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Summary: Wide Sargasso Sea as independent piece.
Review: Some people have commented that Bronte's piece is necessary to understand Rhys'. However, WSS has its own history. As we read WSS we should pay attention to the colonial steryotypes of the epoch. We can see how the colonizer signifies the colonized and viceversa, and how the creole's identity gets trapped in those two worlds. Also, it raises gender issues. In this way, we should interpret Antoinnet's experience as an individual and authentic experience, independent from Bronte's novel.
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Summary: Some things aren't meant to be known
Review: This book was a horrible piece of literature that I was forced to read for my school. It completely wrecks the book of Jane Eyre. Some things are not meant to be known. The mysterious of Bertha (Antoinette), added to the quality of Jane Eyre. Wide Sargasso Sea did nothing to add to Jane Eyre but rather take away from it. Rochester believed to be a great man at the end if Jane Eyre. After reading Wide Sargasso Sea, this is not the case. Maybe Charolette Bronte did not want the reader to believe this, but Jean Rhys comes in and just about recreates one's beliefs about Jane Eyre. I would reccomend that this book should not be read. Rather, it should be burned.
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Summary: Very confusing but I caught on.
Review: you should read this book before you read Jane Eyre because then you will get the full extent of the story behind the story. I really did not have a favorite part about this book because the whole story was horrible when you really look at it, I mean you have racism and hatred in families and neighborhoods it acually how I look at the world today.
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Summary: Beautiful prose, tragic story
Review: Jean Rhys may be one of the greatest underrated writers of the century. Wide Sargasso Sea is her masterpiece. In a short 140 pages, Rhys creates a multi-layered story that deserves a few re-readings in order to fully appreciate it's scope.It's not "anti"-Jane Eyre, it is an exploration of that theme Bronte created but never examined- the madwoman in the attic. Rochester is not "evil"- he is a confused, weak man who blindly follows the values of his society (money, emotional repression), and is in fact portrayed to be a victim of them. That is what makes this story a tragedy; the oppressors are not hellions, they are simply ignorant and arrogant. There are so many themes in this book it is impossible to touch upon them all; men & women, slaves & slave-owners, rich & poor, industrial & rural, the known & the unknown, the conqueror & the colony. The first part is narrated by Antoinette Cosway, her memories of growing up in post-Emancipation Jamaica. It is written as though we have direct access to her thoughts, or she telling us her memories verbaly. The prose is rythmic, not static. The second section is mostly narrated by Rochester, his voice is a little more restrained, he is prissy and frustrated and confused as he describes their marriage and life in the Islands. Sometimes Anointette (whom Rochester has re-named Bertha) breaks his narrative and we are shown her own growing frustration and desperation. The last section brings the story to England- a few paragraphs are given to Grace Poole, then it is Antointette's now "mad" voice as she is locked in the attic. Reading Jane Eyre is obviously good preparation for this book, but if one knows the basic plot (say, have seen a movie version) that is good enough to appreciated WSS. Afterall, it is really the plot points and characters, as well as some imagery, that this "prequeal" picks up; it's themes stand on their own, as does Rhys's magnificant prose.
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Summary: Marvelous
Review: When Rhys created Antoinette Cosway, it was if she had opened the curtains to a window looking upon the human soul. Fantastic.
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Summary: LEFT ME ADRIFT
Review: I now know (AFTER reading the book) that there is a Jane Eyre tie-in. Would I have liked the book better if I had read Jane? The book had the feeling of a mystery. It didn't spoon feed you. I kept going back to reread previous chapters. It was a look at a woman who was damaged in youth and never had a chance at fulfillment. Good look at what it was like to be white in a black majority culture in the early 1800s. Interesting, but not upbeat.
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Summary: Rhys humiliates Bronte! Great stuff.
Review: The silly idealism of Jane Eyre is brought harshly down to earth with a work that forces its reader to view the characters as human beings rather than plot devices. It defends the characters Bronte marginalized and attacks those she portrayed as heroes, making the state of the universe more balanced, confused, and real. This book does not blame Rochester for the failure which takes place; nor does it blame Antoinette; it blames the cultural divide which made the whole conflict inevitable. Its ability to portray a tragedy without guilt dumped on a villain's shoulders is admirable. It is not a comfortable book or an easy read; it turns a fairy tale into a biography, a painting into a photograph.
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Summary: provides a clear and coherent argument but lacks interest
Review: I had been told of this book and was eager to read it, but was disappointed by it. It gives the tale of Antoinette Mason (Rochester's wife) in *Jane Eyre*, and in describing the background and life of "the madwoman in the attic," argues against the values implicit and explicit in the Bronte novel. But these characters are not compelling. The book is an argument, not a vivid novel that pulls the reader into its vortex. If I want an argument, I can read literary theory or criticism.
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Summary: It added life to the lush landscape of the Caribbean
Review: Jean Rhys gave life to her characters and other than any other novel,it gave people a dose of reality.
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Summary: Buy it
Review: All literary references to Jane Eyre aside, this stands as one of the great works of English fiction. Why? First, the pathos of the tale. The creole perspective, not to mention the position of living in a free country but being descended from slaveholders, create a crushing, gripping tension from which the reader never breaks free. Second, the writing. Rhys breaks down language to its barest elements and then goes about building fantastic imagery; emotions and landscape so bright that you can feel them. Third, the compassion of the writer. Though, in common with much Brit lit, there is a certain gap--a monstrous one, even--in the human sensibilities of love and attachment, Rhys digs deep into the human emotions, the warmth for heimat and the early bonds between caregiver and child. If you find this book boring, well, don't blame it on the book
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