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Q: What hyped up book do you think was not worth all the talk?
I couldn't pass this one up!
Seriously, if I have to listen to one more person rave on and on about how wonderful this book is I'm going to shoot myself...or them. K, not really. It just irritates me that people like this one. What's to like? The egotistical "hero" who's always telling Jane how silly and naive she is and how she needs him in her life, all the while, why he's locked his other wife in the attic?! And, sure, at least Jane leaves him when she finds out but then she goes back! Totally unbelievable. It's like the author couldn't even think of a reason for Jane to go back so she had to come up with divine intervention! *rolls eyes* No thanks!
Guess it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I love this book. One of my favorite classics. But, different strokes for different folks. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think I'm alone in my hate. Ah well.
ReplyDeleteHaha I've never actually read the book but I did see the movie and I was annoyed that she went back to him. I didn't see the appeal honestly :P Especially after finding out he locked his insane wife in his attack. Like wth??
ReplyDeleteNew GFC follower :]
Kaitlin @ Read. Write. Love.
Yay! I'm glad you get it!
DeleteHi just hopping by the FF and became a new follower
ReplyDeletehttp://pagegirlspage.blogspot.com/
Thanks
Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI'm pretty sure that I read this one, but guess it didn't leave much of an impression. I seem to remember it dragging in several places, but that's it. *shrugs*
ReplyDeleteWell, at least you didn't love it. Every time I talk about it I get all riled up.
DeleteLol. My mom and I watched a couple of the movie adaptations. I kinda just feel like, 'Meh'--it's not like Jane Austen's stories. It's a bit strange. So, I'm with you, only not as irritated. ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think I'm the only person that actually get furious about this one.
DeleteNew follower through GFC as lucyatmax/no pic...Please visit/follow me at: bethartfromtheheart.blogspot.com . I read Jane Eyre way back when and I think I thought it an odd read, but still I liked it, from what I can remember.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend, new bloggin buddy!
beth
Thanks for stopping by. :)
DeleteJane Eyre certainly is weird. I didn't like it at all. New Follower.
ReplyDeleteSydney @ Starry Storm
Glad you didn't like it either. I knew I couldn't be alone.
DeleteMy favorite classic lol, but I've hated all of the movies they've made. New follower via GFC :) Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteChrystina @BookLiaison
Movies can get it so wrong, can't they?
DeleteHere's my FF..
ReplyDeleteHave a great day!
*New GFC follower. :)
Thanks for stopping by, have a great day too!
DeleteI liked Jane Eyre more than I liked P&P (sorry!) but I'm really not a fan of "the classics" in general. To me they are all long winded and could easily all be trimmed down.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's because they got payed by the word so they never shut up! ;)
DeleteThose are exactly my issues with the book! Plus I'm bothered by the fact that she had zero experience with men, beyond the loathsome John and Mr. Brocklehurst, so of course she developed a crush on the first man to treat her kindly, who nevertheless twisted the situation to his advantage.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't stand the book for the longest time, and then I reread it in my thirties, and I saw it in a slightly different light. Instead of looking at it a supposed romantic tale, I see it as a cautionary tale: beware of inexperience. I still like the writing, and I like the 2006 BBC film version, although it's not completely faithful to the book.
Very insightful. I need to look at it that way because the book seriously infuriates me. I'd never even thought about how inexperienced she was.
DeleteJane went back because she LOVED him! Sheesh! :) And he was wrong about the whole wife in the attic thing, but still, he LOVED her! (Jane of course, not the wife.) I see him, I guess, in a much more sympathetic way. It's an awesome LOVE story!! Even with the new way you've made me look at this one (and you have, believe me) I still stand by that.
ReplyDeleteEveryone at book club loves this one. I'm used to it, it's all good. I just can't get it.
DeleteYou know, I hate to say it, but Jane Eyre is one classic I've never read... when it comes to classics, I've always felt that way about Wuthering Heights... so... much... wuthering.
ReplyDeleteNew follower here!
http://littlesqueed.blogspot.com/2012/09/feature-follow.html
Don't feel bad, it sucked! ;)
DeleteAnd that is exactly why I haven't read this book. I knoooow it's supposed to be a great classic and that I should give it a chance, but the story sounds ridiculous to me. Locking your wife in an attack while gallivanting around with some other woman who you continuously undermine? Niiiice :P. And Jane just accepts all of it...ugh. I have read bits of this book but never all of it, and I probably never will read all of it...
ReplyDeleteYay, you get it! At least you're smart enough to not even read.
DeleteAs an English major, I was always sort of embarassed that I don't care for many of the classics. I often find the plots trite/boring and the characters not all that relateable. The pacing is often super slow too. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind some classics but, yes, they're much slower.
DeleteI seriously can't believe you don't LOVE Jane Eyre, what is wrong with you?? You probably hate Twilight too, obviously you don't get how sexy overly dramatic, rude men can be.
ReplyDeleteHis wife was BaTShiT crazy that's why she was locked in the attic which is where Jane Eyre and Twilight haters should be
Thanks for hopping by. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL! Who's crazier? The Jane Eyre/Twilight haters or people who spell words with half capitols and half lower case letters? Seriously. ;)
ReplyDelete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteI think you already know that this is one of my favourite novels of all time. LOL! ;-)
For what it's worth, the "romance" is "justifiable" (Didn't know which of the words merited the scare quotes more--LOL) because Jane and Edward are the only two people in the world for each other. That "Jane, Jane, Jane!" moment isn't a weak plot device, but proof that there's no way Jane can just get over him. His voice will literally follow her anywhere she tries to escape. LOL!
While I personally take the idea of "soulmates" with a grain of salt, I think the conceit works very well here. And one reason is that Jane and Edward really are very much alike. He's not some overbearing older, more experienced man taking advantage of a young, naive girl. They are cut from the same cloth. Edward may have locked a woman in an attic for years, but I'm betting that Jane would have done something just as shocking if she had married St. John, gone to India, and then realised she had made her own awful mistake. They are both extreme, both on the fringes.
Jane just seems more in control because the Victorian world would not have been very forgiving of her true character (as we see when she rubs everyone the wrong way even as a child), and she has had to learn to adapt. Edward has a bit more leeway, being a man--but he is also still very restrained. If they had been a more modern couple . . . Well, let me put it this way: they'd be in the same league as Mick Jagger and Jeri Hall or Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. Very extreme indeed: what we might now call "rock and roll."
But Charlotte Bronte's point was that such extreme emotions are not the province only of men or of the "beautiful people" of the world. She insisted that even the most overlooked people in Victorian society--the governesses--could have storms raging inside their souls.
+JMJ+
DeletePS -- Please don't shoot me. We're friends, right? =P
LOL! Oh yeah. I forgot how much you loved this one. Yes, we're still friends. We'll just have to agree to disagree. I like your insights, though. I hadn't thought of those things and no one else can even stand up for why they like it.
Delete+JMJ+
DeleteWell, to be honest, I needed a couple of days to come up with the above comment. =) Jane Eyre is a novel I've loved for so long that I don't always remember my intellectual reasons for favouring it.
Well, at least I got you thinking about it again. ;)
DeleteOh, Jenny. I do like to forget that you hate this book. :) But I can totally see your point. I can. I just happen to like it. (Note, though, that I despised WUTHERING HEIGHTS.)
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite things about the book community. Everyone's tastes are so diverse, and it's so fun to discuss why a particular book did or did not resonate with you.
This is so funny to me. My mom and sister love this one too yet HATE Wuthering Heights. I, on the other hand, don't mind that one nearly as much.
DeleteLOL! I haven't read it in a long time but I remember it was not a favorite. Still want to reread, though. I'll be keeping your thoughts in mind. There were things I used to not notice till blogging. Maybe I'm ripe for being stepped on by men or something. :)
ReplyDeleteNo, maybe stepped on by kitties. I know I have that problem. ;)
DeleteI was seriously terrified that you were going to pick a book I loved. But I haven't read this one, so you're good.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Well, I'm glad it's not one you loved then. ;)
DeleteI've read the book and liked it, but I don't think it's as wonderful as many people say. The love story is... strange. I had watched the last movie before I read the book, so I kept imagining a much better looking version of Rochester than the one described in the book.
ReplyDelete