I'm so glad that I've finally gotten around to reading this must-read classic!

Jane Eyre is a classic love story, filled with despair, mystery, intrigue and obstacles. It kept me on the edge of my seat, always wondering what was going to happen next. Highly reccomended! ( )

I bought this in preparation for reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I was bowled over by the lyrical but precise prose and the perfectly paced plotting. Jane is a splendid heroine. At its heart this novel is about Jane's struggle to secure a balance between her passionate. loving nature and her puritanical, moral core. How is she to reconcile her duty to her self with her happiness? Jane's struggle is complex and is explored by similar characters by other great women writers of the C19th - for example Dorothea in Middlemarch and Margaret in North and South. Jane Eyre is an easy read - I tore through it in a few days but it should probably be digested more slowly given its depth.

One minor irritation is the marketing of the book, at least my Penguin edition. The publishers seem to think that Bronte, like Austen, is suitable only for women, with several blurbs about Jane Eyre turning girls into women. This is too good a book to be pigeonholed in such a way. It is not proto-chicklit, it's a great classic which speaks to all of humanity not just half of it. ( )

Jane Eyre was not what I suspected and for a good portion of the book I did not enjoy reading it, but as Jane fell in love unbeknown to herself, I couldn’t help but come to love the story of a woman who came from nothing and no one to grow into a strong independent woman. It’s an inspiration to any woman who may struggle in their surroundings and with who they are. Love conquers all, time heals all wounds, and you can live happily ever after. Jane, not once, seemed to feel that life was hopeless. She knew out there somewhere she would find what she was looking for and things would be better. She never gave up. She stood up for what she believed and she never did anything because of the pressure to conform.

First read this when I was about 10 and it was so dark and scary!!. . .especially the fire and the mad woman!!
Reading it again as I got older and as an adult, not so! First impressions count though, hey! ( )

Early days in my journey through the literary classics. To date my favourite by far. I love the beautifully descriptive language. I believed in Jane & Mr Rochester as characters and I found the story compelling. ( )