Believable back story of Antoinette Bertha Mason--Mr. Rochester's "mad" first wife in Jane Eyre. Some beautiful moments and insights into the nightmares of Colonialism and a post-slavery society. But I don't understand the raves. Much of the dialogue was flat. Point of view was often confusing in its shifts. Glad I read it, but just as glad it's over. ( )

I enjoy being able to walk around a library and just browse, not having to decide if I want to purchase something. I get a chance to be adventurous, selecting an author I've never heard of before or pulling a random title from the shelf to take home. A week ago, I found one such book: "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys. The title caught my attention because I'd heard of it, but as a movie not a book. I slid the novel from the shelf, read the spiel on the back, and held onto it for the remainder of the hour that I walked up and down the rows. And yes, I did check it out and began reading that night.

Antoinette Cosway grows up on the slowly dilapidating Coulibri Estate in Jamaica. She spends much of her time as far from the house as possible, trying to keep to herself but also longing to be accepted by the newly-freed former slaves who see her as lower than they ever were. Her step-father stays away from the estate, much to the disappointment of her mother, and along with his absences and the distrust of the locals, she slowly goes mad. Antoinette's life changes -- for the better and the worse -- when Coulibri is burned to the ground forcing her into a convent while her mother is institutionalized.

Many years later, Antoinette's step-father returns to arrange a marriage for her to a young Englishman. The Englishman, however, wants only a match to bring him wealth and halfheartedly tries to love Antoinette. Instead, he loathes the island, the inhabitants, the house he now owns; he mistreats Antoinette, slowly drives her to madness. Eventually, he packs her up and together they head for his ancestral home in England where he locks her in the attic under the semi-watchful eye of Grace Poole. She manages to steal the door key while Mrs. Poole sleeps, sneaking around the upper floor hallways in the dead of night like a ghost for the rest of her days, sending a rumor through the little girls who live in the house that the place is haunted.

As it turns out, Antoinette is a character from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre: the mad woman locked in the attic of Rochester's house. I enjoyed this possible history for a secondary character in a well-known novel. Why not give her a back story, a glimpse into what may have driven her to live in the attic? Having never read Jane Eyre, I feel more inclined to now, just to see how Antoinette fits with the story. Who knows: Antoinette may turn out to be more interesting than Jane. ( )

This book is brilliant!! Jean Rhys really kicked one out of the park here. A prequel to Jane Eyre, here we learn about Bertha (the woman in the attic). This is the story of the first Mrs. Rochester, Antoinette Mason (aka Bertha). We learn how the two meet and how they wind up married. The book deals on themes such as assimilation, racism (inequality between Creole heiress Antoinette and British Rochester), patriarchal society, domestic violence, and postcolonialism and feminism. The descent into madness that Antoinette experiences can be traced to Rochester's extremely harsh, racist, unloving, treatment towards his wife, Antoinette - his goal is to erase her identity and treat her as nothing. In this book we learn about the woman Antoinette and her life and her dreams and how she slowly unwinds mentally and emotionally upon marrying Rochester and relocating to England. An amazing book written by a brilliant writer!!! It is the perfect counterpart to Jane Eyre. ( )

This was a quite beautiful tale of the ‘mad woman in the attic’ from [Jane Eyre]. It was very lyrical, flowing along quite peacefully for such a destructive story. I particularly liked reading about the Caribbean setting. Louisiana has a large Caribbean influence and it was striking how many aspects seemed so familiar – from the general descriptions of place to the complex interactions of varying racial differences. Some very complex themes on gender were also engaging. The ease with which women were used by the men in their lives and that abuse’s effect on the psyche of Antoinette, the differences in English and French law in regards to women and children, and the definition of insanity are all floating around the edges of this haunting tale. ( )

Blech. This is the most hackneyed idea. And something about this book just really, really bothers me. It makes me angry. I hate, hate, hate literary "revisitings." They make me want to vomit. Think up your own idea for god's sake. ( )