Rating: 
Summary: Liked the "idea" of the book, not the actuality
Review: This book was "almost" a very good book, but something was off. What Rhys did well was portray the sensual atmosphere of Jamaica and the paranoia/confusion/disjointedness of mental illness. Attempting to understand and identify with the characters can almost make the reader feel as if she herself is mentally disturbed. While this is an original attempt in writing, I felt unconnected to this book. I didn't feel I truly understood either Antoinette or Rochester's motivations or personalities, and as such I did not really care what happened in the book. I liked the "idea" of the book -- i.e. examining a character made famous in literature through another perspective. If you also like that "idea," then I recommend the book "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire which tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West through another perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: Jane Eyre's Rochester, through a glass darkly
Review: 'Jane Eyre' was one of my favorite books when I was a teenager and if I had read 'Wide Sargasso Sea' right after reading 'Jane Eyre', I would have hated it for deconstructing the heroic image of Mr. Rochester. I'm glad I discovered WSS much later. It's an intriguing, fascinating study of Mr. Rochester and his first wife, Antoinette Mason, the prototype of the 'mad wife in the attic' who played a minor but vital part in 'Jane Eyre'. Antoinette's mother descends into madness following the loss of the family estate to a slave rebellion. To shore up the family fortune and save her from becoming an old maid, and thus a burden, she is married off to Mr. Rochester, newly arrived from England, who knows nothing about her mother's insanity. WSS shows us the other side of Mr. Rochester that Jane Eyre couldn't or wouldn't see: his coldness, his selfishness, and his opportunism. We can understand how, as he did in 'Jane Eyre', such a man would lie to an innocent young woman about his marital status and nearly trap her into unwittingly participating in a sham marriage. Rochester is attracted to Antoinette at first; he is dazzled by her beauty as well as her money and eager to marry her. Once the honeymoon phase is over, he is unable to adjust to his surroundings. Jamaica is antipathetic to everything he grew up with, it's wild, untamed, a study in extremes, anathema to a tidy, organized, narrow-minded European, and Rochester is the typical insular-minded Englishman who despises what he is unable to understand. Antoinette is totally a product of her surroundings and completely at home where she is, and as Rochester feels alienated from Jamaica, so he feels alientated from his wife, and the discovery of her mother's insanity is justification enough for his deepening antipathy for her. He can't accept who or what she is; he can't even accept her name, he insists on calling her 'Bertha', never mind that it's a name she hates, it's what he wants, so it's who she will be. In 'Jane Eyre', Rochester blames his wife's alcoholism for the failure of the marriage; in WSS, it's his brutally cold and insensitive treatment of her that finally drives her to drink. When he takes her away from Jamaica and everything she knows and loves, she retreats into a madness even deeper than her mother's; she can't live in his world, any more than he can live in hers. In 'Jane Eyre' Rochester is the romantic hero and in WSS he is a monster of selfishness; when both are put together, the real complexity of the character finally emerges.
Rating: 
Summary: Mr. Rochester! Who's he?
Review: I recently read this wonderful book for a course on Narrative Theory. I have not read _Jane Eyre_, though my wife reminds me I have seen at least parts of two versions of that book on film. As a consequence, I read this (despite the knowledge gained reading the forward) without the "benefit" of viewing it as a prequel to Ms. Bronte's work.Standing alone, on its own, the book is a challenging story of interpersonal clashes, misunderstandings, fear, and loathing all rolled into a sort of gothic romance. Ms. Rhys has done a wonderful job of character development, of manipulating narrative devices, to develop her personal insight to private desires, fears, and madness. For those who have read or are going to read it, I have two questions: first, given Antoinette is the narrator of the story, at what time in her life is the story being told? Second, what makes so many readers name Antoinette's husband "Mr. Rochester"?
Rating: 
Summary: Atmospheric, moody
Review: I have enjoyed reading the wide spectrum of reviews on this novel; its obviously a love it or hate it type of proposition. Say what you will about whether it stands alone, needs Jane Eyre as background or insults Bronte, it is a beautiful work of prose. Jean Rhys describes locations and places and moods with skill that I'm sure all the Bronte's would greatly admire. And hey, you have to consider that between Bronte and Rhys lies an entire century of change in attitudes and styles. I'd recommend it as a suitable post Jane Eyre reading for those that loved Jane Eyre.
Rating: 
Summary: The Downfall of Literature
Review: If I were to live my life without having to read this novel again I would die a very happy man. Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea is one of the worst novels I've read in my life time and reading this could be compared to listining to fingernails scrape across a chalk board. It is compleatly incoherent with just a touch of insanity. I'm sure if Charlotte Bronte had read this she would have wished she had never written Jane Eyre.
Rating:
Summary: Evocative and lyrical
Review: This beautifully written novel is as haunting as they come. It takes time to understand the rhythms of Rhys's prose, but it's worth the effort. Although I firmly believe that the book should be read separately from Jane Eyre (which I equally love), I also think that it adds another layer of depth and richness that Bronte would have appreciated. The idea that Mr. Rochester had a vindictive side in his youth is balanced by the fact that he loses his eyesight in the end of Jane Eyre. Jane's own decision to leave him seems even more justified, and his humbleness upon her return more genuine. But apart from the Jane Eyre factor, this is a mysterious and exotic novel of passion, fear, and betrayal. I have always wondered why Rochester hated Antoinette so much after he married her, and I have heard that it was because Rhys believed that everyone fears the depth of his/her own passion, and Rochester could not face the passion that Antoinette aroused in him. I think that Rhys explores this controversial theme with amazing finesse. The completeness of Rochester's revenge, as well as Antoinette's powerlessness to protect herself, is both heartbreaking and riveting to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Masterfully Evokes Mood & Mystery
Review: I enjoyed The Wide Sargasso Sea very much. It is absolutely haunting in its ability to evoke mood and the mystery of place. The book is divided into three parts. Part one is narrated by Antionette. Part two is narrated by Rochester and part three returns to Antionette, now mad Bertha who inhabits the tower at Thornfield. This story gives you a look into madness and suggests much more than organic causes for it. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: This book was one of the greatest books I have ever read.
Review: I take a college english course, and this book was one of the requirements for the course. At first i wasn't sure whether I was going to get into it, but after reading into the first few pages, and seeing the movie, I thought that Wide Sargasso Sea was one of the best books I have read in a while. I have not read Jane Eyre yet, but I intend to because I felt I was kept hanging by not knowing what happens to Antionette in the end. It's definetly a sensual book, and the way Rhys describes the setting was wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: It seemed completely irrelevent.
Review: It seemed completely irrelevent. The descriptive nature of the novel, however, made it ever so slightly bearable. How anybody reads the book strictly for entertainment is beyond me.
Rating:
Summary: superb
Review: I think that Jean Rhys did an excelent job of creating an interesting storyline aswell as bogling our minds with the beauty of Colubri. Her images were so strong that i didnt have to try to imagine the characters or settings, i could already see them.
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