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The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë

Start date: July 1, 2021

Finish date: July 31, 2021

Why we're reading this: Revisit the Shelf Reread, July 2021

Revisit the Shelf Reread, December 2018

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Revisit the Sh…more
[close] Revisit the Shelf Reread, July 2021

Revisit the Shelf Reread, December 2018

Prior Group Reads
Revisit the Shelf Reread, April 2015
Old School Classic Group Read, May 2013

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Aug 21, 2009 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, book-and-movie, e-books, read-2012, mtbr-challenge-2012, victorians

This book is being discussed at Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die .

An amazing book and even progressive book written by one of the Bronte sisters telling the story of Helen Graham, the new tenant of Wildfell Hall and Gilbert Markham, her neighbor who is intrigued by her past.

Even if the story is told through letters, Bronte managed to keep the reader's full attention, in my opinion. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Apr 21, 2013 MichelleCH rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 1001, victorian

For the most part I liked this book. There were some parts and themes that I really enjoyed and others that left me scratching my head. I was so impressed with the heroine, Helen Graham. Her ability to leave her terrible husband and seek out and find a better life for herself and her son is something to cheer. And yay for Anne Bronte for developing this woman. Leaving is the one thing that even modern women in bad relationships will find really difficult to undertake. To top it all off, Helen is For the most part I liked this book. There were some parts and themes that I really enjoyed and others that left me scratching my head. I was so impressed with the heroine, Helen Graham. Her ability to leave her terrible husband and seek out and find a better life for herself and her son is something to cheer. And yay for Anne Bronte for developing this woman. Leaving is the one thing that even modern women in bad relationships will find really difficult to undertake. To top it all off, Helen is an artist and can/wants to support herself through these efforts which I find wonderfully endearing.

The format is epistolary which makes for an interesting perspective. As I read more and more of these types of novels, the more I like this way of telling a story. Helen is introduced as a widow with a secret past and some odd behavior (she never lets her son out of her sight and is not too social). Immediately gossip follows the mystery causing all kinds of revelations and situations.

Throughout my reading, I liked Helen *which is important* and gave her credit for showing initiative and leaving a not-so-good-situation. I wondered about her observations around her husband and his behavior (and that of his friends) - her naiveté was equal to that of Gaskell's Ruth. Anyone could see that he was a nut and that he wasn't going off on trips just to relax. He was rather brutal and even downright mean. His behavior towards their son is also very dramatic and almost overly so...Helen did exhibit a few not so bright moments i.e. when she writes down plans that were later easily discovered. FYI: no paper put on a desk or in a drawer is private for goodness sake!!

Gilbert Markham is the gentleman who pursues Helen while she is "independent" and a "widow". I thought that he was a bit immature and did some really stupid things. So I really wasn't a fan. Believing that Helen is seeing someone else, he brutally attacks this individual and causes some pretty serious harm. Later he realizes what a bad call he has made, but by then I have already decided that he is too impulsive and immature for me to fully like. There is some maturation by the end of the book, but I am not sure yet if it is enough for me to decide that I am happy for Helen.

This may be a book that will grow with a second reading in the future.

...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 12, 2015 Tom rated it really liked it

This was a great story and could possibly resonate today. It was way too long though, I kept losing interest.

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 22, 2017 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, classics, vic-lit

Up until this year I have failed to read any books by the Bronte sisters, and when I picked up Wuthering Heights I was blown away by the complex, intricate and beautiful story. It was not a romance novel, but so much more. It was a book that I loved and I was anxious to read more by the sisters. This one is my second Bronte read and unfortunately it did not enchant me.

I finished it a couple weeks ago, and if I had reviewed it immediately I would have given it four stars. But, I have found that m ...more

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