Charlotte Bronte - Bronte Country (DVD)

My favourite Charlotte Bronte novel

Advantages: Fantastic characters, shows Bronte's ability to the optimum
Disadvantages: Won't appeal to those who don't like this type of classic

It's a credit to a book and it's author when you can read it, re-read it, write a long essay for A level coursework on it and still love it. While people tend to see Jane Eyre as Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece, I think that this is a better novel, a better story and shows what a talented write Charlotte is. It's a shame I could only give it 5 stars - it's worth more. What struck me most is the feminism in this novel, especially when the independent Shirley is contrasted with Caroline, who worries about becoming an old maid. It's vital to remember that Charlotte was writing in one of the most anti-feminist eras of history and that even the relatively-mild Jane Eyre was criticised for having a female character with strong emotion and opinions. Shirley is a free spirit who acts like a boy because her parents 'gave me a boy's name' (hard ...

DoubleFantasy11 13.08.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Shirley - Charlotte Bronte

A whirl of description through the eyes of charlotte bronte

Advantages: Amazing story line and plot
Disadvantages: none

I only finished reading this book and i found it absolutly fasinating. The amount of description Charlotte Bronte used captured my imagination completly. I tried to read some other novels, after this, by Jane Austen but i found that the lack of description in her books left me wanting Jane Eyre again. I would definatly recomend this book to anyone who enjoys a great romance novel. I found this book to be like a biography in parts but i think that added to it's greatness for me. As soon as you start reading this book you know exactly what is going on and it takes you into a world that excisted long ago. i love the feel that this book gives me because it is so different from any other book i have read. I think the tangled love story between Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester is the most exciting love story in any book and the fact that ...

Katiep1314 20.05.2009 (26.05.2009) · Read full review
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Review of Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

It would take a great deal to crush me, said Charlotte

Advantages: Thought-provoking and original in its portrayal of the subject
Disadvantages: A little over-analytical in the later stages

It is hardly surprising that the lives of the Brontë sisters (and brother) have attracted so many biographers, and the story of their short existences and premature deaths has been told many a time. Where this new account by Lyndall Gordon differs from what has already been published is in exploring Charlotte's life from a more feminist viewpoint than that of the apparently downtrodden novelist, who in the words of her contemporary and first biographer Mrs Gaskell was ?a valiant woman made perfect by sufferings.? Naturally the life takes up a good proportion of the book. Gordon paints the familiar, unhappy picture well ? the family growing up in unhealthy Haworth on the Yorkshire moors, where there was polluted water and no sewers, and where the average life expectancy was around 25. She leads the reader through the early deaths of Mrs ...

JOHNV 05.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Charlotte Bronte - Lyndall Gordon