Jane Eyre (Wordsworth Classics)

This is one of my favourite books, perhaps my absolute. Excluding children's books, I have read this one far more than any other, and that's got to be saying something because I couldn't name another pre-20th-century novel that excites me like this, or even another Brontë novel that I particularly like.I love Jane; although my personality doesn't run in complete tandem with hers, I feel like I 'get' her and therefore across time I am also 'got', in a way only introverts could understand. Jane is a voice for the voiceless, in more ways than one of course, since she also stands up for women and the poor and abused. Brontë has a sharp wit that she just throws in every now and then when I wouldn't even have thought to make a moment funny that really brings this seemingly quiet but actually fiery character to life. It is a thrill and joy every time Jane speaks her mind despite what convention states is proper for her sex and place in society; it is therefore also a joy that she meets a character who responds with that same thrill and joy to her words and actions as I do.When I start reading the book each time, I grow excited as I look forward to certain moments I know are coming. It's impossible not to sympathise with an unfairly treated child, and when little Jane finally snaps and stands up to her tormentors, the words seem to crackle. The same is true when she grows up and takes her job at Thornfield Hall. Every encounter with Mr Rochester can't come quick enough. Some of these, and of course the bedroom fire, are moments I'd happily seek out just to read off the cuff. They are thrilling, funny and always deliciously too brief.There are two chapters somewhere towards the end of the middle that dampen my spirits each time I reach them. (view spoiler) But then we are back on track - Jane's flight and near starvation bring tears to my eyes, and her encounters with St John Rivers hold an interesting appeal, although each time I read the novel I discover I despise him more and more thoroughly. I delight in the contrast between Rochester and St John, it perfectly fuels the desire to reach the climax of the story regardless of previous wrong-doing by certain people, handing out dramatically balanced comeuppance with love and compassion, making the ending so rewarding.Despite all this, I don't think the book is perfect. There are times when the narration seems to waffle on too much, oddly out of sorts with the sharper, wittier stuff that I love. The first two pages don't exactly zing. I have never understood why the ending focuses on St John (am I not supposed to revile him?). I could probably do without the direct addresses to the reader all the time. The untranslated French leaves me baffled. Diana and Mary are barely realised as characters while Brontë seems to describe St John's words far more than she actually shows them to us, telling us he has this mesmerising power that we never get to experience, which makes it all the more difficult to understand how anyone could possibly like him. Also as time goes on, I find it harder to grasp exactly why Mr Rochester feels the need to make Jane jealous by pretending to be interested in Blanche Ingram - it's a lot of fun for the reader, but it just feels like a silly scheme put in by the writer rather than a logical thing a real person would actually do, (view spoiler) One must also wonder what the hell delusion Mr Rochester is living in that he thinks he could ever get away with his other more serious deception (I don't know why I'm being coy, like anyone on the planet doesn't know what his secret is), how did he think Jane was going to react when she finally found out, since he did intend to tell her?But where it is good, which is most of it, it soars right off the page into my heart. The friendship between Jane and Rochester is one of my favourite relationships in literature. It is exactly the right blend of passion and chasteness that suits my tastes, and has probably influenced my tastes in other fiction. I just love reading about characters who see something in each other that other people are too blind to see.

My daughter uses it for her A-level English and it did come with white lines up the spine as its a paper cover

I read Jane Eyre quite by accident.Many years ago i watched a period drama on television, and 2 weeks ago i thought i would finally read the book, so imagine my surprise when the book didnt tally with what i had seen on screen. It later came to me that what i had actually watched was Emma, by Jane Austen, but by the time i discovered my faux pas, i was so into Jane Eyre that i did not care one iota.I was hooked from the first chapter, and enchanted by this poor creature who was enduring so much mental and physical torture, who was unloved, unwanted and alone.As the story progresses we see Jane mature from a young rebellious thing to a fine, upstanding, sweet natured woman, who is headstrong and determined, and completely selfless.Narrated in the first person, Bronte's writing instantly draws the reader into the story, compelling us to read another chapter, and another, without much respite. I found the book incredibly hard to put down. The way the story unfolds is mesmerising, and it is so intelligently written and absorbing; i often found myself musing over the previously read chapters when i did eventually put the book down for a rest.The last two chapters had me in tears, literally; i was reading the final chapters while sat in my garden, sunglasses on, though when the tears began to fall, i had to remove them because tears just fell onto the plastic lenses, and then they fell onto the very pages which bought those tears on. I rarely get this emotional when reading, and i am quite sure i have never shed so many tears over any book until now.Jane is such a likeable character and i am sure most readers identify with her, even today, some 180 years since its first publication, her situation and predicaments are something we all experience in our lives at some point.Ten years ago i would not even have attempted to read such a book, i would have dismissed it as some pretentious, Victorian Gothic drivel, as boring as watching paint dry, but let me tell you, it is so beautifully written, so enchanting, and so easy to read; do not think for one second that it is complicated because it is not; the poetic way Charlotte writes will mesmerise you.It is no wonder that this story has stood the test of time, and i am sure that in another 180 years time this fine example of english literature will have its fans as much as it does today.Read Jane Eyre, i urge you, you will not regret it!