Villette in Never too Late to Read Classics

Mar 19, 2015 Sara rated it liked it

Shelves: classics

I wanted to love Villette, but I never managed to love the character of Lucy Snowe and thus did not care in that deep, integral way that I cared for Charlotte's Jane Eyre. There are large sections of the novel that plod or seem to stand completely still. There is a large discourse on the Papists vs. the Protestants, which brought me almost to tears before it was done. And, by way of its worst failure for me, Bronte lapses into French at the most crucial of times. How can one relate to M. Paul wh I wanted to love Villette, but I never managed to love the character of Lucy Snowe and thus did not care in that deep, integral way that I cared for Charlotte's Jane Eyre. There are large sections of the novel that plod or seem to stand completely still. There is a large discourse on the Papists vs. the Protestants, which brought me almost to tears before it was done. And, by way of its worst failure for me, Bronte lapses into French at the most crucial of times. How can one relate to M. Paul when most of what he says to Lucy at critical moments is presented in French?

There are moments when the power of Bronte's writing breaks through and the story begins to move. There are glimpses of the Bronte magic, but they are broken and sparse. Lucy is a disadvantaged but strong woman who strikes out fearlessly and grasps onto life to make her way and earn her keep. Conversely, she is timid and cowering toward the two men to whom she is attracted, and both of whom treat her with mixtures of disdain and patronization at times. There is little that is loveable in her and I found her cold and icy narrative moved me very little.

The ending is almost enough to redeem the short-comings of the book. It resonates in a way that much of the narrative does not, and it sets in motion more curiosity and thoughts about Lucy's future than I felt through the entire course of the previous 525 pages.

That this book is in many ways autobiographical gives it another layer of sadness. I wonder if Bronte was not too close to her subjects and too invested in her characters to portray them realistically. There is much of the preciousness or viciousness or courtliness or saintliness that simply fails to ring true. Graham, Polly, Genevra and M. Paul all seem more like types than actual people throughout much of the story.

While many have praised this novel and several have held it above Jane Eyre, I think there is a reason that Eyre is so universally loved and read and Villette is more obscure and unknown. The reason lies in the heroine...Jane cannot help but be loved and she loves us back; Lucy cannot be loved nor does she feel any affection for her audience. ...more

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