The Tenant of Wildfell Hall : Week Two

[Marie]

Helen's diary recounts her meeting at the age of eighteen with the dashing Arthur Huntington, through their courtship and engagement.

[Piyumi]

I'm making really slow progress with this read.
I think it's because I find it a little preachy. Don't get me wrong, I'm amazed at the depth of feeling and analysis the author has bestowed upon her female lead on the injustice meted out to girls and women in general, as if its just an after thought to treat women like that. The author has justly set up the female lead as unapproachable and you find out later why so, for the oldest reason I suppose, she was a gentle girl in love before 'life' thought her a lesson. But even after acknowledging all that I'm not yet hooked and I find the sentiments of the male lead even more unbelievable.
I'm still at the initial stages and must give the book its due time, but thought I'd share my initial reactions with the group and see if anyone can smooth the reading process.
Sorry for being a buzz kill on a Monday morning :l

[Piyangie]

As you said Piyumi, it is amazing that how much feelings and emotions of the female lead is put to the story and also the detailed reasons behind them. Anne is in that way I felt different from Emily and Charlotte with her raw use of feelings and emotions and her bold downright way of addressing the issues.
But you are right; the diary part in which Helen's past life is narrated is a little too bluntly direct. And as a result it sounds as a preaching. I also find this part of the book a little dull compared to the interesting beginning.
And I like so much your description of Helen as a "gentle girl in love" , and I will add here who thought love can conquer it all and cure the wild and immoral conduct of a man through the purity of her love until "life taught her a lesson" and here I must add a "bitter lesson" , so to be heavily guarded in the future. This was what we saw in the early chapters where she guards her from Gilbert's advances.
To get in to the male characters, Gilbert is a bit immature and thoughtless (I hope he grows up in the later chapters); and Arthur! I have no words for that wicked devil.

[Piyumi]

:( must admit I found nothing interesting, even in the beginning. I think it has to do with the author's skill in setting up her plot initially, and I realize why this young author isn't as famous as her older sisters. But I read in my copy that Charlotte actually prevented this book being republished since some aspects of the story (she leaving her husband) was too shocking even for Bronte sisters.
Shame really. I feel an edit from her older established sisters could have done a better job than a judgement.
But maybe she wanted to be different and I should allow for a different voice to tell an age old tale.

[Marie]

You're definitely not the only one. This started out so well for me. I've seen the miniseries, but didn't remember much about it. Maybe that should have told me something. I really did enjoy the beginning, and liked Gilbert. Yes, he should have gone to hear her explanation, but I get why he didn't even if it was a mistake. When they switched to Helen it started to fall apart for me. To begin, Anne didn't give enough time to create real suspense about her background. Rochester's background is revealed in small pieces here and there. This just one big journal "flashback", it doesn't work as well, and felt too soon. And it is preachy. I like the look at unrealistic expectations of women at the time, but there is such a thing as being "too good", or characters that exist simply to be good, and that's how Helen comes off at this point.

I'm holding my full thoughts on the book until I get to the end. I love that it's a look at a female character who chooses to walk away from a bad marriage at a time when that was unacceptable, but unless Helen changes a great deal by the end, I feel like this one might be better for the social issues than the characters themselves for me.

Everything I've read about the Brontes, sounds like Charlotte was like that. It's one thing to push people to do the best they're capable of, but it seems she wanted even her sisters' writing on her terms.

[Piyangie]

I feel Anne has employed extremism in character development so that there is a difficulty in believing them to be real. Helen is too perfect; Gilbert is too loving; Arthur is too shallow. While there is a question as to how unrealistic the characters could be, Anne's attempt was perhaps to heighten social issues than character development. I think she was more held on the story than concentrating on the general flow of writing or character development.