From the Bookshelf of Classics for Beginners…

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë

Start date: June 1, 2012

Finish date: July 1, 2012

Discussion: Current Group Read

Why we're reading this: voted for by you
[close] voted for by you

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of -4 topics — 818 comments total

Current Group Read

The Prince
By ☯Emily , moderator · 3 posts · 32 views

last updated Jun 08, 2019 03:47PM

April 2019: The Crucible
By ☯Emily , moderator · 10 posts · 40 views

last updated May 09, 2019 05:21AM

showing 10 of 36 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Feb 17, 2011 kwesi 章英狮 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, 2011, charlotte-bronte

When a group of people posted on their wall in Facebook about the new adaptation of the book starring Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre, I can't stop looking for a copy of the book so that I can read it in advance. Unfortunately, the company or the producer did not release it worldwide and I don't have a choice but to force someone to grab me a copy. Too bad, I got a free movie (pirated) somewhere.

Life is too cruel and dark for Jane Eyre, she is a girl with great opinion, pretty and a typical girl who ...more

39 likes · Like · see review

Aug 05, 2012 Sheila rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, favorites, classic, boxalls-1001

The story of Jane Eyre begins like a fairy tale.

A girl orphaned since birth is cast away by surviving kin and is sent to a school that is more like a prison for the obscure and unwanted. In there, she is nearly starved, always freezing, and bored to death with religious rituals, but Jane finds some comfort in the company of fellow student, the believer of endurance, the stoic, Helen. Death by consumption interrupts their friendship and soon Jane finds herself alone again, but living in better c The story of Jane Eyre begins like a fairy tale.

A girl orphaned since birth is cast away by surviving kin and is sent to a school that is more like a prison for the obscure and unwanted. In there, she is nearly starved, always freezing, and bored to death with religious rituals, but Jane finds some comfort in the company of fellow student, the believer of endurance, the stoic, Helen. Death by consumption interrupts their friendship and soon Jane finds herself alone again, but living in better conditions than when she first arrived. She grows up, becomes educated enough to teach at sixteen. When her beloved teacher leaves the school to marry, she sets out to find a new situation as a governess. She was eighteen.

Then she meets Mr. Rochester, a gentleman and the master of Thornfield.

He is the typical Byronic hero---sophisticated, playful, but brooding and dark at times. They fall in love, are almost married, and get separated by Jane's own decision, by her need for self-respect. So she runs away, with few possessions, and suffers the consequences of anonymity until she reaches the home of the Rivers family, who helps in her pursuit of independence.

Jane Eyre is unlike any other heroine I've read. With no wealth or connections, she is forced to apply herself to achieve a certain level of freedom. She knows her place in society. She embraces it. And that in itself is admirable, making this classic novel one of my favorites.

I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.

Love for love's sake is nothing to Jane, especially if it places her at a disadvantage. Her faith in her talents and in the future allows her to escape from a potentially disastrous union. She exerts her own power and influence from sheer knowledge of self.

Charlotte Bronte's writing is beautiful in that usual Victorian way where you read more words than you know their meaning. Where ecstasy means senseless joy, not the party drug. And for that, aside from the strength of Jane's character, this book definitely deserves to be read again. ...more

1 like · Like · see review