Review: Jane Eyre (by Charlotte Brontë)

My Rating:  5 stars

Catch-up review #4

Charlotte Bronte's most famous novel Jane Eyre is one of those brilliantly written classics that never fails to leave me in a state of awe, no matter how familiar I am with the story and its characters.  Indeed, I've re-read this novel too many times to count over the past couple decades, yet upon each re-read, I either come away with some detail that I didn't notice in prior read-throughs, or I'm drawn to a different nuance in the narrative that shifts my interpretation of the text in certain aspects.  This time around, re-reading the novel in a group setting (for one of my literature classes) enhanced my reading experience in a profound way – so much so that, weeks later, I'm still thinking about some of the in-depth discussions we had on various topics, from the themes, symbolism, motifs, to the story structure and masterful writing.  

This is a novel that's powerful and poignant and upon each re-read, it has the ability to make me feel as though I'm on an emotional roller coaster ride, experiencing the ups and downs of Jane's life as though I were right there beside her (and the ending moves me to tears EVERY.SINGLE.TIME).  Most significantly, it's not often that I encounter a novel where I feel every element (from the writing to the characterization to the execution of the story, etc.) is done pretty much flawlessly – well, this novel definitely occupies one of the top spots on my "epitome of perfection" list.

Unlike my other reviews, I intend to keep this one relatively short — partly because this novel has been so widely read and studied (and everyone knows the story already) that I feel there's nothing really I can say in a review that will add much to the conversation (or do justice to the brilliance of the novel).  With that said though, there's actually a personal reason why Jane Eyre has particular meaning for me.  The first time I read the novel was back in junior high, when it was assigned reading in my English class, alongside another famous novel:  Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.   I was already an avid reader at the time, but mostly of books that I chose myself for "leisure" reading; in essence, these two novels would be my first true exposure to "classics" — but unfortunately I had heard so many "horror stories" about what the experience of reading classics would be like (ie: boring, irrelevant, too daunting, etc..) that I was honestly a bit put off.  But I persisted of course, and ended up falling in love with both novels — so much so that they (both novels) instilled in me a subsequent love for studying classics, but more importantly, they ignited the spark in me that made me realize I wanted to pursue writing creatively.  To this latter point, after reading both novels, I was inspired to try writing a short story that combined elements from both (which, to my surprise, ended up winning a writing contest that year).  Since then, both JE and P&P have become mainstays in my life — two novels that I re-read consistently and will forever remain "favorites of all time" for me.