Jane Eyre

Emma Messenger is fantastic here! I have always loved this novel, and have read it many times, but I don't think I've ever enjoyed it as much as I did during this listen. One of my pet peeves with narrators of classics is when they read them woodenly, stumble over the language, or read as if they are reciting the phone book. Emma Messenger breathed such life into her narration that it felt like Jane herself was speaking to me.

I found her interpretations of characters ideal, especially Jane and Mr. Rochester. She really conveyed the passion and frustration between them. She managed to give each character a unique voice without sounding as if she were straining her own.

I plan to download other books narrated by Emma Messenger. I cannot express enough how truly enjoyable her interpretation of this novel is!

Also, with the classics I love, I tend to download different version of the same story (since they are often less than the cost of a sandwich here on Audible!) to have a different interpretation or version of the same novel. I have no intention of downloading another version on Jane Eyre, though, since this is perfection.

Emma Messenger does a fine job with this overall impressive version of this great classic. It was wonderful to live Jane's life again. I had read it when I was a young girl and enjoyed it much more; got much more out of it, after returning to it after many years.

Everything about this audiobook was outstanding, but I think the most important part for me was Emma Messenger's reading. Her voice, her rhythm as she read the story, her tempo, her subtle and pointed inflections, and her vocal interpretations of the characters brought me into the story and made me feel as if I was living the story with all the characters. Sometimes when I am listening to an audiobook, my mind wanders. Not with this one. I was engaged 100%. Thank you audible.com, thank you Charlotte Bronte and thank you Emma Messenger.

I would definitely be willing to listen to this version of Charlotte Bronte's greatest work again.

I shall never forget all that Jane went through during her days of deprivation and hunger.

This was my first time listening to one of Emma Messenger's performances. She was wonderful! I would love to hear other books read by her.

I could have easily listened to this book in just one sitting.

I had read Jane Eyre in school, but never remembered enjoying it as much then as I enjoyed this reading. The narration really brings out the story - her voice is perfect for this book.

I actually had to stop listening to this audio book. When the narrator was reading the story the recording volume was very low and so I'd turn my volume up but then when narrator got to a speaking/dialogue part of the story the volume went way up it sound like the characters were constantly shouting at me. I found this very disruptive to the story line not to mention startling me with the volume changes. I've listened to several other audio books and had no problem with the volume setting on my mp3 player or radio.

Yes/yes

Yes- it's a good example of the genera

Didn't care for the representations of the various voices particularly the male characters. I would like to hear it read 'straight' for a comparison.

Absolutley

No.

I've loved this story since I read it years ago.

I think the narrator did a good job as Jane, but I tired of her "Mr. Rochester". Her interpretation I felt was too intense and angry most of the time. Also, I had to continually turn up the volume so I could hear the narration and her interpretation of Jane, but then had to turn it way down when Mr. Rochester was speaking or risk losing my hearing. Also there seemed to be skips whenever or deletions that weren't corrected for the final release.

no

I have loved this story for a very long time, but felt this interpretation didn't do the story justice. I wouldn't recommend this one to anyone.