Andrea reviewed Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Review of 'Wide Sargasso Sea' on Goodreads
5 stars
A validation that Rochester is forever a dick, and imperialism destroys people.
paperback, 176 pages
Published Jan. 25, 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company.
Wide Sargasso Sea
by Jean Rhys
4 stars
(23 reviews)
Jean Rhys's reputation was made upon publication of this passionate and heartbreaking novel, in which she brings into the light one of citsion's most mysterious characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre".
A sensual and protected young woman, the narrator grows up in the lush, natural world of the Caribbean. She is sold into marriage to the cold-hearted and prideful Rochester, who succumbs to his need for money and his lust. Yet he will make her pay for her ancestors' sins of slaveholding, excessive drinking and nihilistic despair by enslaving her as a prisoner in his bleak British home.
Fionnáin reviewed Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Penguin twentieth-century classics)
Review of 'Wide Sargasso Sea' on 'GoodReads'
4 stars
A novel that twists and turns suddenly in how you understand the perspective of the characters. I read this without a knowledge of Jane Eyre and the original characters, and found it alone a compelling study on character and prejudice. Excellent writing throughout.
DaveNash3 reviewed Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Review of 'Wide Sargasso Sea' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
This is a prequel written 120 years later that shows the perspective and backstory of an enigmatic character, Berta Mason, from a classic novel, Jayne Eyre.
I didn’t read Jane Eyre.
However I’ve read some Gothic (Southern) novels with enigmatic characters who play the foil to the main character’s grand plan.
Charles Bon shows up at the richest planter in Mississippi mansion on Christmas Eve in 1860 and it all goes south for the Sutpen’s after that in Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom.
The narrator’s speculate how much of chance meeting Henry, his half brother and 10 years his junior at a tiny law school in the Mississippi wilderness. How far did Charles’ mother, Eulalia, (Thomas first wife of mixed race ancestry in the West Indies) go to setup the encounter that would be foil to Thomas grand plan?
In Jayne Eyre, Bertha Mason, spoils Jayne’s plan to marry Mr Rochester - …
This is a prequel written 120 years later that shows the perspective and backstory of an enigmatic character, Berta Mason, from a classic novel, Jayne Eyre.
I didn’t read Jane Eyre.
However I’ve read some Gothic (Southern) novels with enigmatic characters who play the foil to the main character’s grand plan.
Charles Bon shows up at the richest planter in Mississippi mansion on Christmas Eve in 1860 and it all goes south for the Sutpen’s after that in Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom.
The narrator’s speculate how much of chance meeting Henry, his half brother and 10 years his junior at a tiny law school in the Mississippi wilderness. How far did Charles’ mother, Eulalia, (Thomas first wife of mixed race ancestry in the West Indies) go to setup the encounter that would be foil to Thomas grand plan?
In Jayne Eyre, Bertha Mason, spoils Jayne’s plan to marry Mr Rochester - Bertha is Rochester’s Creole first wife whom he marries in Jamaica and ultimately brings back to England where he locks her up in the attic.
Wide Sargasso Sea is Bertha’s story. Her tumultuous childhood, which saw her family fall from riches to rags only to get it back through her mother marriage to a cold man, which drives her mother insane. Bertha has one last shot at the good life - her rushed into marriage to Rochester.
The honeymoon doesn’t go so well.
In Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, and Absalom, Absalom the grand house, which represents everything terrible about the patriarchy and the power of that time is burnt to the ground.
Its seems it’s best to destroy the past and move on.
Steen Christiansen reviewed Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Review of 'Wide Sargasso Sea' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Stunning subversion of Jane Eyre, but also a wonderful novel in its own right. The prose is powerful and uncompromising.
