Becoming Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is one of my all time favourites from the classics and this inspired retelling of the life of Charlotte Bronte, as she writes her novel is written with much respect. The story of the Bronte family, in particular Charlotte and her two younger sisters is an oft told, truly tragic tale. As is said, life is stranger than fiction and at times far more poignant. This is an entirely plausible storyline as to the events leading up to and after the publication of Jane Eyre and although a little slow to start, this is a book any fan of Charlotte Bronte will enjoy.

The year is 1846. Somewhere on the outskirts of the industrial town of Manchester, a young woman cares for her critically ill father. Seated in a darkened corner of her father's bedroom, she begins to write the novel which will ultimately become a true classic. As she writes, Charlotte Bronte will be transported by her memories back to the cold, damp parsonage on the bleak Yorkshire moors of Northern England where she has spent her entire life.

It is while living in her father's parsonage that Charlotte Bronte received many of her literary influences. Indeed, the Bronte family seems to have been dealt so much tragedy through the years, that it is almost as if they all lived under some sort of a disastrous curse. In turn, Charlotte and show more her siblings used such personal tragedies as inspiration to write their own literary works.

A mother and two of her children die; a sickened father - without fortune - and hardened by the deaths of his wife and two eldest children, is left to raise his four surviving children to adulthood. A much-favored son is ultimately destroyed by alcohol and his addiction to opiates; and three strong, intelligent young women - facing impoverishment and eventual spinsterhood - seemingly have nothing more tangible to save them from their fate: nothing, that is, except their remarkable literary talents.

So unfolds a beautifully imagined tale of the Bronte sisters and the writing of the gothic novel Jane Eyre. Sheila Kohler's extensive research and wonderful imagination recreates the Victorian era world of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte - vibrantly bringing to life the indelibly-entwined rivalries of these three loving sisters and struggling young writers. At the center of this poignantly imaginative story is Charlotte Bronte and the writing of her novel Jane Eyre; and the overlapping narratives of author and heroine - including Charlotte's romantic infatuation with a married man.

Delicately unraveling the powerful and inextricable connections between one of fiction's most enduring heroines and the remarkable woman who created her, Ms. Kohler's novel will definitely appeal to fans of historical fiction and, of course, the millions of readers who adore Jane Eyre.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Yes, I have read so much about the Brontes already, but in my opinion this book really brought everything that I learned into sharper focus for me. This was such a poignant novel; written from an entirely different perspective and I really came to understand how difficult it was for the Bronte sisters to follow their passion. I would definitely give this book an A+! show less

I think this book suffered from me having read a bit too much about the Brontë sisters. I've read their novels, some historical fiction, and some nonfiction about them, and this book didn't really bring me anything new. It's pretty straight ahead historical fiction about the time period when the sisters are writing and trying to publish their novels.

It's hard for me to know if someone who has read just a little bit less about them would like this more, but I found it kind of boring. Fine, but expected.

Sheila Kohler has written an engrossing novel about Charlotte Bronte. Kohler combines the historical events and facts of Bronte's life with the imagined thoughts of Charlotte and those around her. At first, I found the narrative mode of the novel a little off-putting (reviews I've read subsequently say the style mirrors that found in the novel Jane Eyre, I will have to re-read to see if this is the case). The third person point of view shifts among the various characters so that it sometimes takes a minute to realize who's voice we are hearing. Once I got into the story, though, I didn't find the style so distracting.

I am a huge fan of "Jane Eyre" and already knew a little about how Charlotte Bronte's own experiences contributed to the show more story and characters in her novels. But I particularly enjoyed the ways that Kohler imagined Charlotte's "aha" moments might have happened and her descriptions of the relationships with her siblings and father. Reading "Becoming Jane Eyre" has made me more curious about the Bronte's life and I will go seek out a real biography now. show less

Becoming Jane Eyre by Shelia Kohler, is a fictionalized account of Charlotte Bronte, and in a sense all of the Brontes lives, from 1846 when Charlotte begins writing Jane Eyre in Manchester while caring for her father who was recovering from an eye surgery to her marriage in 1854 and eventual early death.

I enjoyed this book because I thought it spoke with a different voice than other fiction books I have read about the Brontes. Sheila Kohler chooses to write her novel in a way that gives us perspective of what all the Brontes think at any given moment not just Charlotte. Her writing even though not in first person also keeps with the tragic, moody and mysterious tone of Jane Eyre.

In comparison with the Secret Diaries of Charlotte show more Bronte by Syrie James, I thought that the tone of James's novel was one of hope and tragedy whereas with Kohler we maybe see Charlotte and all of her family with a darker, harsher and much different light. I think that uses all of the different family members perspectives is one of the strongest aspect of this book. The only fault I have with the book is minor but I felt it could have been much longer and I would have preferred to have had more information on Arthur Bell Nicholls, whom Charlotte eventually marries. I find him to be such an interesting and evasive character in all of the fiction and biographical novels about her life. show less

Although historical fiction is not my favorite genre, I do mix it in periodically and have at times enjoyed it, sometimes even loved it. So I struggled to figure out what bothered me so much about this book, but I think it was the lack of hard facts serving as the foundation for the story. I need to be able to depend on a writer of historical fiction to know her subject thoroughly, in some cases as well as the career historians. I need to trust the author to be true to those facts and only paint in between or create when there are no facts for guidance. Or perhaps there are certain theories about someone or some events that can't be completely verified by the facts.

That was not how this book felt. The seemed to be very little factual show more data. Is that because not much is known about the lives of the Bronte sisters? I was left with the feeling that the author was not an authority on the subject or had not researched her subject well. Certain events were glossed over whereas there was great detail about the source of inspiration for Jane Eyre. It felt as if on some topics the author did not know enough and on other topics she knew much more than she could have. For me this was very frustrating. show less

Becoming Jane Eyre is a fictionalized Brontë biography told in an interesting way. It begins in 1846 with Charlotte caring for her bed-ridden father. She uses the time to reminisce about her life and that of her siblings, turning their experiences into her novel, Jane Eyre. The idea is not so far-fetched. I've always been told "write what you know" and I'm sure that for the Brontë girls it was no different. Charlotte transmuting her love for a married professor and her sadness over her father's failing eyesight into Edward Rochester. Emily memorializing Branwell's wild, drunken decline in Hindley Earnshaw while Charlotte used his mad antics for Bertha Mason.

So, why does the book not rate higher with me? The perspective threw me for show more the first couple of pages. Apparently it's called 'third-person present' narration and I'm not sure I completely acclimated to it. Also, the last third of the book, which largely covers Charlotte and Anne's journey to London to meet with Charlotte's publisher, felt like a reread of The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë. I was a little bored with that section, though someone who comes to the material fresh may not be.

All-in-all, it's a decent diversion if you need a fix for your Brontë habit. show less