Jane

Advantages: a classic
Disadvantages: quite long for 1st timers

...After being shuffled from reletive to reletive and school to school, the orphaned Jane Eyre finally receives a position as governess for Adele, the daughter of a rich gentleman, Mr. Rochester. However, she soon discovers that she is working in a dark, mysterious mansion with many old secrets. Who is Adele's mother? And why does Jane hear moaning from the attic at night? After Mr. Rochester displays extreme interest in the woman Blanche, Jane realizes she loves him. And after much turmoil and patience, when Jane and Mr. Rochester are to be married, a mysterious man brings to light the truth--Mr. Rochester already has a wife. Jane goes away, planning never to see him again, until she hears about the terrible fire that burned Mr. Rochester's house to the ground. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Characterisation, narrative and insight into the era and minds of the characters is fantastic
Disadvantages: None at all except that a 'quick read' can easily turn into several hours

...An unlikely heroine is found in Jane Eyre, a plain, downtrodden and socially inferior governess. Despite her harsh upbringing as an orphan under her Aunt Reed, Jane possesses a sense of self-worth and dignity and becomes the brave, independent protagonist that has attracted generations of readers through insisting that she has the right to love. Jane Eyre a "free human being with an independent will" falls under the spell of the greatest ever hero-villain - Mr Rochester. Jane, like Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, is a figure of ambiguous class, which is one of the dividers between Jane and Rochester. However, Jane Eyre is critical of the strict Victorian England social hierarchy by showing that Jane and Rochester are in fact social and intellectual equals. Jane Eyre, as typical to other Bronte novels, has excellently defined... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good read
Disadvantages:

...Northanger Abbey is the novel which set me on my love affair with Jane Austen. So much so that I devoured all of her novels and wanted more. It is a novel which I could read again and again as it is a such a tame story by today's standards and Jane Austen was having quite a dig at social structures and literature to boot. It is only when I dug deeper into the context of the story, I realised how much fun Jane Austen must have been having poking fun at the author's of the gothic novel! I would definitely recommend it as it has a compelling story and close attention will be rewarded as she write with great incisefulness.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful