Book Review | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre Week is finally here! If you use #JaneEyreWeek on Twitter this week, you have a chance to win a lovely Jane Eyre poster.

Thanks to Ironballs69 and the rest of the Google+ subtitles group for the closed captions.

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The book.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

*I'm a Book Depository affiliate and I get a small cut for every purchase made through my link.

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Use the code BOOKSNQUILL to get a 20% discount. (Ends December 8th).

*This video is not sponsored. Poster Text are providing a free poster to give away. The link is not an affiliate link.

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[fromknitlovepurl]

Jane Eyre is probably my favorite classic literature female character. She's strong without being arrogant, she's intelligent while still being naive. I think the book is great at any age and you rediscover several themes and ideas. I've read it like 4 times.

[jeijeineb]

"I don't feel that this book is as much about love as people think it is " YAS exactly, that's what I always want to say about this story. People, this is a story about pride and rebellion, thriving as a person and experiencing the world with great passion...

[MissLittleear]

My thoughts when I was reading it: oh they are so happy this is just going to be a sweet feel good romance... Oh we're only halfway through

[StoneWashburn]

always loved jane eyre.
i would definitely agree in saying that it's not an overall romance novel.
for me it was a coming of age story, and it really tackled the radical views that brontë had which is what makes the story so timeless. amongst all her trials and tribulations from the school to mr. rochester to bertha and to st. john; jane finally finds herself and her true motives in the end.
by far my favorite classic.

[anxiousmillennialbri]

This was my first foray into reading. My mom read this to me when I was very little. I would lay in her lap and just listen to her voice more than anything. when I got a bit older I read it myself as a way to learn "big words" and help me learn about context clues. Then I read it many years later in high school and I loved it like it was new. I've read it a dozen times since and seen all the adaptations. I collect this book- I like to search for interesting covers/editions or an old tattered version at a garage sale. ^_^

[steakuccino]

I'm always very confused about the romanticizing of Mr. Rochester. I think it's because when I first read the book I was very young and I wasn't thinking much about love then, but I never thought it was a book 'about love'. I wonder if you gave it to someone who had no preconceptions if they would think it was. I always thought it was about a woman discovering who she is.

[AuroraWhispers]

I've never read any of the British classics (Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens etc) which I really hate about myself. I've never seen any films about them either so I only vaguely know what they're about. This may be the perfect time to start a new book. 

[bambi]

When I saw that you had posted a review on Jane Eyre my heart skipped a beat, that is how much I adore it. 

2 years ago I had a job that was very far away and I would have to take a long train journey to and from each day. I would always read as it was a good way to pass the time, but I could always stay half in the book and half alert of my surroundings. Jane Eyre completely absorbed every bit of my attention and I guarantee my fellow train goers probably thought I was a little on the deranged side (missing my stops, sighing out loud etc) The end had me in tears and for someone who can't even cry at a sad movie this was a big deal.

For anyone who hasn't read the book please do & for those who have started but find it a little slow please keep going. 

Also this was an incredible review as always,  
Much love from Australia xxx

[alloliable]

What a coincidence! I'm currently reading and at the last chapter of Jane Eyre. Absolutely love it. Although I can't say it's been an easy read for me. I love how smart, wise, observant and rebellious Jane is. I kinda want to reread it right away!
Question: What is your favorite movie adaptation?

[booksandquills]

@Evgeniya I was having some issues with the Spanish subtitles, but the English captions should be up soon!

[thecreativemillenial]

Even though Helen Burns is a very short-lived character, her influence of kindness and forgiveness has a lasting effect on Jane

[NerdsBehavingBadly]

Love how you emphasized the non-romance parts of Jane Eyre! A lot of people don't realize how cerebral the novel is - a big reason why it's so hard to adapt to the screen!

[zeineb]

I read this book at the age of 14, I never thought of it as a love story, I've always seen it as the journey of a girl "Jane Eyre". This book was my first classic book ever and it changed the way I perceived classics, as I thought they were only long complicated and boring books, but reading this, my mindset changed completely!
For what I remember, I don't think that I learned a lot of things from it at the time, maybe it was because I read it at a young age, I think I have to reread it once again !

[BrokenPointeShoes]

To anyone who likes the story, I highly recommend the bbc version with  Timothy Dalton as Mr. Rochester. It is really wonderful, and I don't think anyone will ever portray Rochester as well as he did.

[TheSavannaRenee]

Wuthering Heights was the second classic that I have ever read. (Right after The Great Gatsby, which, while amazing, isn't very hard to read.) I struggled through it for almost an entire semester, taking several breaks and reading other books, but now that I've finished, re-finished, and studied the book, I can honestly say that it is my favorite book that I have ever read. I have yet to read Jane Eyre though, but I have a feeling that I might in the near future!

[ErinLouisee]

Jane eyre was one of the first classics I'd read.At first I hated the book purely because it was for my a level english and I was trying to rebel against the lessons and essay writing! Now It's one of my favourites, there's just so much to discuss and is in no way just a romance. I would highly recommend reading wide Sargasso Sea too x

[mquintal]

I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys- it's a beautiful novel and a sort of prequel from the perspective of (sort of spoilers!) Rochester and Bertha back in the Carribean and it really explores Rochester and his treatment of Bertha from a whole new perspective. I adore it!  

[WithinTheGoodBooks]

I recently read Jane Eyre and did also appreciate Jane's bizarre way of thinking! Great review as always.

[ViridisArborem]

I'm reading Dickens' A Christmas Carol right now. It's interesting to see how it differs from A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart (the closest to the book adaptation I've seen - the movie from 1999). Dickens' writing has a lot more description, as I expected, and it's not always relevant to the plot. That's where the context he was writing is interesting because he was paid by the word, so it makes sense to have as many tangents as possible. After I finish I hope to review it and compare it with film/television adaptations I've watched on my other channel. 

I think I've only seen one movie adaptation of Jane Eyre. It was the one released only a couple of years back. Half an hour into the movie the bulb in the cinema projector burnt out (they'd only changed it that morning), so we were stuck sitting in the cinema while we waited for them to fix it. I'm not sure if my family bought the DVD or if we rented it, because I remember seeing it since. My Oma gave me the book a year or two before that, but I haven't had the opportunity to read it yet. Thankfully having just graduated from high school and as I'm taking a gap year I'll have a lot more time to read now. :D

[TomesAndTravel]

Jane Eyre week is a great idea! I think it's an amazing book and I'm glad you've made a video about it!
I completely agree that it isn't about love as much as people seem to think. I remember before initially reading I was scared that there would be too much romance, but that wasn't the case. Love's just an element of the plot which shapes some of the events, but it's not a pure love story, I would consider it as a bildungsroman/coming of age novel about a young girl finding her identity and battling through societal expectations and her problems, and as part of that, love is involved to aid the overall message of the story and add another dimension :)
I also agree that it's a great starter classic because despite its length, it doesn't take long to read and the style is really accessible and the plot is easy to understand.