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Title: Villette by A.S. Byatt, Ignes Sodre, Charlotte Bronte ISBN: 0-375-75850-X Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.54 (41 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Villette's first Amazon review?
Comment: I was surprised to be the first to comment on this deeply felt work by Charlotte Bronte. Although Jane Eyre will always be my sentimental favorite, I agree with the many critics who see Villette as Charlotte Bronte's best work. Villette's heroine is the lonely and unlovely Lucy Snowe who struggles to free herself from sorrowful past memories of which the details the reader is kept uninformed, and to quell her natural desires for a richer life- full of love, friendship, stimulation, and enjoyment- which she believes is hopelessly out of her reach. Anyone who has ever struggled with loneliness will sympathize with Lucy, whose aloneness Bronte conveys with heartbreaking pathos.
This novel may be a hard read for some who are accustomed to lighter fare. It is certainly not a book that can be read in a day but one that must be slowly enjoyed over a period of time, preferably with a cup of tea.....
Rating: 4
Summary: Would've Given It a 5-Star Rating If Not for...
Comment: its rather hurried and ambigious ending, which leaves the reader having to form his/her own version of the ending ie. whether a happy or sad one. (Read the Signet Classic, the afterword by Jerome Beaty explains that Charlotte Bronte actually wanted a somewhat sad ending to the story, but her father wanted it to be a happy one, so Bronte compromised by leaving the ending 'hanging' so that the readers can decide for themselves how the story ends.)
Apart from the above dissapointment, this is a marvelous classic and beautifully written, a great and indepth analysis of the workings of the human heart and mind. I loved it better than Jane Eyre (except for the ending: Jane Eyre's is more complete and satisfying). You'll love the character of M.Paul - despite his eccentric behaviour, he's really a darling with a heart of gold, which Lucy Snowe soon discovers!
I recommend that you buy the Signet Classic version which has the English translation to the over 400 French phrases found in the book.
Rating: 5
Summary: My stoic, passionate Lucy Snowe
Comment: As other reviewers have noted, this is a haunting tale, featuring the withdrawn yet passionate Lucy Snowe. Lucy is always trying to make the book about the other characters, and she feels awkward writing about herself and her own feelings. Through her evasion of her own importance, we still get a clear and moving portrait of the narrator. She glides over the incidents of her life, including a vague reference to a ship wreck, and focuses on the story of her friends, like the insufferable Ginevra Fanshawe. While these characters may be happier, more attractive, more liked, they do not have the feeling and intensity of Lucy. Although she tries to remain stoic, her passion does burst through every once and while, and those scenes are some of the most memorable. Otherwise she is patient and self-deprecating, and allows herself to be stepped on. She is a sympathetic, throughly believable character, but Ms. Bronte never gets too sentimental or pitying.
This novel is gothic, romantic and realistic, set in a biblical and mythical framework. There are ghosts and shadows, death and grieving, practical jokes and dry wit. To put in plainly, this is one of the best books I have ever read. Much much better and more mature than Jane Eyre.
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Title: Shirley (Oxford World's Classics) by Charlotte Bronte, Herbert Rosengarten, Margaret Smith ISBN: 0192833782 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: July, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Oxford World's Classics) by Anne Bronte, Herbert Rosengarten, Smith Margaret ISBN: 0192834622 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: July, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: The Professor (Penguin Classics) by Charlotte Bronte, Heather Glen ISBN: 0140433112 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1989 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Agnes Grey (Oxford World's Classics) by Anne Bronte, Hilda Marsden, Robert Inglesfield ISBN: 0192834789 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 1998 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: The Green Dwarf by Charlotte Bronte, Libby Purves ISBN: 1843910489 Publisher: Hesperus Press Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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