Jane Eyre by Emily Bronte

One of the main reasons I wanted to read this novel is because I have always heard about this book. Some people really loved it, some people thought it was elementary, and some just felt they had to read it for school. Regardless, if this novel was a classic, I had to pick it up and read it. That I did.

At first, this book was relatively hard to get into. I found that the author seemed to focus on supernatural events like the ghost encounter in the red room, the haunting laughter from the attic in Thornfield, and the religious undertones that plague characters. But, I don't think the author really spent enough time on these events to truly make these scenes appear gothic in nature. They only skirted the surface and made me want more of being on the edge of my seat.

There were also times when I found myself being annoyed with the protagonist that I was supposed to be defending as the implied reader. Jane Eyre seemed to focus endlessly on her feelings and stuck rigidly to her morals when it was convenient for her. While I have never read Twilight, I'm sure this mirrors the "inner turmoil" of Bella when worrying about the loves of her life. The internal dialogue becomes redundant and predictable. This made me lose patience with Jane Eyre as she appeared to be overly dramatic and weak like I perceive Bella to be. Come to think about it, Jane Eyre is the 19th century version of Twilight. 

As a character, Jane Eyre was underdeveloped. I knew that as a reader, I was supposed to love her and her imagination. But I found that I didn't really connect to her. Is it author error? Is it my personality and reading of the text? Was this intentional? Regardless, I lacked an engaging connection to the protagonist which took away from the overall reception of the text.

Despite putting the book down multiple times and coming back to it, I managed to finish this text. I don't think this was a waste of my time as I will now understand cultural references about the ghost in the attic, etc. I can also say I read a classic novel that has stood the test of time, whether I enjoyed it or not.