Jane Eyre

Rating:
Summary: A great romance
Review: As a high school teacher, I have heard many students complaining about Jane Eyre. Since I teach math, most students are surprised when I tell them I loved the book! I read it over at least once a year and I enjoy it every time!

Rating:
Summary: Maybe I'm just too opiniated
Review: While Jane Eyre is supposed to be one of the greatest novels of all time I can't say that I liked it nor disliked it. I don't think that I liked the character of Jane very much. I understand that she was mistreated and that she also lived in the 1700's but I still think that she was rude. She had no confidence and no pride. She would not let people love her and treat her nicely. When Mr. Rochester asks her to marry him and then wanted to take her out and buy her a nice dress and jewlery, she acts so coldly towards him that it makes me sick. Maybe I didn't like her character because I have self confidence and am very opiniated. Neverthless, I still believe that Charlotte Bronte is an excellent author, I don't love or hate many characters, but I hated Jane Eyre.

Rating:
Summary: A long yet captivating story
Review: I found Jane Eyre to be a delightful read and a book that can be read again and again. It is the story of a young orphan girl who struggles to find her place in society. The story begins with Jane as child living with her aunt and cousins. Jane is a spirited girl and is disliked by all, especially her aunt, who constantly belittles her, despite the fact that Jane's cousins are horrific. Jane's only friend is the maid, who gives her comfort from time to time.
Finally it gets to the point where Jane fights back and her aunt chooses to send her to boarding school. Lowood is a place of discipline and seriousness. The girls are educated in harsh conditions. It is here that Jane makes her first friend and learns much from her. After many years at school, Jane decides she wants to work and make money. There are not many options for a woman of her time who desires a career, but she lands a job as a governess for a young, French girl. Jane enjoys teaching and looking after her, but she also longs for something more in life.
After being there for some time, Jane finally meets Mr. Rochester, the master of the house, who spends little time there. He is a short, rather ugly man and Jane piques his interest as a girl with intelligence. After numerous encounters, they profess their mutual affection and plan on getting married. Although Jane loves him, she cannot ignore their obvious class difference.
On the day of their wedding it is revealed that Rochester is already married to Bertha; a crazy Jamaican woman living on the top floor of the house. Jane is shocked and decides she cannot marry Rochester despite his pleas. She packs up her things and runs away.
Jane spends time homeless and starving until strangers take her in. St. John is a missionary who is later revealed as Jane's cousin. The death of Jane's uncle leaves her with a fortune, turning her into a financially independent woman. Despite the fact that he's her cousin, St. John asks Jane to marry him and accompany him to India to do missionary work. What does Jane decide? Read the book and find out!
Jane Eyre is novel filled with passion and symbolism. Fire appears time and time again, symbolizing the heat that exists in Jane's life. I found Jane to be a strong and admirable woman, though there are times when her sensibility gets a bit annoying. Rochester is a little odd as well, but together I find them charming. This story is unique because the heroine is a plain, poor girl who triumphs over class barriers, which is why she is so likable. She is not a beauty queen who is swept off into the horizon by prince charming. Altogether, a passionate story of courage and triumph.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: This story begins with Jane at a young age living with her aunt. Her aunt favors the other children and often scolds Jane for no reason. Soon after Jane attends school at Lowood. She remains there for eight years aand then gets a job as a governess at Thornfield. That is where the real action begins. Bronte uses imagery and symbolism in this work to make it more interesting for the reader. The images used in the book allow someone to vividly see what is going on during the story. Jane is a symbol of independence because she does everything for herself. The overall theme of this story is to let fate run its course because eventually what is supposed to happen will. This novel is a very memorable story. It is a classic love tale that will be good forever. It teaches a wonderful lesson. This book has taught me not to get so worked up about what is happening to me because it will all work out in the end. Overall this is a wonderful story. It is a great book to read when you are unhappy. It will cheer you right up. It has a great story line, and I recommend it to anyone who appreciates classics.

Rating:
Summary: The orignal romance novel
Review: Jane Eyre has been hailed by many to be the original romance novel and after reading it, I am inclined to agree.

Jane is an abused, forgotten child who is sent away to a boarding school after standing up for herself against her cruel cousins and unjust aunt. While at school, Jane learns disicpline and becomes a very religious person.
When Jane finally leaves the boarding school, it is for a governess position at the home of Rochester. She teaches the child in his care, Adele.
Through the story, she and Rochester face many dilemmas in their search for true love. A true love that is right in front of their noses.
If you like romance novels or if you just want to rediscover your hope for love, I recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: A classic that hooks you in the first few chapters
Review: The story begins with Jane Eyre being tormented by her cousins. She is soon sent to Lowood School, a very strict school. There she grows up and even becomes one of the teachers. She soon decides to go out into the world. She is hired by Mr. Rochester to take care of his daughter, Adele. As Jane teaches Adele, she falls in love with Mr. Rochester. When a friend of his prevents their marrige, Mr. Rochester begs her to become his mistress. Throughout it all, Jane remains firm in her belief of pure love and marriage. Though she loves Mr. Rochester, she refuses to lower herself to adultrey. As life becomes unbearable there, she sets off to find herself and to seperate herself from her love.
She soon finds that no matter how many miles she puts between herself and Mr. Rochester, she cannot forget him.

Rating:
Summary: Charlotte Bronte's Great Romance
Review: Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" is as a great romance and a clever book. It is marked by an intelligent pessimism as opposed to a silly optimism which is also a marked point in most of Thomas Hardy's work. You go through the psychological struggles of Jane Eyre, an orphan first with the oppressive regime at the Lowood School and later with her employer Mr. Rochester and her cousin St.John Rivers. It is strong in the depiction of the environment in which the novel takes place and it also succeeds in making an argument about colonialism and psychology. Strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Template for Gothics
Review: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is the template for many books that followed. We find Jane Eyre the orphan child soon to be abandoned by her uncaring aunt to a stern stark girls school. Jane has a spirit that does not quake in the face of dangers. She is the model for feminists in years to come.

Charlotte Bronte the author of the book was born in 1816 and like Jane had experience as a governess. Jane Eyre was first published in 1847. By reading the book one can experience the harsh times that existed in the era. Young children had little protection from society outside of their family and those without families were at risk. The school, Jane attends is a uncaring and stoic establishment. Even so Jane flourishes because of her strong spirit and desire to learn.

After leaving the school Jane bravely sets out to be governess. It is here that she meets Mr. Rochester her silent and mysterious employer. Jane has the ability to see the real spirit of a person and draws for Mr. Rochester with her subtle elfin charms. Throughout the book Jane maintains an integrity of being and an independent spirit. She demands that others, who she cares for respect her as an individual as well as a woman. Jane is a person who doesn't accept the limitations which fate has set forth for her.

In many ways this novel was far ahead of its time in recognizing women as individuals who were capable and independent beings. The plot is one that has been used repeatedly in novels yet to come. Any reader of romances or gothic stories should first read this to find the source of the story.

Rating:
Summary: Depth unimagined
Review: Jane Austen wrote the romantic stories. Dickens did the rags-to-riches heartwarmers. Mary Shelley added the supernatural, haunting yet human Frankenstein. Bronte's Jane Eyre pulls elements from all of these works and ends up... something entirely, refreshingly different.

What's really great about this book is that it is so rich. The plot moves and moves well, making it an enjoyable and propelling read. While it is mostly romantic-love interest based, it is not as sappy or predictable as, say, Pride and Prejudice. Jane's journey to marital bliss is a bit more pock-marked -- and even drawn into question -- than in most romantic comedies. I enjoyed the fact that, indeed, she questions whether she even wants to marry or should marry -- and refuses to marry, not once but twice, because doing so would compromise who she is.

Which brings me to the real reason I like this book and consider it a cut above most. Jane herself is so interesting. She is a very complex character, and the author has clearly taken much time and energy to draw in fine detail the map of her psychosis. This book is re-readable because there is so much to contemplate and reflect on within this finely drawn character. Is she afraid of happiness? Tied to duty? Was it right, or misguided, to leave Mr. Rochester? If it was right, were here intentions right? Was it right to return to him? What changes that allows her to refuse St. John, and return to Rochester?

I think Ms. Bronte did us a great favor with this book. She took familiar ground and tweaked it -- taking the romantic comedy formula, so mastered by Austen and Thackeray, in which the tension entirely surrounds marriage, the meeting and mating of two people, and the point of the novel is resolved when the marriage(s) occur. Working within that framework, Bronte brings us a character novel -- in which the tension is only resolved once the character has found a way to be fully who she is, and thus happy and fulfilled. Surely this work broke ground for some of my very favorite works, in which plot becomes a somewhat secondary consideration and the eccentricities of character, the stuff of humans, becomes the focus and point of the novel. (...)

Rating:
Summary: don't think of it as a text book
Review: I put off reading this book for years - it was sitting on the dusty shelf in my schoolroom, by the Austens, Dickens and Shakespeare and looked like the driest book in the world. However, like those other books, Jane Eyre has stood the test of time, and there's a good reason for that. So 10 years after I left school I finally went ahead and read it, and was delighted to find that it is one of the best written and romantic stories you will ever read. Jane is orphaned at an early age, has a sad and lonely childhood, finds a job and a chance at romance, only to have it all dashed away and she is apparently left destitute....but it's not over yet. Treat yourself to this book, curl up and enjoy the wonderful descriptive prose and you won't regret it!