Jane Eyre was one of the books I read for my A-Level English. I imagined a wishy washy romantic novel that I would find the next month reading very boring. The lesson of "dont judge a book by its cover" was well learnt by me having read this! Jane Eyre is a wonderfully dark tale of the life of a young woman who suffered a terrible childhood, and her adult life that was shaped by that childhood. Jane Eyre is a brilliantly drawn character who feels like a living breathing person you can most definatly believe in. Mr Rochester is an equally well drawn, enigmatic character with some wonderfully dark secrets. He bears similarities to Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, though is more secretive and a more brooding personality. The story itself is intricatly woven throughout that book and paced very well. The suspense created keeps you wanting to read on, and indeed reluctant to put the book down. The descriptions of Jane's childhood are moving, and really set the context of the love story to come brilliantly. This is far more than a romantic tale of a couple falling in love. It gives you a view into how society at the time viewed relationships between the classes, and the love affair is fraught to say the least. Love conquers all, but it is not the walk in the park that too many authors portray it to be. This book really deserves the description of a classic. Brilliant writing, wonderful characters and a suprising story with twists galore combine to make what must be one of the greatest books of all time. The fact that it is an older book should not put off readers. The language used is still beautiful and very understandable even if you have never read a classic before. Whats more, the subject matter still seems wholly relevant today. Much as I love Pride and Prejudice for example, to me it is really a book of its time. Jane Eyre somehow seems more relevant in the 21st century, especially with its darker view on life and love. However, it is not a "heavy" read in the way some classics such as War and Peace are. This book is highly entertaining and I would happily recommend it to anyone.

This my favourite book for oh so many reasons. It's a bit long and rambling in places for modern readers, but you have to remember a Victorian writer wouldn't have had an editor in the way modern writers do, to trim and tighten things up, so we are reading what might be closer to an earlier draft by modern standards. I love the lyrical nature of Charlotte Bronte's language, but even I skim some of the wordier parts, long rambling descriptions in places, and there are many religious references that go over the head of modern readers (refer to the notes in a printed copy if you really want to understand it all). Having said this, even with this skimming in places, it's a really good book with wonderful prose that tackles a number of social issues of the time. Many people concentrate on the romance between Jane and Rochester, but there's so much more. We see the kind of life an orphan (especially a girl) might have expected in pre social security Victorian Britain, even one born into a relatively comfortable family. There is a strong critical commentary on the conditions in some charity boarding schools (including Charlotte Bronte's own school at Cowan Bridge, a clergymen's daughters school). But Jane will not be broken, she's a feisty little girl and grows into a strong self assured young woman. There's quite a feminist feel to many parts of the book, Charlotte Bronte was well educated herself, but she obviously felt the injustice of the unequal status, treatment and expectations of women at the time. Jane wants to be respected and loved fer her intelligence and mind more than looks (she is no beauty) and she wants to be regarded as an equal in these respects by her prospective partner in life and this is one of the reasons she falls in love with Rochester because that is how he treats her. Rochester seems like a monster in some respects by modern standards, but the book needs to be read with the historical context in mind. Divorce was very difficult to obtain at the time and living together (In sin) in much more religious times was socially unacceptable. Therefore many people found themselves trapped in marriages so bigamy was much more common than now (it's not really necessary now). It was a very bad crime, but none the less understandable in some circumstances. Also, understanding of mental health was almost non existent at the time and anyone who strayed from the social norms of behaviour would be written off as mad and be likely to end up in one of the horrendous asylums so prevalent at the time. It was actually considered the kinder option to employ a full time carer and keep the relative at home in a remote wing of a large house. Rochester had 3 other options than the one he took. He could have left Bertha behind in the West Indies, or sent her to an asylum and forgotten about her, knowing she'd probably die from infection fairly quickly in the squalor and filth, or he could have sent her to a damp house in the forest with Grace Poole and again let the conditions kill her with infection. All of these would have kept her at a greater distance and reduced the risk of anyone finding out about Bertha. However, he takes the arguably more moral option of keeping her close, in drier warmer conditions with a constant companion. A recently discovered case (2013) in India of a relative locked up in a house due to mental health issues and reaction to it shows that cultural norms vary widely, so although I don't condone Rochester's behaviour, I do believe the situation needs to be viewed through Victorian eyes as much as is possible today. There is also a section that deals with the cold Christian religious fanaticism of St John Rivers with his heart as cold as stone, despite his Grecian good looks, which poses the question, should Jane marry for high morals (and possibly a very good looking husband), or would she be better off with a flawed, damaged and less than handsome husband with passion and a basically good heart full of repentance. The latter also being someone ready to accept Jane's intelligence and treat her as an equal partner in their relationship. It needs to be remembered that some of the negative reaction to the book on publication (It was considered quite shocking) probably wasn't for the same reasons we find parts of it shocking. It was Jane standing up for herself as a female that caused concern among men. God forbid that women would want an equal voice alongside men. All in all my absolute most favourite book of all time. Oh and by the way, the romance is also moving as Jane gradually becomes unable to prevent herself from falling for Rochester, so enjoy that part also. "-and, alas! never had I loved him so well".

As Charlotte Bronte's first novel, there are many parts of Jane Eyre drawn from her own life experience, characters based on people she knew and places based on real locations. The book was seen as pioneering feminism in literature, exploring the thoughts and feelings of an independent minded woman. I grudgingly enjoyed the book. I didn't want to like it. I'd always imagined I'd hate it since it's not my usual type of reading. But I was intrigued with the beginning, curious about the middle, and although it was clear how it would end, I wanted to see how it would come about. There are points where you think come along Charlotte, this is unnecessary, get moving. Taken from real-life influences, it's easy to see why she might feel she had to include everything as she did. There are points where you really want to know what's going on and these appear to be the true imaginative creation. What is the hidden danger lurking at Thornfield and what is it that Mr Rochester keeps hidden? All becomes clear, sadly with a lengthy lull in the plot from that point, and when it picks back up it's not to the same height from which it dropped. Some things happen a little too conveniently in light of the overall story and don't quite transition smoothly, but these are entirely forgivable. You suspect something supernatural in places, and toward the end it becomes clear that Bronte has some leanings in that direction. I wouldn't say quite wholly absorbing, although I did enjoy it and it did bring a tear to my eye at one point. It isn't up to the standard of her sister Emily's Wuthering Heights, but it's not far behind. I'd recommend Jane Eyre for quiet autumn evening reading accompanied by a cup of tea and a cosy blanket.

I read "Jane Eyre" in my native language many years ago. In the meantime I watched almost all movies and series made based on it, so fairly familiar with the story. The book took me by surprise. As soon as I started reading, it grabbed my attention and would not let go until I came to the last page. The writing is wonderful, intricate and full of small details that most of us in 21st century would not notice. The story is better and more complex than the screen adaptations, which did not manage to capture all of Jane's inner battles and internalizations of experiences she was going through. Although I gave it 5 stars, I would like to give you a word of warning: - this is one of those books where sentences can be as long as a whole page, so I would recommend peace and quiet to focus and take it all in; - there are quite a few paragraphs and expressions in French. You can either ignore it and kind of figure out what is happening or enlist help from a fluent French speaker (my mum-in-law was great :-)) - I cannot imagine reading this book without Kindle and having help from the built-in dictionary. Many words used in this book have been long extinct and unless you are an avid reader of the old English literature, this might be a problem. I personally found it rewarding, as it helped me build vocabulary and truly send me back to the nineteenth century. All in all, an excellent book which I will keep and read again some time in the future.

I usually have a very short attention span when it comes to novels and give up after a few chapters but Jane Eyre is stunning and two weeks after reading it I still can't get it out of my head! Soon after I watched the movie and the bbc tv series which were good but nothing compared to the book. I really did not expect to like it so much as I find the language complex and long winded however it is the sophisticated way in which the novel has been written which makes it classic and compelling. I actually found the language quite catchy and could not help speaking in this way to my family and friends for a while! I felt such empathy for the characters, especially Jane and Mr.Rochester and I think that their love story is very underrated compared to other gothic novels but I found the twists and turns of the story most surprising and interesting. There is a combination of themes including romance, religion, spirituality and morality which can be related to modern times so the novel remains timeless and suits a whole range of readers. I'm hugely inspired and in a 19th century gothic novel mood so I'm now reading Wuthering Heights which I also can't put down. I love reading these kindle editions on my iPad mini its so easy and most of these classic books are free!

I will continue to re-read this book for the rest of my life! Beautiful characters and story. My overall favourite.

Found this very hard to understand. The editor notes were not useful most of the time.

I've always resisted reading the "classics" of literature, perhaps due to my worry that I would find the plot uninspiring and the language too difficult to absorb. But I decided to take the plunge, and downloaded Jane Eyre as my first foray (outside of an educational establishment) into classical fiction. And I am so glad that I did. The plot gripped me from the first page - Jane is an absorbing, dimensional character whose life story veers from sad to uplifting to tragic. The other individuals that Jane encounters through her twenty years, from Helen to Rochester to St John, are all incredibly real. The prose is frequently humourous with insightful philosophies on human nature and morals, and evocative descriptions of nature along with the love that grows between Jane and Rochester. The vocabulary is, at times, challening (which certainly had me grateful for my Kindle dictionary) but this only enriches the experience of the novel by imparting understanding of the terminology and phrases from the era. It touches on many modern topics - feminism, politics and religion also lie underneath the story of Jane Eyre which is, in part, what makes this novel so enduring. I absolutely loved this novel and could hardly put it down. An absolute must read, even if you think (like I used to) that it might not be something I would enjoy. Put aside your prejudice and pick up a copy of Jane Eyre - you will not be disappointed.