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 review
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Review of Shirley - 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 review
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Review of Charlotte Bronte - Lyndall Gordon

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte.

Advantages: A good read, unforgetable and deliciously quirky!
Disadvantages: A little long, and could be considered a "hard read"

......

lice_in_my_eyes 23.03.2004 · Read review
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Review of Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Pleasing professor

Advantages: descriptions and not intimidating storylines
Disadvantages: maybe the french conversations for some people

...Being a fan of the Bronte clan the first section I head to in my local library would be of that shelf. It was only a very short time ago that I discovered The Professor, not even realising Charlotte Bronte had written it. Indeed, ashamedly to admit, I had never even heard of it before then. It was created before Jane Eyre came about from the year 1845-6 and is an intimate and gentle story about William Crimsworth, a man working for his not quite so pleasant brother as a clerk but wanting so much more. On striking up an unexpected friendship with a Mr Hunsden he manages to break away to become a teacher in a Belgium school. Despite his attentions being drawn to an 'older woman' from the adjoining girls school, it is only when he is appointed the position of teaching the young ladies to become better at speaking, writing...

crezzie 25.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Professor - Charlotte Bronte

* Charlotte's Web *

Advantages: Funny , Good Family Film
Disadvantages: Drags On In Some Places , Sad

...Charlotte's Web is an American family film released in the United Kingom on February 9th 2007. It is based on the book Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. The film was directed by Gary Winwick and stars Dakota Fanning. Running time of the movie is ninety seven minutes. The story is based on the life of a young pig named Wilbut. When little girl , Fern's dad plans on killing the piglet because he is the smallest piglet in the litter , Fern steps in , in order to try and save the life of the little pig ; promising to care for him herself. Fern then keeps little Wilbut as a pet ; allowing him in the house. When the piglet is too pig to keep as a pet , Fern's parents insist that he has to go ; they then come up with the idea of Wilbut going to live in Fern's uncles barn on the farm next door. Here he meets the rest of the farm animals...

xdonzx 26.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Charlotte's Web (DVD)

Wuthering Heights Vs Jane Eyre: Round 1!

Advantages: Brillantly written, interesting story, thought-provoking.
Disadvantages: It's not Wuthering Heights!

...It’s an understatement to say that Charlotte Bronte was bossy and immediate in her ways. I see Jane Eyre very much like a biography of her life at times, and absolutely fascinating to think that maybe, Charlotte wrote it from real experiences. I know that the school that Jane attends (Lowood) is based on the school her sisters attended – which ended their lives, but is any of it fiction? When it was first released in 1847 many people thought it was a biography under the name of the editor it was published (Curer Bell, Charlotte’s “disguise” as a writer). Jane and Charlotte, from what I’ve read are very alike in their ways, and beliefs. Charlotte, like Jane was never that religious, but had the fact that “God is the World” shoved down her throat by her Father (who was a vicar). Her...

Mattroberts 04.12.2003 · Read review
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Review of Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bingham

Advantages: Interesting Person
Disadvantages: none

...Charlotte Bingham. Charlotte was born in Haywards Heath , her actual memories was not particularly there in West Sussex but at her grandparents home in Ireland where she was taken to by her Nanny when she was about three it was Bangor Castle in North Ireland. So this was where she had remembered mostly and also the influence of several of her novels where there settings were in large country houses. Her schooling was first of all in London then to a small school where she was born from the age of 6-16 years of age which was in the Sussex Downs which became an important part of her life particularly as she found she loved the sea and several of her books included the sea as well as the countryside. When she was sixteen she went to Paris and stayed on the Left Bank with a French family who were French aristocrats to learn...

ruth1957 29.01.2009 · Read review
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Review of Charlotte Bingham

ANNE BRONTE

Advantages: INTERESTING TO LEARN ABOUT SOMEONE'S LIFE
Disadvantages: NONE

...ANNE BRONTE I have been reading about the Bronte sisters and I have been reading about Anne and also some of her work so this is a very brief account of her life. Anne was born January 17th in 1820 at Thornton. She was sixth child and the last one to be born of Patrick and his wife Maria Branwell Bronte. Her father was the Curate of Thornton and he had to look for a better position because of the size of his family and then he was appointed curacy of Haworth and they moved there in the April of 1820 just a few months after Anne was born. Then very soon after they had moved Anne's mother became ill and died in the September of 1821 and was buried in Haworth Church. The children were up to when Maria Bronte died was look after by a nursemaid and her name was Sarah and her sister Nancy Gars while Patrick Bronte spent the time...

ruth1957 30.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Anne Bronte

Jane Eyre: DId anybody ever see such a picture of passion!

Advantages: Relatively simple language, developed characters
Disadvantages: A long, complicated plot.

...herself and God. Upon discovering the presence of Rochester's wife, the mad Bertha Mason, Jane encounters a moral dilemma which - to the reader's pride - she deals with admirably. Jane will accept love only on her own terms, a lesson which many should learn. The Bertha Mason sub-plot was of particular interest to me, both from a feminist and post-colonial perspective - it is not clear if she is caucasian or of mixed race, and allusions to Rochester's slave-owning past further complicate the portrayal of male-female relationships. Bertha has essentially become Rochester's slave, and Jane only narrowly escapes suffering a similar fate - once Rochester is blinded and mutilated, and Jane strong and whole, they are able to be "equal." Unlike a number of Victorian writers, Charlotte Bronte has willingly created a heroine who is undoubtedly flawed...

flashofalchemy 05.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Victorian Classic

Advantages: A classic romance, well written
Disadvantages: The Victorian language could be a problem if you are not used to it.

...years in watching and understanding Rochester?s relationship with his friend Miss Ingram. This I find quite odd, as Jane would be ignorant as to ?matters of the heart? as they might say, and previously would have had little opportunity to observe any romance either at first hand or between others. Bronte?s style of writing is quite typical of the period, although she tends to darker turns to her story then Jane Austen, for example (although Austen?s works were written some years earlier). Her style has become quite typical of the Victorian style with its tendencies to be passionate but slightly gothic. Charlotte Bronte grew up in Yorkshire with her family, including her sisters and fellow authors Anne and Emily. Charlotte was the most prolific, writing four novels of which ?Jane Eyre? is the better known and more highly acclaimed...

Essexgirl2006 02.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte