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S. J. Cooper

5 Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2019

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All of the sudden I 100% understand people's fascination with this story.

Despite it being written in the mid 1800s and there being at least three words a page that I had to look up in the dictionary, I followed Jane's autobiographical story told in 1st person POV very easily (unlike when I read Pride and Prejudice, which confused the heck outta me).

To say that this is the most quotable book I've ever read is an understatement! I highlighted so many things. Some of the lines about being in love are pure magic.

"Come to me - come to me entirely now," said he; and added, in his deepest tone, speaking in my ear as his cheek was laid on mine, "Make my happiness - I will make yours."

"My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun."

"Not a human being that ever lived could wish to be loved better than I was loved; and him who thus loved me I absolutely worshipped."

Read this book. Now I say! Read it now!

Kevin R.

Kindle formatting is junk, and the "illustrations" look like a drunk 6 year-old did them.

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2018

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This is not a review of the novel, but a review of the Kindle edition and its worthless formatting. 2 issues:

1. It says it's illustrated. Attached is a photo example of one such picture. What in the world is that?! Sausages hanging over a campfire?! NONE of the crap, toddler-did-this-for-sure illustrations apply to the story in any way.

2. Once I hit page 117, everything from then on was called page 117. Photo also attached. So fun.

GmaM

An Enjoyable Read

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2017

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I enjoyed the book. I was surprised how our modern-day language has, apparently, been dumbed down over the years. I'm college-educated, but found many words she used to be ones I had never heard. That said, I still enjoyed the book. I probably should have read it years ago in some English class, but it was never required. I took my time with no looming deadlines and enjoyed it.

Kindle Customer

A Most Distressing Dilemma

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2018

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Having lost both of her parents, Jane Eyre is taken in by her Uncle. Upon his deatbed, he extracts a promise from his wife, Mrs. Reed to raise hJane as her own. Life becomes torture for Jane as Mrs. Reed and her children heap many injustices on Jane. Her Aunt soon tires of her and sends her off to Lowood, a school for Orphans run by Pastor Brocklehurst, a stern incompassionate tyrant. Jane Eyre spends eight years at the school, six as a student and two as a teacher. Afterward, she becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall of a Master Rochester's charge, a little French girl, Adele. Soon, Master Rochester and Jane Eyre, having fallen in love, are to be married. At the Wedding Ceremony, Jane learns Mr. Rochester is already married. Destitute and shocked, she flees. Discovering her near to death on his home step, St. John Rivers, a priest, rescues her. Jane Eyre becomes a school mistress of a school for orphan girls. Upon learning that her Uncle John, upon his death, bequested her tbe sum of twenty thousand pounds, she divides it with her newly found relations in the sum of five thousand pounds a piece. St. John proposes marriage to her so she can join him in his missionary work in India.
Here in lies her dilemma, marriage void of love with St. John, or listen to her heart filled with love for Master Rochester, a married man.

Jessi

Beautiful and Blue.

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2020

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The Summer collection is just as beautiful as te Winter with the bonus of bookmarks!

I was disappointed that the dust jackets weren't white like the winter collection so it doesn't completely match as a set, if it's for season differences I get it but I'm not a fan of the cooler (it's blue) tone of white as compared to the previous season. Plus it doesn't complement any of the colors of the books though for this season, imo.

*Hopefully the pictures show you what I mean.

Can't wait to see what they release next!

Reinold F.

Magic realism. (AmazonClassics edition)

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2020

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Jane Eyre declares the supernatural has left England centuries before her lifetime. Nevertheless, without breaking what is possible in our reality (and so many unexplained things occur) much of fantastic and eerie populates the book, although nothing as fantastic as the portrayed human beings, as complex as real people. What is the story about? is a retrospective view to the life of the narrator, Jane Eyre, an orphaned girl whose intelligence has rendered her alone since child, and oppressed by authoritarian figures to survive she has drown her feelings, expressing her wishes and intellect in the few venues allowed by her society to manifest. But this is a very poor introduction for the richness of the novel: there is horror fiction that for moments feel like a prequel for Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw;" there is love and absence of love; there is Christian moral but is not from a manual but from what the character feels, a personal Christianity with lovely miracles; there are thoughts about education and the social freedom of women in her time. There is cruelty but fortunately is balanced and don't turn into the usual cliché, there are synchronicities and symmetries. Is a very peculiar novel indeed, if you like English 19th century literature you will find Jane Eyre fascinating.

About the AmazonClassics Edition is as always, given the work was written originally in English, excellent. Jane Eyre is free of grammar errors, the formatting is quite professional and the typography modern, and the always useful X-Ray function, which in sum makes it quite comfortable to read. What I adore of these editions is that there are neither introductions nor footnotes by modern scholars, the novel only has a very short biography of Charlotte Brontë at the end, which, added to the strange omission in the first page of the original year of publication, gives the illusion of reading Jane Eyre as if it had been published this morning. A highly recommended edition.

Lisa Jackson

Text format Very Odd

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2016

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I love this book, as I have read it before in normal novel format. This particular style (letter-sized pages in 3 columns, text in 9 pt. type) is not cool, in my opinion. I should have read about the size. Now I supoose I give it away and order the unabridged classic in normal novel size and with 12 pt. type.

Top reviews from other countries

ShadowHunter

5 stars

Reviewed in India on November 4, 2018

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Jane Eyre is the quintessential Victorian novel. It literally has everything that was typical of the period, but, unlike other novels, it has all the elements in one story. At the centre is the romance between Jane and Rochester, which is enhanced by gothic elements such as the uncanniness of the doppleganger and the spectre like qualities of Bertha. In addition, it is also a governess novel; these were an incredibly popular type of storytelling in the age and for it to be combined with gothic elements, which are interposed with a dualistic relationship between realism and romance, is really quite unique. The correct term for this is a hybrid, in which no genre voice is dominant; they exist alongside each other creating one rather special book.

And this is so, so, special; it’s an excellent piece of literature. Jane’s journey is gut wrenching and emotional. Through her life she experiences real sorrow, the kind that would make a lesser person give up. She also experiences real friendship, the type that comes across perhaps once in a lifetime. But, most significantly, she experiences true love and the development of independence to form he own ending. I really do love this book. Bronte utilises the first person narrative, which creates a high degree of intimacy with her character; it makes me feel like I know Jane as well as she comes to know her own self.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
Jane’s a strong willed individual. From a very young age she had the clarity of intelligence to recognise the injustice that was her life; yes, she is narrating her story retrospectively, though she still had the perceptiveness to realise how mistreated she was. I love the pathetic fallacy Bronte uses at the beginning. The child Jane looks out the window, shielded by the curtain, and witnesses the horrible weather. It is cold and bleak; it is windy and morose; thus, we can immediately see the internal workings of Jane’s mind. The weather reflects her feelings throughout the novel, and at the very beginning the situation was at its worse. This can also be seen with the fire imagery that represents her rage when she is shoved in the red room; it later mirrors that of Bertha’s fury.

Everybody needs love, children especially so. These early experiences help to define her later character, and, ultimately influence how she sees the world; she still hides behind a curtain in Rochester’s house when he flirts with Miss Ingrum. These experiences set her on an almost perpetual quest for love, for belonging and for the independence to make her own decisions. She finds friendship in the form of Helen Burns; she gives her some sound advice, but Jane cannot fully accept such religious fatalism. However, it does inspire her, a little, to continue with life; she realises, no matter what happens, she will always have the love of her greatest friend. Jane clings to this idea, but, ultimately, has to seek a more permanent solution to her loneliness. She needs a vocation, one that will fulfil her and give her life meaning; thus, she becomes a governess and crosses paths with the downtrodden, miserable wretch that is Mr Rochester.
Sometimes I feel like Rochester didn’t know quite what he wanted. When he sees Jane he sees a woman with strength, blunt honesty and integrity: he sees an emotional equal. This attracts her to him, which develops into love. However, when he tries to express his love he does it through trying to claim her as his own. Through doing so, not only does he show the nature of Victorian marriage, he shows his own deep vulnerability. He loves her mind, her intelligence, and he too wants to be loved. He longs for it with a frightening passion. So, instead of doing things the way Jane would have wanted him to do, he overwhelms her with expensive affection. By doing so he almost loses her. All Jane wanted was his heart, nothing more nothing less.

By showering her with such flattery and expensive items, he insults her independence. He risks destroying the thing that attracted him to her in the first place, their equality; their mutual respect and love. He takes away her dignity. I really don’t think the original marriage would have worked. Ignore the existence of the mad woman in the attic; I just think Rochester would have spoilt it. It would have become too awkward. They needed to be on the same societal level as well as one of intellect and character. The ending is touching and a little sad, but it is the only one that could ever have worked for these two characters. Without the tragedy there could never have be rejuvenation and the chance for them to be together on equal terms, no matter what it cost to get there.

If that wasn’t enough reason for me to love this book, there are also elements of fantasy and desire. This is a realism novel, it pertains to credible events, but the suggestions of fantasy only add to the strong romantic notions. Rochester is enamoured by Jane; he cannot believe that a woman like her actually exists. All his misguided notions are brushed away in an instant. Whilst he views Jane as special, it is clear that he realises that other women may also have a similar rebellious voice, only hidden. He considers her an elf, a witch, an improbable woman that has captured his desire, his heart, his soul, his life. He knows he will never be the same again. From Jane’s point of view, her first encounter with him is otherworldly. She had grown bored with her governess role, and when she sees the approach of Rochester and his dog Pilot, she sees the gytrash myth; she wants to see something fantastical instead she finds her heart, which is something much rarer.

Then there are also the feminist elements. Jane transgresses the boundary associated with her gender in the Victorian age. For a woman to be recognised as having equal intellect to that of a man was sadly a rare thing. Women could actually attend university, but the downside was they could never get the full degree. They could spend months studying, though never be recognised as actually having gained the qualification. It was just another attempt to keep women under the thumb, so for Bronte to portray the truth of Jane’s equal intellect is a great step for the recognition of women, and women writers. This book received a whole host of negative reviews at the time of its publication for this element alone. Stupid really, but that’s misogyny for you.

Reader, I love this book. I really could go on, but this is getting kind of long. I hope I’ve made it clear why I love this story so much. I shall be reading this again later this year to correspond with my exams, which I’m already looking forward to- the reading that is, not the exams. I don’t think will ever have read this story enough though.

Saroj

Good Publication - Fingerprint

Reviewed in India on August 9, 2017

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The review is about the product and not the writer's work.
Normally Amazon reviews do not mention the publication, hence the reader is confused whether the print is abridged, quality of the print etc.
This review is for Fingerprint publication.

I have got many classics from Fingerprint publishers. The print size is good. The paper quality is good.Their books in general are unabridged.
So it makes sense to go for their version of the book.

jane

Inspirational

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2018

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Wow what a wonderful story! I have had a hard back copy of this book since my birth as it is (was as now I'm married) my namesake and I am embarrassed to say I have never read it! Well I finally decided to give this classic a read but in kindle format and I am glad I did! With 'ye old English' I used my kindle dictionary to help me through some of this book, I am so glad I did! I can honestly say what it is a wonderful story and extremely well written. I will definitely be reading it again but I shall pull out my leather bound book version. It truly is an inspiring novel and very descriptive and it was wonderful to get lost back in time.

Henry

Error-strewn

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 10, 2018

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The AmazonClassics kindle edition reproduces the text of the Project Gutenberg version, which unfortunately includes many transcriber's errors. The Wordsworth edition is much higher quality, and is worth the small fee.

RGT

Its called a classic for good reasons

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2018

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Was reading this for my book club. Going on holiday so had to download to my Kindle to take with me. Read it as a teenager and have seen a number of TV adaptations but had forgotten the detail in the book. Much of Charlotte Bronte's views are evident in her heroine's which is perhaps not surprising. Bronte's descriptions of the countryside are wonderful. Her characters well drawn although some of the exchanges between Jane and Rochester, and Jane and St John do 'go on a bit'! Well worth a re-visit if you have read it in your youth or worth reading now if you haven't read it yet!

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