Villette

Rating:
Summary: Charlotte Bronte's best -- I love the ending!
Review: The ending is wonderful, original and "leave[s] sunny imaginations hope." A very unusual love story, and a far better work than "Jane Eyre."

Rating:
Summary: A question of identity
Review: The pen that wrote "Villette" bled inks of many colours. There's the deep, deep red that speaks of powerful needs - the need for warmth, love, life and colour. That red runs into a stormy, purple of anger which, unable to change life's decrees, frequently sickens into a sour yellow of bitterness and sometimes to a thick blanket of despairing white.

What colour should we associate with Bronte's sharp intelligence and keen powers of observation which unfortunately were often spoiled by her intolerance and prejudice? And what with her nauseating but persistent self-deprecation? Grey for the last, I believe, because it's really only a cloud over that purple anger.

A hue particularly mentioned in Villette is pink. Pink is the shade of a dress which symbolised the confusion around her question "What sort of woman am I and what sort should I be?" Each female character represents an attempt to explore the implications of being a particular sort of woman.

The central character, Lucy Snowe, was bullied into wearing a pink dress to a concert. Bronte didn't dare to imagine willingly donning this symbol of frivolous femininity so her character must be forced into wearing it. The dress represents Bronte's longing to be beautiful and the fact that a dress cannot make her look that way is the bitter potion that she bravely swallow in the story.

However there is another aspect to this scene. Lucy Snowe's whole being resonates to the passion of the acting at the concert that she's attending - a passion that her escort doesn't notice. Though dressed in the colour of vapid prettiness, Snowe has an inner fire far stronger than her partner could ever understand and a perceptive intelligence that won't allow her to uncritically adore him.

To explore the problems of being a sensual, sexual female, Bronte invents the character of Ginevra Fanshawe - a carefree, spontaneous lover of life, colour and fun. Lucy, unable to dislike her, cannot accept her either. She sees Ginevra as shallow and insensitive.

The quaintest, saddest condemnation of Ginevra occurs when the latter is seen to exchange such a glance with her escort that the observer could only conclude that more had happened between those two than should between an unmarried couple! Quaint because it was so prudish and yet so romantic. Sad because ah! how Charlotte must have longed for the romance and sexuality that would have occasioned such a glance!

And how Bronte feared a life bereft of passion! Throughout the book there hovers the grey ghost of a nun. The spectre represents lifeless, solitary celibacy with needs forever unmet and the absence of all warmth and colour. (Bronte obviously was not in a position to meet modern nuns who are the very opposite of all this!) The abhorrence that Lucy felt for this female figure reveals Bronte very clearly to us.

The character of Pauline seems to be an uneasy compromise between the figures of the nun and the passionate Ginevra. Lucy describes Pauline as being a fine, pure flame covered by a hoar frost. Pauline has a restraint that Bronte obviously approves of but we also see clearly the urgency of her need for love. Strangely her restraint is also couple with an abject passivity - in the image of her as a child, lying ignored at the foot of the lad she loved. For all that Bronte appears to admire Pauline, she only rewards her with marriage to Dr John - that character unable to respond to the passion expressed by the actress.

Bronte, through the complex and confronting personality of Lucy Snowe, asks herself, "Who am? What am I worth? How will I measure my worth?" She rejects the possible answers of flirtatious sensuality, cold celibacy and pure perfection. How does she answer herself?

An answer comes through her relationship with M. Paul. His learned nature recognises and challenges her intelligence but he also sees her neediness. He doesn't see her, as others do, as prudish and starchy. He even insists that there is such a thing as passion! His unpredictable moods arouse her to stand up to him. His fire and intelligence quicken the same qualities in her so that she can be all that she wants to be without settling for the simpler personalities of the other flatter characters.

Women today can still find "Villette" an interesting exploration of the question, "What sort of woman am I? And who do I want to become?"

Rating:
Summary: Better than Jane Eyre!
Review: The swift movements of the characters and their emotional speeds were overwhelming. This book is the perfect example of creative sentence patterns that draws you in as a reader until the last page of the book. Not as cry prone or tissue wrenching as Charolotte's Jane Eyre, but more intense and tragic.

I'm not sure on why the title is thus called Villette, a piece of land without much inhabitants. But with the narrator/main character Lucy Snowe, she is constantly lonely and depressed, which may explain her initial connections with the grounds of Villette.

Rating:
Summary: splendidly felt
Review: The turmoils of misplaced affection and jealousy are quite more thrilling in this work by Charlotte. As in 'Jane Eyre' the feelings of the female came out into a wild torrent of emmotion, concealed as it appeared but strong. Lucy I believe is most memorable in her very female composure througout the novel, not as strong and bright in character as Jane but quite unforgetable. The first part of the book is a bit slow in starting as Charlotte gets caught up in describing Lucy's childhood, but moves along rather well later on.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book now!
Review: There are not many great works of literature to read nowadays, but I read this book while I was living in Bulgaria and it touched my heart so deeply. Written at a very sad time in Bronte's life, Villette's heroine Lucy Snowe was originally supposed to be Lucy Frost, and it shows in her depressed moody character while working as a teacher in Brussels. Bronte did in fact teach in Brussels and she was a student there, she fell in love with the head teacher M. Heger and this book must have brought back the sad memories of his rejection of her affections. Also, I think by the time she finished this book all of her sisters and her one brother had died early deaths. the book was not well-recieved by her critics but I think it is one of the best books ever written and I think George Eliot thought so too!

Rating:
Summary: Read this book, but get a different version
Review: This is a lousy edition of a pretty good book. The Bantam Classic version is full of obvious typos and has no notes to gloss the numerous French passages. If you read French, you might not mind it so much, but the typos will still be there.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This is a masterpiece of a novel. Why hasn't this one been turned into a film yet? I would love to see an adaptation! Only prerequisite before reading this novel is that you might want to get a French Dictionary, as important dialougue is at oft times expressed through the French tongue. But don't let this be a deterrent! Although 'Jane Eyre' tops my list as being one of the most romantic and intriguing novels of classic literature, "Villette" is only a slim margin behind! It's a longer read and more introspective, with some slow parts, but believe me, all else makes up for it! READ THIS NOVEL!

Rating:
Summary: ....
Review: This is a tale of Lucy Snowe's journey and struggle with loneliness, love unrequited, fate and life. Lucy makes for an interesting narrator for she is moral, thoughtful throughouta and at times morosely funny. During reading I truly began to care about Lucy's struggle--because isn't her struggle ours as well? Many novels try to do the same, but lack in Charlotte Bronte's authenticity of sentiment; so when M. Paul said 'Lucy, take my love. One day share my life. Be my dearest, first on earth.' I shed a tear.

Rating:
Summary: If you don't mind slow starts...
Review: This is called Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece because the writing is so eloquent. Being her fourth and final novel, she finally has perfected her art. However, Villette starts off extremely slow--but, if you loved the romantic aspects of Jane Eyre, stick around--this novel is for you. Once the story begins, it's virtually impossible to put down. Even once you're finished it will still be in your heart and in your mind.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable book, unforgettable characters
Review: Villette has haunted me since I read it as a schoolgirl. When I read it now as an adult it affects me even more than it did then.

It is a masterly rendition of isolation and unrequited love, and the pain of not having intimate and close connections who have claims on you, on whom you can assert claims.

The narrator/heroine is Lucy Snowe - superficially similar to Fanny of Mansfield Park in that she is plain, colourless, melancholy, unassertive and poor. But Lucy Snowe is far, far more interesting, complex, witty, intelligent and engaging than the insipid Fanny. Modern readers can identify with Lucy's hopes, struggles and despairs, probably more than her Victorian contemporaries would have.

Villette is not an all-tragic book. Parts of it are very, very funny. And it has a number of absolutely marvelous, unforgettable, very real characters eg. Mrs Bretton, Ginevra Fanshawe, Madame Beck and even Rosine the portress.

I confess to have always been in love with the handsome Graham Bretton - and who wouldn't be? In the words of Lucy Snowe: "He had his faults, yet scarce ever was a finer nature; liberal, suave, impressible". My first few readings left me totally unimpressed with M Paul Emanuel - I began to appreciate him only as an adult. (I first read Villette at age 12, which is too young for what is really a very mature book).

I know that parts of the book are heavy going - during my first few readings I skipped large chunks of the book and dropped many paragraphs in the parts I did read. A lot of dialogue is in French and still lost to me. But these are minor faults - Villette is one of the best books I have ever read and I cant recommend it strongly enough.

PS : I consider Jane Eyre vastly over-rated. Villette is greatly superior.