Villette in What's the Name of That Book???

Nov 15, 2017 Jessica rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: own, theclassics, educational-challenge-2014

I finished this last night and I'm STILL ANGRY.

WHAT THE HELL, CHARLOTTE?

I mean, seriously. I would also like to sit down with the person who wrote the introduction and talked about how Villette is so much better than Jane Eyre. I would like to speak to this person about their drug habit, and how it's affecting their work performance. Because . . . WHAT . . . did I just read? And WHY have so many of my friends given this book 5 stars?

Now, as some of you may know, I love Jane Eyre. I mean, I LOVE I finished this last night and I'm STILL ANGRY.

WHAT THE HELL, CHARLOTTE?

I mean, seriously. I would also like to sit down with the person who wrote the introduction and talked about how Villette is so much better than Jane Eyre. I would like to speak to this person about their drug habit, and how it's affecting their work performance. Because . . . WHAT . . . did I just read? And WHY have so many of my friends given this book 5 stars?

Now, as some of you may know, I love Jane Eyre. I mean, I LOVE JANE EYRE. It is without a doubt in my top ten books of all time. And I love it not because of the romance, but because I love Jane. Jane is not afraid to speak her mind. Jane is not afraid to seek out love. Jane is not afraid to say, I respect myself too damn much to be your mistress, even though you are a sexy beast and I want you. Jane is an artist. Jane is a loyal friend. Jane is amazeballs.

Villette is about Lucy Snowe. Lucy Snowe doesn't talk a lot. Years worth of stuff happens to her and she goes, Meh, well, that was a thing. Lucy is easily irritated by people, and enjoys being alone (which I did appreciate), and Lucy is much put upon by people who sort of use her and abuse her, take advantage of her retiring nature, send her letters and buy her gowns when they remember her, drop her when they are busy with other people. Lucy likes walking around in gardens, and she's fine. Okay, sure. I was okay with all of this. It wasn't better than Jane Eyre, but it was okay.

I was okay with it right up until she starts tearing out her hair and flinging herself around sobbing because a guy who has been a COMPLETE ASSHOLE to her for the last 400 pages is going away. A guy who constantly harps on her clothes, and tells her that she should wear dull colors and no jewelry because she isn't meant for such things. A guy who insults her intelligence, treats her like a child or a pet, spies on her, steals from her, mocks her in public. A guy who rages at her and calls her a slut for exchanging letters with a male friend.

No. Just no. This man is the most horrible of all the horrible people who surround Lucy, and I am extremely upset that she didn't tell him not to let the door hit him on his (badly dressed, cigar-smelling) ass as he left.

GRRR. ...more

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Apr 14, 2008 Kristy rated it it was amazing

This book is incredible... and so before its time. She dwells on the thing that none of us really want to dwell on, which is how alone we all are, and fearlessly comes to no real conclusion about it. The revolutionary thing about this book, in my opinion, is that the narrative structure is rambling and personal, it almost reads like a diary, like a real diary that doesn't have a beginning/middle/end, it just accounts. And it deals with all the existential stuff of life without offering a solutio ...more

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Mar 22, 2010 Lauren rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: worthrereading

It was worth taking the time to re-read this and prove to myself that for 30 minutes or so a day, I could quiet my brain, turn off the tv, get away from social media and relish every word. It's as nutty now as it was when I first read it in 1986 - Lucy Snow is more Jane Eyre than Jane ever was and between the ghostly nun, the unspoken trauma, the constant spying, and the fierce Anti-Catholic sentiment, this remains an intoxicating, delicious, radical and upsetting novel. I remain, as ever, Bront ...more

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Feb 29, 2008 Maria Elmvang rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, classics, owned-audiobook, 4-stars

If you read this book, be sure to get a translation where all the French has been translated as well (if nothing else then as foot- or endnotes) as the one I listened had long paragraphs in French. I know that at the time of writing all educated English-women spoke French as well so Charlotte wouldn't have thought twice of using it in her books, but while I don't think I lost anything plot-wise, it was frustrating to not be able to understand all that was going on.

Apart from that I really enjoye ...more

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May 11, 2012 Hutch rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, british-literature

I adored this book.

A somewhat difficult read, simply because of Bronte's writing style, but a truly beautiful story with amazing sections of self-contemplation on the part of the protagonist, Lucy Snowe.

Lucy is a complex character, who is dealt a series of hard circumstances following her upbringing by her godmother, Mrs. Bretton. And yet, despite losing family and friends, she perseveres, taking the practical route to find employment, saving her wages against future trouble. When her new situat ...more

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