debra
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
I've read this book many, many, many times, and while I feel that it is a great and well-written novel, I have a few criticisms to make. First of all, let's discuss the great, mind-numbing chunks of self-evaluation and endless, useless dialogue that the reader is subjected to. Well, let's not and say we did. Then there are the all-too convenient coincidences that take place. I mean, what are the odds that the people who take Jane into their home when she wandered homeless and starving would turn out to be related to her? And, also, there's the other incredible coincidence that Bertha Mason's brother just happened to have acquaintance with Jane's uncle while in the West Indies? In spite of these shortcomings, I still enjoy the book, but my favorite character is not Jane herself, but Helen Burns, and I feel that she was done away with far too soon. I also find Jane's character somewhat incomprehensively complex and deceptive. While she appears to be a person with the personality of a chunk of asphalt, she is in reality, someone with a restless and even turbulent nature, who enjoys the spice of challenge, and feels she cannot stand to live a tame or quiet life. As I said, it's a great novel, and deserves to be read, and the best time to read it is when one is lying in bed and unable to sleep.