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Wide Sargasso Sea

by Jean Rhys, Andrea Ashworth (Introduction)

3.5 of 5 stars 3.50 · rating details · 20,983 ratings · 1,821 reviews

In 1966 Jean Rhys reemerged after a long silence with a novel called Wide Sargasso Sea. Rhys had enjoyed minor literary success in the 1920s and '30s with a series of evocative novels featuring women protagonists adrift in Europe, verging on poverty, hoping to be saved by men. By the '40s, however, her work was out of fashion, too sad for a world at war. And Rhys herself w...more In 1966 Jean Rhys reemerged after a long silence with a novel called Wide Sargasso Sea. Rhys had enjoyed minor literary success in the 1920s and '30s with a series of evocative novels featuring women protagonists adrift in Europe, verging on poverty, hoping to be saved by men. By the '40s, however, her work was out of fashion, too sad for a world at war. And Rhys herself was often too sad for the world--she was suicidal, alcoholic, troubled by a vast loneliness. She was also a great writer, despite her powerful self-destructive impulses.

Wide Sargasso Sea is the story of Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress who grew up in the West Indies on a decaying plantation. When she comes of age she is married off to an Englishman, and he takes her away from the only place she has known--a house with a garden where "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."

The novel is Rhys's answer to Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë's book had long haunted her, mostly for the story it did not tell--that of the madwoman in the attic, Rochester's terrible secret. Antoinette is Rhys's imagining of that locked-up woman, who in the end burns up the house and herself. Wide Sargasso Sea follows her voyage into the dark, both from her point of view and Rochester's. It is a voyage charged with soul-destroying lust. "I watched her die many times," observes the new husband. "In my way, not in hers. In sunlight, in shadow, by moonlight, by candlelight. In the long afternoons when the house was empty."

Rhys struggled over the book, enduring rejections and revisions, wrestling to bring this ruined woman out of the ashes. The slim volume was finally published when she was 70 years old. The critical adulation that followed, she said, "has come too late." Jean Rhys died a few years later, but with Wide Sargasso Sea she left behind a great legacy, a work of strange, scary loveliness. There has not been a book like it before or since. Believe me, I've been searching. --Emily White

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Paperback, 156 pages

Published August 3rd 2000 by Penguin Books Ltd (first published 1966)

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Sep 14, 2012 Jenn(ifer) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those who have already read Jane Eyre

Recommended to Jenn(ifer) by: I would never have found Jean if not for Mariel

Shelves: summer-of-women-2012, female-authors, read-in-2012, my-reviews-that-dont-suck

As many of you who read my reviews are aware, I had devoted this summer to exclusively reading female writers, as my reading list was woefully lacking in books written by the fairer sex. It has been an exceptional experience for me as it has opened my eyes to such great writers as Flannery O’Connor, Virginia Woolf, Alice Munro and the incomparable Jean Rhys.

Jean Rhys! I feel I owe a debt to the original publishers of Wide Sargasso Sea because if not for its publication her exceptional early work...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Mariel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: I'll come running with a bed on fire

Recommended to Mariel by: your body's over me

"Very soon she'll join all the others who know the secret and will not tell it. Or cannot. Or try and fail because they do not know enough. They can be recognized. White faces, dazed eyes, aimless gestures, high-pitched laughter. The way they walk and talk and scream or try to kill (themselves or you) if you laugh back at them. Yes, they've got to be watched. For the time comes when they try to kill, then disappear. But others are waiting to take their places, it's a long, long line. She's one o...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Steve aka Sckenda by: Modern Library

Shelves: modern-library-100, time-100, mental-illness, about-books, 20th-century, colonialism, race, feminism, pov-multi, women-voices, marriage, prequel, movie

“My name is not Bertha; why do you call me Bertha?” How does Antoinette Cosway of Coulibri, Jamaica, become Bertha Rochester of Thornfield Hall, England? How does she fall from Creole heiress to Rochester’s “crazy wife”?

This is a famous prequel to Jane Eyre, but the 1966 novel is very different from its 1847 precursor. A reader’s love for the first provides no indication of the second’s favorable reception, as they are very different reading experiences. Gone is the moral earnestness, and a gla...more

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Sep 15, 2010 Tatiana rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those who like books about incoherent lunatics

Shelves: 1001, 2009, classics, why-the-hype

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 this book completely. The characters' motivatio...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Nandakishore Varma rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction

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 did, and this compellingl...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Jennifer (aka EM) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novellas

What I liked best was the amazing voice - it reminded me a little of Heart of Darkness, or what I remember of it, anyway: that sense of oppressive, humid doom; the vegetal, dangerous, organic descent into madness. A little voodoo on the side; themes of social injustice - slavery, colonial oppression - framing the personal injustice (the reframing of women's sexuality by the patriarchy as madness, to name one).

I love how the story built towards increasing levels of delusion brought on by spells...more

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May 26, 2011 TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-to-read-more-than-once, classics, literary-fiction

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

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Dec 30, 2008 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: in-by-of-england, reviewed, victorians-and-wannabes

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 Cornwall, an...more

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Jan 25, 2010 Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

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 of a less detailed v...more

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May 29, 2007 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, fiction, other-bookclub, no-new-tale-to-tell

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 onto the life of Bertha, the mad woman who is locked in the...more 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 onto the life of Bertha, the mad woman who is locked in the attic of Mr. Rochester's house. The story takes place in Jamaica and Dominica in the mid-1800's. It is a time of unrest between the English colonizers, the recently freed slaves, and the Creoles. Antoinette Cosway (Bertha) is the Creole daughter of former slave owners and an heiress. Rhys relays Antoinette's lonely childhood and her misfortunes with friendship and love. Antoinette's family arranges a marriage for her with a young English gentleman, Mr. Rochester. The book sheds a new, completely different light on the character of Mr. Rochester than what we saw in "Jane Eyre".
"Wide Sargasso Sea" is narrated in several different voices including Antoinette and Mr. Rochester. These voices switch throughout the novel with little warning. Some may find this hard to follow. The novel also creates a great sense of place. Rhys does an excellent job of evoking the hot, humid atmosphere of the Caribbean.

"Wide Sargasso Sea" was a recent selection in my book group. We enjoyed discussing it while dining on Caribbean fare. The discussion focused on topics such as colonialism, rich vs. poor, slavery, love, and of course madness. This was a good book for a discussion group since there were many themes to cover and also since it was inspired by "Jane Eyre", the group could also compare both books. I read the Norton Critical Edition of "Wide Sargasso Sea" which contained footnotes and an Appendix of essays and articles written about the book. The footnotes helped to deepen my understanding of the book since there were many references (literary and otherwise) that I may've missed.

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Jan 27, 2008 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone interested in West Indies culture/politics; Jane Eyreites

Shelves: alltime100novel, modernlibrary100best

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 reaction to disspelled secrets about...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Emily May rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Emily by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Shelves: classics, 1001-read, 2012

Beware of a few Jane Eyre spoilers if you've managed to live your life so far without a) reading it, or b) knowing what happens.
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One thing that really gets on my nerves is when an author writes a book about another author's story/character/whatever and you cannot understand or appreciate what you are being given unless you read the first author's work. Now, I have read Jan ...more Beware of a few Jane Eyre spoilers if you've managed to live your life so far without a) reading it, or b) knowing what happens.
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One thing that really gets on my nerves is when an author writes a book about another author's story/character/whatever and you cannot understand or appreciate what you are being given unless you read the first author's work. Now, I have read Jane Eyre many times, but If I hadn't I would have been clueless as to what Rhys was babbling on about here. For me, this book really demonstrates that the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list really does not mean "The 1001 Best Books Ever".

And I do appreciate the original idea behind Jean Rhys' novel. The mad woman in Mr Rochester's attic had a story to tell, it has long bothered feminists and other critics how this character was portrayed in Jane Eyre because, at the end of the day, this mad woman was a person with a history - or should have been - not just a little crazy puppet there to pop up and throw a spanner in the works when Jane and Mr Rochester finally got together. Rhys wanted to give her the past that Bronte didn't, and she also wanted to show her decline into madness so the reader could appreciate who she was and where she came from and why she ended up the way she did.

I just don't think it was handled very well and I didn't like the writing style at all. The narrative relies upon dream-like visions, fragmented impressions, incomplete sentences, and multiple first-person voices to create an overall sense of disorientation in the reader... or so is the intention according to my little bit of google research. I'd say "complete bewilderment" is more accurate than "disorientation". I find that I can't appreciate this feeling of being drugged up to my eyeballs when reading a book, though I know many readers look on it favourably. It's more trippy than beautiful to me.

Plus, I think the attempts to show how she became mad were a failure. This book appears on lists like "Novels for Feminists" and "100 Books Every Woman Should Read" - why? When this is a book about a woman who falls into madness because she distrusts her husband and their relationship is falling apart. I appreciate that it isn't feminism if the woman is always strong and never makes mistakes, but she basically crumbles because her husband doesn't give her enough attention. Not very believable, and not very pro-woman either.(less)

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Feb 09, 2007 Kathryn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 made me sick! Why was I so...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Lynne King rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: definitely-to-read, classics, top-favo

How do we as mere humans define the term “madness” or even know what madness is as defined in everyday society? Does it take an external factor such as the case of a gunman who “arbitrarily” goes into a classroom and shoots innocent children; a person who robs someone and decides to stab or strangle him/her as the choice may be, or is it purely an internal “genetic illness” that gradually erodes into the psyche of a person hurtling him/her down a path from which there is no return, towards destr...more

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Jul 18, 2008 Xio rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: femaleauthors

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.
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So I've read much of the commentaries and es...more 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.
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So I've read much of the commentaries and essays from the end of the critical edition as well as begun to reread J. Eyre. The similarities (to me) between Jane and Antoinette are plain and striking but for me not the source of interest. What I think is worth looking at is how they are articulated as individuals. I have these (brief) scattered thoughts to offer:

Jane felt utterly alone in the world until she found solace in Christianity though the example of her schoolmate. This example is (necessarily) one of complacent obedience to the Christian god. (I won't tell you how, specifically) Jane seems to gain from this an ability to differentiate herself from her outsider status in society rather than keen after acceptance and grow distraught from her lack of "true" agency--which can only come from the possession of money.. I agree with Michael Thorpe, who suggested Jane is not at all indicative of 'feminist' thinking, rather she is acting from
"religious imperative" ("The Other Side" Jane Eyre and The Wide Sargasso Sea- M. Thorpe). Religion lends Jane her apparent strength to resist her desire to stay after the denouement.

(And this too I may not correctly grasp: how is it 'feminist' in any case to resist one's desires? Is it so because Rochester is-a-man? Because he has done what he had done (trying to avoid spoilers)?

Antoinette on the other hand, though she went to a convent school, has no religion. The girl she fixed upon was more a model of ideals: beauty, grace, and so on. But Antoinette never seems to gain friends let alone confidantes and neither does she manage to internalize these skills. Why?

Unlike Jane, who finds a way into a coherent society via one very acceptable path (religion), Antoinette's society no longer exists, not coherently and not for her. It seems that even should she want to (and she wants to, desperately) find her place there is no place left. She (her 'kind')is ostracized by all groups. There may be pity for her but there is never solace, not without oblivion (through Christophine's ministrations).

Of course, this is also about Edward Rochester and his situation: as the second-born male he inherits nothing. Historically these boys were found brides from a wealthy family (and many of these if not most were found in colonies) to assure their standing. Rhys writes him as a more sympathetic character than he could possibly be in J. Eyre. Not forgivable, not acceptable, but comprehensible. I suppose I mean to say that what Edward Rochester does within the scope of Sargasso is not Romantic (or Gothic) it is a Tragedy and so the action cannot be turned on its head to seem justifiable. (less)

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Oct 06, 2012 Bettie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: radio-4x, re-read, autumn-2012, published-1966, paper-read, colonial-overlords, caribbean-caper

Really didn't like the book but how much of that was me ::at:that:time:: *shrugs* This is up for grabs at R4x so I'll swing by and have a listen.

#1 Tensions escalate amongst the former slaves on a Caribbean island. Prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, read by Adjoa Andoh.

#2 The mother of Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway marries an Englishman in Spanish Town, Jamaica. Read by Adjoa Andoh.

#3 Without her brother and parted from her mother, heiress Antoinette is sent off to school.

#4 Fresh from...more

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Sep 02, 2008 Inder rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: If you have read Jane Eyre, you must read this too. If you haven't read Jane Eyre, don't bother.

Shelves: 1001-books, summer-reading, 20th-century, fiction, women, colonial-postcolonial, read-2008, caribbean

*** 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 gorgeously done. Howe...more *** 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 gorgeously done. However (and this may sound cold, but the best part of this book is the intellectual experiment), I was more interested by the political/historical aspect of the novel ...

This should be required reading for anyone who has read (and especially, like me - loved) Jane Eyre. And to a lesser extent, for all lovers of 19th century English literature.

I have read Jane Eyre at least twice, and I have always had mixed feelings about Mr. Rochester and his mad wife in the attic. I could never completely trust Mr. Rochester, who is not only extremely grumpy and authoritarian, but shuts his wife up in the attic while seducing Jane as well as some rich girl, and then knowingly commits bigamy ... Not exactly great husband material, right?

Also, who isn't disturbed by Bronte's easy equation between "creole" and "insane"? Implicitly, the humanity of the mad woman in the attic can be dismissed, because she is alien, uncivilized, and "other." It's downright creepy, even if taken at face value (but especially when read in connection with St. John's missionary zeal).

Jane is such a feminist character, but her choice of husand belies deeply internalized patriarchy - she goes for a man who, at best, is deeply troubled and needs to be taken care of, nurtured, and soothed like a petulant child, and at worst, is an untrustworthy and controlling megalomaniac. The novel's "happy" ending never felt that happy to me. Don't get me wrong - I love the novel all the more for that dark and ambivalent ending. But it's disturbing.

Wide Sargasso Sea attempts to grapple with the questions about colonialism and patriarchy that Jane Eyre never fully addresses, skillfully exposing the dark underbelly of 19th century English prosperity and power. In this way, it is a necessary companion to all my favorite gothic and Victorian British novels, as well as being a beautiful novel in its own right.

Through this novel, the subaltern woman, firmly outside the hegemonic power systems of her day, driven to insanity and reduced to arson and suicide, literally speaks.(less)

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Mar 01, 2008 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who loved Jane Eyre or love the gothic genre

Shelves: fiction, brit-lit, victorian-wannabes, po-mo, owned, 20th-century-postwar-to-late, theonewithacrushontheprofessor

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 narrative point is...more 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 narrative point is to convey the other side of the story of Bertha, the madwoman in the attic from Jane Eyre. I thought she did a fairly good job of explaining to us how the woman ended up the way she was, and showing her slow descent into madness due to isolation and rejection that slowly breaks her down over the course of her life. For a slim volume, it manages to deal with a lot of issues, including virulent racism, colonial relations, sexual relations, and a post-slavery society. The idea of covering what things were like just after the abolition of slavery was especially interesting to me- how things didn't /really/ change, but just enough to make the society there an uncertain, toxic place to live.

The major problems I had with the piece relate to characterization and motivation. I have no idea why Rochester acted the way he did to his bride. We don't see enough of his thought process, except right at the very end, when he's already made his decision about her and we're moving into the Rochester and Bertha of the Jane Eyre we know, or right at the beginning, when the two of them were happy. I don't get why he starts to be the way he is to her, and the book doesn't explain it. It just happens. If you accept it, fine, but his character to that point doesn't explain that. He's not believable in that crucial middle section that drives his wife mad. She is, and so are the rest of the characters (though I'm uncertain about using almost the entire cast of black characters as a substitute for gothic monsters- with the exception of the terrifying Christophine.)

I just have to say too... I am so over these drowning Ophelia characters, who are so incredibly fragile and need saving all the time, and cannot possibly fend for themselves. The novel does explain how she got that way, but that rather annoyed me too. She got every excuse in the world to be helpless, and then didn't overcome that. This doesn't detract from how beautifully Jean Rhys paints a mind slowly succumbing to insanity, its just a personal thing that I've grown tired of.

Overall though, I'd recommend it. It won't take more than an afternoon or two to read, and its a very well done example of a mood piece. (less)

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Jan 30, 2008 leighcia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

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

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Jul 21, 2007 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: college

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.

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Apr 18, 2011 Shirley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Jane Eyre is often considered the quintessential feminist character; an independent woman in both mind and spirit (and by the end of her journey, independent in wealth) Jane truly knows who she is as a person. Jane is self aware, reserved, yet honest—even blunt at times, and undoubtedly full of self-respect. And it is this spirit, her ability to express her mind, and her sense of self that Rochester falls for.

But what about the first Mrs. Rochester? What was she like? Bronte gives the reader so...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Tina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-beast, twenty-twelve

This is a book written about Bertha Mason aka Mr. Rochester's mysterious/crazy wife from the classic Jane Eyre . As it turns out, Bertha's given name is actually Antionette Cosway. You read the story from 2 different points-of-view, first Antionette's, then Mr. Rochester's.

I have to say that reading Anionette's portion was pretty hard for me. I was completely unfamiliar with her broken English & the West Indie lingo that was often used by Antionette & the people from her town. I found...more This is a book written about Bertha Mason aka Mr. Rochester's mysterious/crazy wife from the classic Jane Eyre . As it turns out, Bertha's given name is actually Antionette Cosway. You read the story from 2 different points-of-view, first Antionette's, then Mr. Rochester's.

I have to say that reading Anionette's portion was pretty hard for me. I was completely unfamiliar with her broken English & the West Indie lingo that was often used by Antionette & the people from her town. I found myself having to re-read passages & eventually skipping on without a full understanding of what she was trying to say. WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO SAY, ANTIONETTE??? It was both frustrating & intriguing at the same time. I think you almost needed to be overwhelmed to fully appreciate what she was going through. The ups & downs she experiences with her mother, neighbors, servants, & supposed "friends" is literally insane. How could she possibly keep up with reality & truth in all the madness ?? (Because GOOD GRAVY!! ... there was some definite madness going on up in there.)

Mr. Rochester was a little easier to follow, but that doesn't mean he didn't have his own moments of insanity. I'm not sure the Rochester from Sargasso Sea is the same Rochester I pictured from Jane Eyre , then again, a lot happened between that time, so who am I to say ??? It would be obvious to state that the Rochester that went to the West Indies isn't the same Rochester that returned to England. His harshness, arrogance, and selfishness was a bit disconcerting, then again, he was young when he met Antionette & aged tremendously in the time thereafter. I hadn't actually pictured him this way. I can see him as being handsome & arrogant, even conceited in his wealth, but I thought Rochester was more-or-less shunned by his father & brother... a laughing stock... an embarrassment when he was pretty much forced to marry Bertha??? I'm confused. I also didn't agree with the way Rhys portrayed the relationship between Antoniette & Rochester in the end. It's as though they HATED eachother & he locked her away on the 3rd floor of his mansion never to visit or set eyes on her again ??? WHAT ?!?! In Jane Eyre , when they all go from the church to the mansion to see Bertha locked in her room, Rochester is almost tender towards her. I would even go as far to say that I felt he had truly loved & cared about her. I definitely didn't picture him never visiting or checking in on her. I didn't picture him buying cheap, ugly clothing for her. I would've thought that even though she were locked away he would've still taken better care of her. Given her everything he could've as long as it couldn't be used harmfully in any way. But this is not how Rhys portrays him.

I think the story is very deep & intriguing, but I probably would've preferred it had been a random story about the relationship between a random man & woman & not Bertha & Mr. Rochester. We all know the tragic ending she faced in Jane Eyre & I hate that this is what happened to Antionette. I seriously believe her character could've been saved if given the chance. But in the end I'm glad to have read it & I did actually like it. (less)

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Dec 14, 2008 Melody rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: second-monday-bookgroup

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 chick...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Stuart rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-classics

“Wide Sargasso Sea” is post-colonial novel that re-imagines the devilish madwoman Charlotte Bronte writes about in her book Jane Eyre. The novel takes place between 1839 and 1845 in Jamaica and Dominica, a short while after the 1834 emancipation of the slaves in British-owned Jamaica.

The author develops the book in three parts telling the story of Antoinette (Bertha) Mason, a white Creole heiress, from the time of her youth in the Caribbean to her unhappy marriage to an unnamed Englishman (impli...more

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Dec 26, 2010 Carolyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"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 the octopus o...more "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 the octopus orchid flowered -- then not an inch of tentacle showed. It was a bell-shaped mass of white, mauve, deep purples, wonderful to see. The scent was very sweet and strong. I never went near it. All Coulibri Estate had gone wild like the garden, gone to bush. No more slavery -- why should anybody work? This never saddened me. I did not remember the place when it was prosperous."

Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys, is a tale told in three parts, initially in first person narrative by young Antoinette Cosway, a Creole growing up in Jamaica just after slavery is abolished there. Her father, owner of Coulibri Estate and a former slave owner, wilted under the economic pressure resulting from abolition and drank himself to death.

The tension on the island is palpable and no one is quite sure what their role is now with slavery abolished. Former slave owners, their free work force depleted, are financially broken; freed slaves who don't have to work often don't want to, even for wages. A society that once had clearly defined castes is in flux. The impoverished Cosways are looked down upon by the former slaves as "white cockroaches." Antoinette's childhood friend Tia, who is black, confronts her about just where she stands in Jamaican society: "She hear all we poor like beggar. We ate salt fish -- no money for fresh fish. That old house so leaky you run with calabash to catch water when it rains. Plenty white people in Jamaica. Real white people, they got gold money. They didn't look at us, nobody see them come near us. Old time white poeple nothing but white nigger now, and black nigger better than white nigger."

Inevitably, Antoinette's mother, the beautiful Annette, sets out to acquire a husband when it becomes clear that by herself she can tend to neither the estate nor her two children, Antoinette and Pierre, who is mentally handicapped. She marries the wealthy Mr. Mason, an Englishman, who underestimates the simmering anger in the native population, with disastrous results.

The book follows Antoinette's path to adulthood, when she is essentially given by her stepfather to an Englishman (unnamed in the book) who has a few secrets of his own. It's letting no cat out of the bag to tell you that the Englishman is Edward Rochester -- yes, THAT Edward Rochester -- from "Jane Eyre," and Antoinette becomes his first wife, the madwoman who in that book eventually sets Thornfield ablaze. Rhys plucks the first Mrs. Rochester from that skeletal role and fleshes out a complex character: "She seemed like such a poor ghost," Rhys wrote, "I thought I'd like to write her a life." However, Wide Sargasso Sea stands on its own; one only need know the barest plot points of Jane Eyre to understand this story, and the writing style is very different from Bronte's.

The second section of the book is told in first person narrative from Edward's perspective. Young Edward is a rather uptight Englishman and is uncomfortable with the lushness and fecundity of the island. Everything unfamiliar seems threatening or ugly. In this passage, he reflects on the landscape while contemplating the letter he must write to his father, who has forced this marriage upon him, back in England:

"Everything is too much, I felt as I rode wearily after her. Too much blue, too much purple, too much green. The flowers too red, the mountains too high, the hills too near. And the woman is a stranger. Her pleading expression annoys me. I have not bought her, she has bought me, or so she thinks. I looked down at the coarse mane of the horse . . . Dear Father. The 30,000 pounds have been paid to me without question or condition. No provision made for her (that must be seen to). I have a modest competence now. I will never be a disgrace to you or to my dear brother, the son you love, no begging letters, no mean requests. None of the furtive shabby manouevres of a younger son. I have sold my soul or you have sold it, and after all is it such a bad bargain? The girl is thought to be beautiful, she is beautiful. And yet . . ."

Typical of Rhys's writing, there is a lot packed into one paragraph: Rochester's resistance to anything foreign to him; his intractable "Britishness" (everything is better in England); his desire to define himself as superior by finding fault with all around him; his obsession with money; his uncomfortable relationship with his father and brother; his desire to possess his new wife rather than come to their marriage as an equal.

Edward is further unnerved by the palpable undercurrent of "obeah," the black magic that he suspects Antoinette's nursemaid from childhood, Christophine, practices, and this makes him feel even more like an outsider. When rumors reach him from a source that's obviously (to the reader) unreliable surrounding some unsavory aspects of Antoinette's past, he reacts defensively. Thus, based on nothing more than shadows and whispers, Antoinette and Edward's marriage begins to unravel. As reflected by the title of the book, these two outsiders who desperately want to establish their own identities, untethered to class and family, founder and gasp for breath in a murky sea of innuendo and mistrust.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the book is when Edward decides he must possess Antoinette completely, despite his professed repulsion of her. He decides at one point he will call her "Bertha" (the name by which she is known in Jane Eyre) although she repeatedly protests that she does not want to be called that. For Antoinette, who asserts at one point how important names are to her, who has never been a daughter in the fullest sense, never really been "white," certainly is not black (altho Edward may have his doubts about that), who has only obliquely been a Cosway, then became a step-daugther, and is now only nominally a Rochester, the denial of her first name is the coup de grace. In one instance Edward even refers to her as "Marionette."

The brief third and final section of the book is told through Antoinette's -- now Bertha's -- point of view from her cell at Thornfield in England where Edward has deposited her. The ending is predictable and inevitable, and follows the plot of Jane Eyre, but this time we experience it from Bertha's perspective and it seems much more understandable.

As for Rhys's writing, every word seems to be there for a reason, nothing wasted. The three sections of the novel, each told from a different perspective, are distinctive voices, and the variable pace of the story enhances the plot points. It's packed with plenty of biblical and Shakespearean references and symbolism. So much is packed into this short novel that I think I could read it several more times and continue to discover little jewels of language and meaning that I missed previously.
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Dec 22, 2009 t.obia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mystifying in its description of setting, bone-chillingly truthful in its portrayal of characters and actions, Rhys gives us a tale with a non-nonsense, unapologetic, matter-of-fact approach to life in Victorian islands, post-colonial, with the stench still in the air of slavery and racial unrest. The story, as it is known initially, is the untold tale of Bertha, Mr. Rochester's ill-fated wife in Jane Eyre of "inconvenience." She is suspiciously cast out throughout most of the book, only a ghost...more

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Mar 23, 2009 Cheryl rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 of Haiti, I would also say...more

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Jan 10, 2010 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jamie by: Gina P

Shelves: 1001-books, read-in-2010

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 think...more 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 think Part III (comprised by the lean final 12 pages) is worth the price of admission. Perhaps my adoration of the ending compels me to be kind to the novel as a whole, but I think this is one I'll have to read again before I can find my footing with it.

You don't need me to tell you the story. Jane Eyre, but not. Bertha--rather, Antoinette--talks back, with a healthy dose of Rochester's perspective, a dash of Grace Poole's, and provocative Caribbean post-emancipation politics thrown in for good measure. What if Bertha was more than just the ghost of Thornfield Hall--more than simply an obstacle to Jane and Rochester's union? I found it difficult to sympathize with anyone in WSS, but I suppose if I allied myself with someone, it'd be with Antoinette/Bertha, by virtue of the seeming inevitability of her nastiness. As I said, I loved her in the very last bits of the novel, but there were moments where I thought she was absolutely awful. Though come to think of it, maybe I found her nasty in Rochester's section? That's my main quibble with the novel, actually--not that there are unreliable narrators or varying vantage points, but that it's not always easy to follow. Less stream-of-consciousness and more messy at times, which I found frustrating. Otherwise, I suppose all I can say is that I'm confused and that my interest was piqued.

In short, the premise alone is worth it; the prose is often stunning, though sparse; the novel (or its characters, perhaps) is difficult to 'like' but easy to become immersed in. A truly fascinating companion to Jane Eyre, which I read for the first time over the summer. Shelving it as need-to-re-read, even though I finished it perhaps an hour ago.(less)

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Sep 28, 2008 Lavinia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, fiction

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 vest]. daca va era dor de...more

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Jul 05, 2008 Melissa Rudder rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: master-s-exam

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. (I've decided that I can't write this review without spoilers for not only Wide Sargasso Sea but also Jane Eyre. Lame.)

I've been avoiding reading Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea for a few years now. (My MA Exam list put an end to that.) I was certain that it would meddle with Jane Eyre and forever change that book for me. By the time I finished Book One, I felt safe. Rhys wasn't setting out to tear apart an evil imperialist book. (In fact, after reading some of her letters, I admire how she loved...more (I've decided that I can't write this review without spoilers for not only Wide Sargasso Sea but also Jane Eyre. Lame.)

I've been avoiding reading Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea for a few years now. (My MA Exam list put an end to that.) I was certain that it would meddle with Jane Eyre and forever change that book for me. By the time I finished Book One, I felt safe. Rhys wasn't setting out to tear apart an evil imperialist book. (In fact, after reading some of her letters, I admire how she loved Jane Eyre, was ecstatic over the idea of writing about the First Mrs. Rochester, and struggled with writing a book that did not abuse Bronte's work.) Unfortunately, even though Rhys succeeded in winning my trust, I still didn't end up really liking the book.

Critics rave about Rhys' choice to have both Antoinette (dubbed "Bertha" by Rochester) and her husband (Rochester's name is actually never mentioned) narrate sections of the story. I liked the idea, but the narrations just didn't work for me. I never really understood the characters or their motivations. The characters make such extreme choices that they need explanation. For instance, I can understand husband receives letter claiming wife (he hardly knows that is of what he views as a different (strange) race) will go crazy and grows suspicious. I can't understand husband realizing wife gave him a love potion and thinking, I know, I'll have sex with another woman in the room next door so she'll hear! That'll show her! So often I just wanted to tell the two to sit down and talk. But instead one decides not to really speak any more and the other decides that a lifetime locked in the attic is the only way to go. The very structure of the narration suggests that the reasoning for their actions would lie in the text of the book, but, too often, I found myself alone in trying to justify their madness. (Which is the same thing Jane Eyre asked me to do--so then how is this book helpful?)

I'm tempted to say that the best part of this book is the idea of its conception, but I feel like that claim fails to acknowledge some really cool literary techniques that Rhys uses. She very effectively continues and expands on Bronte's use of mirroring, doubling, and bird symbolism. She breathes life into the character of Grace Poole. The way she ends the novel is superb and rather genius. The novel's greatest strength, I think, is that Rhys identifies, very forcibly, the marginalized space in which womanhood (in a patriarchal society) and imperialism forced her heroine to uncomfortably dwell. Poor Antoinette has no place of her own. She belongs no where. That's enough to make anyone's mind wander and not return.

So now that I've written the paragraph on stuff I liked, I guess I can no longer make the claim that I didn't like the book. Because some aspects were just fantastic. I suppose it's just the type of book that's better when you're not reading it and just thinking about it.

Anyone interested in further reading on Wide Sargasso Sea should read Sandra Drake's analysis: "All That Foolishness / That All Foolishness: Race and Caribbean Culture as Thematics of Liberation in Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea." It rocked my world.(less)

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About Jean Rhys

Jean Rhys originally Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a Caribbean novelist who wrote in the mid 20th century. Her first four novels were published during the 1920s and 1930s, but it was not until the publication of Wide Sargasso Sea in 1966 that she emerged as a significant literary figure. A "prequel" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea won a prestigious WH Smith Literary Award in...more

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Quotes from Wide Sargasso Sea

“You can pretend for a long time, but one day it all falls away and you are alone. We are alone in the most beautiful place in the world...” — 71 people liked it

“Blot out the moon,
Pull down the stars.
Love in the dark, for we're for the dark
So soon, so soon.” — 46 people liked it

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