Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker

 

Title:  Mr. Rochester

Author:  Sarah Shoemaker

Narrated by:  Simon Shepherd

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Length: Approximately 16 hours and 43 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.com

Who is your favorite literary hero? 

Edward Fairfax Rochester is a second son.  His mother dies when he is young, and his absentee father sends him off to school at the age of eight.  He has to make his way in the world and learn what he can.  Will he ever return to his beloved Thornfield Hall?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read Mr. Rocester by Sarah Shoemaker for the October JASNA Book Club meeting. All of book club seemed to enjoy this well written novel and it provided good discussion comparing it to our other read, the original Jane Eyre.  Mr. Mason’s characterization seemed to be the main difference between the two books.

·       This novel was the story of Mr. Rocester’s life from childhood through adulthood.  It reminded me of Jane Eyre or a Dickens novel.

·       I kept wondering would a father really send a very young son away and not see him for a decade?  I know Victorian times were different, but it seemed odd.  Rochester was an unloved child just like Jane Eyre.

·       I thought his work at the mill had shades of Bronte’s novel, Shirley.

·       He had a lonely life when so many people died young in the Victorian age.

·       Mr. Rochester is astonished by slavery, but still used it to make a profit.

·       I liked that this wasn’t just a retelling of Jane Eyre through Mr. Rochester’s POV.  Most of the novel is his life before he meets Jane and then events of the novel through Mr. Rochester’s time.

·       I didn’t like that the mind games he played with Jane.

·       I did enjoy that a new character, Gerald, who was not in the original novel, was seamlessly added to the story in a way that adds to the drama and furthered the action.

·       Rochester was a good guy in this novel and his actions for locking Bertha away are explained.

 

Overall, Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker was an excellent retelling and a must read for any fans of Jane Eyre.