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Summary: A portrait of the artist as Lucy Snowe
Review: "Villette" is a more complex, mature novel than "Jane Eyre" and, to many readers, a more unsatisfying one. Unlike "Jane Eyre", "Villette" is no Cinderella tale, and there is no Rochester to stir the heroine's -- and the reader's --emotions. In "Villette", Bronte gives us Lucy Snowe, whom she resembled in many ways: plain, prim, no-nonsense, practical to a fault, and suffering the pains of unrequited love. Unlike the happy ending which delighted us in "Jane Eyre", Lucy finds a hope of happiness at last with M. Paul Emanuel, only to have her prospects shipwrecked literally and figuratively at the end of the book. Many readers have a problem with Bronte's liberal use of French throughout the book which disrupts the narrative, and her forays into Gothic romanticism, which seem contrived and artificial. A more serious problem, for this reviewer, is Bronte's insularity and her narrow-minded frame of reference which rejects anything un-English and un-Protestant. Even with these flaws, "Villette" is a deep, thought-provoking portrayal of the pain of lost illusions.
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Summary: From within the mind of the depressive.
Review: An engrossing and internal tale. Lucy Snowe, Bronte's heroine,is a sensitive and thoughtful woman, with a powerful code of internalhonor. She allows herself never to dodge reality, but faces itstraight on, whatever the consequences. Unfortunately, she is fated for bad luck.Though she never tells the early details of Lucy Snowe's life, Bronte paints a picture of a young woman of good family (this translates into money and social privilege), whose family and fortune evaporate in her adolescence. From this point on, she is thrown on her own resources. Lucy Snowe is practical, intelligent, and perceptive, but unfortunately prone to depression. She has the ability to make her own way in life, and soon finds a good post as a teacher in a young woman's school. But she feels her isolation keenly. No longer one of the pampered daughters of a good family, she is reminded of her loss by her pupils constantly. With no close relationships around her, Lucy cannot maintain her emotional stability, and sinks into severe depression. The cycle is repeated several times through the book: Lucy suffers the loss of an emotional ally, sinks into a depression, meets with another source of emotional support, loses this one... The tale is told very well. I admired Lucy for her inner honesty and determination throughout, and suffered with her aching loneliness. The portrait of Lucy, and every other character in the book, is utterly convincing. Many of the characters and interactions are so clear and human and funny that you may laugh out loud at the reading! Yet, the story is ultimately tragic. The book is studded with French dialogue, making me wish strongly that I had studied the language! The reader who can not read French is at a distinct disadvantage. Of course, at the time the book was written, French was the universal language of the educated world. But the sense of the story is quite clear nonetheless.More offputting were the many panegyrics to abstract entities. Hope, Reason, and Hypchondria (which meant "melancholy" at the time)are personified and addressed repeatedly. This, of course, was the style of the day, but I still felt it was a bit overdone. My greatest objection, however, is the ambiguous ending! I have always felt that it is the author's duty to tell the end of a story - not leave it up to the reader! Of course, the logic of the book dictates the worse of the two choices, but I feel it was done in a cowardly way. Yet this is a beautifully written book, full of real thought and emotion. Quite rightly a classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Absorbing and Inscrutable
Review: As one viewing Lucy Snowe, the reader can't help but be pulled into her views of the people around her. She observes to a point where each character is only too real. She shuts down her emotions when they are yet to be released. With her shyness and content with being alone to avoid any pain, seems to be her only logical way and pact with "Reason." The author, who is clearly representing herself in this novel, also was ordinary and plain. But what Villette makes out is that one person admires and loves her for who she is, but she can never quite understand that person until she has unravelled his past and the great deeds he's done, sacrificing even his own happiness. Lucy Snowe even unconciously plays matchmaker with Dr. Graham Bretton and Pauline, though she has always had a unique affection for him, and would mostly prefer him over anyone, until she sees they were never suitable for eachother anyway. I would recommend this book because though it may seem like a routine Victorian/Gothic romance, it has truly inspiring characters and unforgettable events which make you wonder, with curiosity, what will happen. And even the end, leaves you wondering, but don't most great novels leave you wondering?
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Summary: My stoic, passionate Lucy Snowe
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Full of stereotypes
Review: Both this book and "Jane Eyre" seem to say that women have to be plain and destitute to be considered virtuous, honest and worthy of love. Men, on the other hand, must be capricious, unpredictable and often offensive to be really attractive. Then, of course, under the heroines' care these men improve greatly and become quite ordinary or at least less irate and offensive. It is further explained that these wonderful men are not innately lacking consideration to others, but only as a result of a twenty year-old unhappy love experience. Both "Jane Eyre" and "Villette" have their charm and can be enjoyed, especially if read in early teens, both books have wonderful supporting characters (Madame Beck, for example), but the books come across as romantic and frustrated teenager fantasies rather than a realistic description of relationships between men and women.
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Summary: A Soul's Disquietude
Review: Charlotte Bronte writes with a depth of voice rarely known in English - nay, even World literature. Her earlier novel, JANE EYRE, is in fact one of my most beloved novels of all time. Her novel VILLETTE is almost wholly the story of an evolution - a remarkable enlightening, filled with the inner vivid color of one individual human soul. The reader follows that soul past loss of family and fortune during childhood, afterwards making its way over the English Channel to a position earning bread in a school for girls. While in this position, said soul must confront invasive jealousy, intense debilitating loneliness, self-absorbed and egotistic friendship, passion for a suitor out of reach, the alarm of ghostly spectres, and the pristine touch of unconditional love. Initially I must say that Lucy Snow, confoundedly endearing heroine of VILLETTE, is no Jane Eyre: No. Not by any stretch of the imagination. She is, in many ways, quite the opposite. Lucy radically refrains wherein Jane restlessly yearns; Lucy's narration is demure and reticent, while Jane's is warm and open; in turn, the mettle of their respective heroes reflects sharp contrast as well: underneath surface fallibilities, Lucy's is painstakingly unveiled as a most pure moralistic ideal, whereas Jane's is possessed of ominous, deep-seated flaws despite a desperate heart of gold. Fate and providence, too, share sharply divergent roles in these two stories. Hence it must without further ado be disclosed that Charlotte Bronte's final novel was, overall, for me an arduous task to read. Indeed it was! - But I do say this in the very best sense of that word. Critically, I must say it was a challenge because of the overwhelming amount of French dialogue. I realize that French was to some degree a universal language in Victorian England -quite fluently deciphered, read and spoken amongst the educated population...so I cannot on that note accuse the author of prosaic snobbery. However, as an American in the 21st century, I cannot deny that my tentative knowledge of the French language to some extent limited my absorption of the dialogue. However, this was only a small disadvantage - as I believe the gist is still there despite all. Moreover, Lucy has an alluring, yet baffling personality- I love her, but cannot for the life of me understand her. This tale is more of an inwardly emotional journey than anything eventfully climaxing or epically engaging. Plot-wise, this merely treks the path of a young English woman completely alone in the world gaining her livelihood in a girls' school on the European continent. Affecting the treads of that path are those, come by choice or obligation, closest to her: her voyeuristic employer Madame Beck, friends - privileged & affectionate childhood companion Polly and vain & frivolous fellow student Ginerva - the handsome & winsome Dr. John, and temperamental & eccentric professor M. Paul. It's truly an inward journey- a seeking and finding of one's own identity: the heroine - enthralled in a life as outwardly oppressive as it is inwardly rich - is undeniably endearing, her story wrought with so many sparkles of pain, so few of bliss. Without doubt, the hand of providence - of God - is omnipresent in JANE EYRE. In VILLETTE, it is conspicuously absent. For me, to elaborate on this point would take thousands of more words - words which I am, fortunately, too lazy to write right now. I can only say that, after reading both novels, one may be able to see this point as glaringly apparent. Though my love for VILLETTE is nowhere near so great as my love for JANE EYRE, I must allow that it is in certain respects a greater literary achievement for Charlotte Bronte. The writing herein persistently touches genius, and the characters are meticulously drawn and unforsakenly human.
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Summary: Charlotte Bronte's last published novel.
Review: Charlotte Bronte wrote four published novels, and this one was her last. It is very carefully written, and tells the story about a woman who falls too passionately in love to suit Victorian morals and decorum. Although I enjoyed Jane Eyre more than this book, this one is good in it's own right. For one thing Ms. Bronte really bears her soul in this book. We get a much clearer insight of her innermost thoughts and desires. Certainly various scenes in Villette can be traced to what actually happened to Charlotte Bronte in her own lifetime. The book is told in the first person. We get a very good picture of Lucy Snowe, Ms. Bronte's heroine while we read. It's been sometime since I read this book, and I think it's time to reread it again. Ms. Bronte tells such a fine story in her books
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Summary: Impressive, demanding
Review: Charlotte Bronte's JANE EYRE is one of the most readable of Victorian classics. VILLETTE is something different. It could be a good bet for a reading group -- there's a lot to discuss in it. It's a deliberately slow and un-melodramatic story; the narrator, Lucy Snowe, evidently intentionally does _not_ tell about some of the most dramatic incidents in her life,instead focusing on her emotional privation. In this book, it seems there are three levels of humanity. There is the majority, focused on material dazzle -- who are made of "vulgar materials." Superior to them are those whose hearts and minds are capable of some development, but who are spiritually limited. Lastly there is an elite, who, perhaps through much suffering and the tutelage of the wise, discover their own inner integrity, and so become free even while being bound to the "prison" of the body. In short -- don't be misled by the Christian terminology; this is a gnostic novel, even if Bronte never heard the term "gnostic." It has a tough-mindedness that makes many novels seem sentimental. And it really is rather bleak, in seeing this world as unredeemable. For a Victorian fiction with obvious spiritual/religious relevance, what a Christless thing it is.
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Summary: A Portrait of a Brave Person
Review: Charlotte Bronte's novel "Villette" is a moving tale of Lucy Snowe standing firm and cool against pain of existence under unfavourable circumstances. It is a strong depiction of the problems that Lucy Snowe encounters and her responses to the situation at hand that makes this work so effective. For those who ever wonder how s/he can ever stand his/her problems, I would strongly recommend this book.
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Summary: Don't compare Villette to Jane Eyre!!!
Review: Don't misunderstand: I love Jane Eyre. But of all of the Bronte books (I have read Emily, Anne, and Charlotte), this is the one that stays with me. Starting with the shipwreck (an allegory for the loss of her family?), following the progression of the love story to the "ambiguous" end, Villette is definitely on my "Top 10" list of most rewarding reading experiences. (When you're done, read the rest of the Brontes!)
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