My reading week. To Oct 5th. Jane Eyre.
Oh Jane, what have you done to me? I don’t think I have ever enjoyed a female character more or struggled to face up to the fact that I have to move on without her. Looks like Charlotte never did get around to a sequel.
Jane might have been described, rather rudely, throughout the book as plain to look at, but who cares when she is as feisty and outspoken as she is, and also as trustworthy and loyal?
Within twenty pages I found myself completely and utterly on her side and ready to fight alongside her all the way.
It might be almost five hundred pages long but I urge you, whatever your gender or age to read this book. The writing is absolute gold standard and there were many occasions when I had to stop and re-read a passage or sentence, simply because it had such an impact on me.
The scene where Rochester tells Jane that it is her he intends to make his bride, sitting in the dusk of a mid summer evening, along the laurel walk, will stay with me for a long time. And I’m not normally one for the romantic stuff, well maybe just a little.
So I reluctantly got to the end, with my mind full of Jane and her experiences, and tried to move on to Middlemarch, often described as one of the great English novels – possible even the greatest. But I couldn’t get “in to it” because my thoughts remained firmly with Ms Eyre.
So next week, I’ll let you know what I think about Middlemarch, but I can already say to you “It ain’t no Jane Eyre!”
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