attic' a human face and her own sad story is brilliant...it was like watching a caribian flower slowly fading away...I loved the way it was written...and yet...it didn't touch me like 'Jane Eyre'...perhaps it's because of me feeling like a have to take sides...while reading 'J.E' I fell in love with both Jane and especially Mr. Rochester...I loved his wi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 02, 2008

Lindsay rated it:

I wanted to read this because I felt that the character of Bertha Rochester was never adequately developed in Jane Eyre. Unfortunately, it seems she is destined to remain a cipher, since I failed to find much to her in this book either. Her past is fleshed out more, but she herself remains inaccessible. Rhys also fails to elevate her madness to the plane of psychological realism; it's just as random and cartoonish here as it is in the original Jane Eyre.

The book's not a total wash; More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2011

Shovelmonkey1 rated it:

What suprised me most about this book was the fact that it links into Jane Eyre - not something I was aware of when I started reading it and maybe I would have appreciated it more if I had read Jane Eyre first. I loved the description of the islands and life overlooking the sea, hemmed in by the forest. This is a part of the world I would very much like to visit. Also it made me consider an aspect of the slave trade which i've never really thought about before with regards to what happened to th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Danielle added it

I thought I would not enjoy this book as the main character was taken from the "classic" Jane Eyre. Past reading experience of those types of books have been a disappointment. However I was pleasantly surprised by Wide Sargasso Sea. I feel that this novel by Jean Rhys is a classic in it's own right.The main character of the story Bertha Antoinette- Rochester's wife has her motives and character clearly delineated. One could say that Rhys is Bertha's advocate.The author gives us a More...

0 comments like

Feb 16, 2009

Ashley rated it:

Since it is the end of winter and I have winter blahs, I thought to myself: I need a book that is set . . . in the Caribbean. So I started to read this book and it's perfect to read at this time of year, especially when characters step onto the veranda and comment on the smell of cinnamon, cloves, roses, and orange trees.

But this isn't a happy book. It's a retelling of Jane Eyre and is the story of Bertha (Antoinette) Mason--the "mad" woman who is locked up in Thornfield a More...

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