All About the Brontes Challenge Wrap-up

I'm finally getting around to writing my wrap-up post to the All About the Brontes Challenge. I enjoyed the challenge and I hope all of the participants enjoyed the challenge as well. Feel free to post whether you would enjoy the challenge again next year and any ideas for changes within the challenge.

I wish a bit disappointed with my morning sickness and subsequent getting behing in my blog this year that I wasn't able to go as full force on the challenge as I would have liked. I also was reading all reviews until I got sick, and now I have about 90 entries in the challenge to take a look at. I will comment on all of your reviews one of these days . . . slowly, but surely!

I did manage to complete seven items for the challenge as follows:

1. Music Inspired by the Bronte Sisters
2. Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler
3. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (audiobook)
5. Jane Eyre's Daughter by Elizabeth Newark
6. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
7. Jane Eyre (1970)

I was definitely focused on Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre this time! I feel at one with Charlotte as I often think about how she likely died of Hypermesis Gravidum (super bad morning sickness), which is what I was suffering from this spring. Unlike Charlotte, modern medicine has IVs and medication to allow women to survive.

I didn't stick to my original list, but went with the flow of what I found. I think of the books I read, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys were my favorite. The Secret Diaries as I loved the the romance between Charlotte and Arthur Bell Nichols. I really enjoyed Wide Sargasso Sea as it gave me a different point of view of Bertha Rochester.

I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get to The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte by Daphne Du Maurier, but I will have to try again next time!

Feel free to keep posting your final thoughts and reviews for the All About the Bronte Challenge! I will keep the icons up for the next month or so. Thank-you to all who participated!

Jane Eyre (1970)

I have watched many versions of Jane Eyre over the years, but somehow I had missed seeing the 1970 version starring George C. Scott and Susannah York. I finally watched it almost two weeks ago and I enjoyed it.

This version completely starts at Lowood School and completely misses Aunt Reed and company. It also varies from the novel in several other instances as one would expect in a two-hour movie from such a long and complex novel. Most noticeably is at the end Jane’s time with the Rivers cousins is shown, but decreased substantially from the novel. Indeed they are never referred to as her cousins and she never receives her inheritance from her Uncle. I was glad the Rivers were shown as they are often left out, but I thought it did Jane a great disservice to not have her receive her inheritance. I love how in the novel she goes back to Rochester as an independent woman.

Truthfully I thought that Susannah York was too old to be playing Jane. When Jane goes to Thornfield she should be closer to 18 if my memory serves, but Susannah York is more like 30. She did an okay job portraying Jane, but is definitely not one of my favorites. On the other hand, I wasn’t so sure about George C. Scott as Rochester, but his surly method of playing Rochester soon grew on me. By the end, I really loved his performance as Rochester. I still love Toby Stephens and Ciaran Hinds as my favorite Rochester’s overall though.

I thought there was a spark missing from York’s Jane Eyre and Scott’s Rochester. In fact, if I had just watched the movie and had never read the book, I would wonder why and how Jane Eyre had ever fallen in love with Mr. Rochester. It wasn’t very apparent. This Jane Eyre seemed more about being misty eyed over Mr. Rochester and less about being an independent woman who loves Mr. Rochester.

Overall, I enjoyed watching the movie, but I would not rate it as one of my favorite Jane Eyre movies overall.

This was my seventh and final item for the All About the Brontes Challenge.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Wide Sargasso Sea opened my eyes to a new interpretation of Jane Eyre and has made me reconsider whether I view Mr. Rochester as a sexy literary hero. I was wary of Wide Sargasso Sea to begin with; I thought it was strange that a “prequel” novel would be considered a classic in its own right. After I finished the novel, I realized it was a great novel as it forced me to reconsider one of my favorite novels and realize that poor mad Bertha may have been more than a one-dimensional crazy lady in the attic.

SPOILER ALERT (My review will contain many details of the novel). Wide Sargasso Sea is split into three parts. In part one, Antoinette is a young girl with a sad upbringing. Her father was a slave owner who died while she was young. Slaves have recently been emancipated in Jamaica and Antoinette, her mother Annette, and her brother Pierre live with the few servants who have chosen to remain. They live a poor existence and are looked down upon by other white people for being poor and by black people for having owned slaves. One loyal servant is Christophine who is a surrogate mother to Antoinette. Life changes when Annette marries the rich Mr. Mason who restores their Coulibri Estate. The local people riot and Pierre is killed in the subsequent burning of Coulibri. Annette is driven mad by these events and is put away by her husband Mr. Mason. Antoinette spends the rest of her childhood in a convent.

Part II is from Mr. Rochester’s point of view, although he is never named. He arrives in Jamaica, is sick, and then is quickly married to the beautiful and rich Antoinette. He feels anger that with his status as a second son he was “forced” into the marriage in order to keep his standard of living. He and Antoinette journey to an estate of Annette’s in Dominica. They enjoy an idyllic honeymoon until Daniel Cosway, an illegitimate child of Antoinette’s father, writes to Mr. Rochester to tell him about the madness in the family and possible madness (and promiscuity) of Antoinette. Mr. Rochester starts to view Antoinette with suspicion and starts calling her Bertha for no apparent reason. Antoinette wants to win his love back and gets a love potion from Christophine that she uses on Mr. Rochester. Thinking he has been poisoned, Mr. Rochester then stumbles off in anger. Upon returning home, he has “relations” with a servant, Amelie in the room next door to his wife! She hears everything through the thin walls. She is driven mad by the actions of Mr. Rochester.

Christophine implores Mr. Rochester to love Antoinette as that is all Antoinette wants. If not, she wants half of Antoinette’s money to take her away, heal her, and allow to have a happy life with someone else. Mr. Rochester grows full of jealous rage at the thought of Antoinette being with any other man and refuses this plan. Instead he takes her back to Jamaica, and then to England.

Part III is from Grace Poole’s point of view. It is very short and basically tells of a very mad Antoinette living in the attic of Thornfield and consumed with dreams of fire. She awakes from the dream and seeks to fulfill it.

The story was written in modernist, spare prose. It was a book I could put down, but it also was a book that got me to think greatly about many different issues. One issue was that of being a white person in the Caribbean and how that person could be an outcast from the local black culture as well as the white European culture. It seems like a very lonely place to be.

The main issue that concerned me was women’s lack of rights after marriage. Antoinette had 30,000 lbs that were given directly to Rochester upon their marriage. After that point in time, Antoinette couldn’t decide that Mr. Rochester was a cheating scumbag, take her money and run. She was stuck with him for better or worse and he was allowed to do anything with her as he pleased. I could see how Rochester was lonely and felt himself stuck in this situation, but to treat Antoinette the way he did with the cheating and then the imprisonment in his attic, all while benefiting from her wealth is beyond disgusting.

The sexual politics are interesting too. Mr. Rochester and Antoinette seem to have a healthy sex life, but he grows enraged at the thought that she may or may not have had relations with her mulatto half-cousin before her marriage. Apparently though, it was okay for him to have relations with her maid. He also grows enraged at the thought of her moving on and marrying someone other than him. But he is okay with locking her in the attic while he gallivants around Europe with opera singers and pursues young Jane Eyre. What a double standard!!

I was also struck by the imagery in part one of Annette’s poor parrot Coco. Coco had its wings clipped by Mr. Mason and tried to escape the house while aflame. His poor clipped wings failed him and he fell to his doom. This was great imagery that eerily paralleled Antoinette’s fall to doom from the alighted Thornfield Hall.

I love how the novel gave me these points to think about as well as a new light to see Mr. Rochester and “Bertha” in. I’m afraid I may never think of Mr. Rochester the same again . . .

I read the Norton Critical Edition of this novel. It had helpful footnotes on almost every page, a brief biography and letters of Jean Rhys, a sampling of Jane Eyre as related to Bertha, as well as critical analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea. I’ll admit that I did not read all of the critical analyses. I’ll also admit that I much preferred the prose and wording of the original Jane Eyre sections as compared to Wide Sargasso Sea.

Wide Sargasso Sea is my sixth item for the All About the Brontes Challenge and my first item for the 2010 Classics Challenge.

Book Source: My friend Wendy passed this book on to me.

Giveaway and Review: Jane Eyre’s Daughter by Elizabeth Newark

Jane Eyre’s Daughter is a sequel to one of my favorite novels of all time, Jane Eyre. The heroine of this book is the second child of Rochester and Jane, Janet Rochester. While Janet idolizes her father, she shares a cool relationship with her mother Jane. When she is sixteen years old, Rochester, Jane, and Oliver (Janet’s older brother) set off on a trip around the world, leaving Janet at a boarding school in London. Janet is also in the care of Rochester’s old friend Colonel Dent. While staying with him at his manor Highcrest, Janet uncovers many mysteries that seem to parallel her mother’s stay at Thornfield. One of the secrets is who exactly is Colonel Dent’s secretary, Roderick Landless? Landless looks like a younger version of Janet’s father and his past is a mystery. Janet finds herself torn between her feelings for Roderick and for Sir Hugo Calendar, the new tenant of Thornfield.

I enjoyed the gothic mysteries of the novel, and really liked Janet Rochester as the heroine. The romance between Roderick and Janet is intriguing. I found myself unable to put the book down as I really wanted to solve the mysteries and see the romance through!

The only part of the novel that I didn’t like was the depiction of Jane Eyre and Janet’s love for her father. I am all for a girl being a daddy’s girl, but was disturbed by the passages where Janet seems to harbor an unhealthy love for her father. Jane Eyre being so cold to her daughter seemed unlike the Jane Eyre from the original novel. She does have a redemptive arc in the novel, but I can’t imagine Jane Eyre treating her daughter in that way.

This is my fifth item for the All About the Brontes Challenge.

Book Source: Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

Giveaway Details
Danielle of Sourcebooks has been kind enough to offer one copy of Jane Eyre's Daughter by Elizabeth Newark for this giveaway.

If you would like to enter this contest do any of the following (and make sure to mention each item that you are doing in your comment for me to use to determine your number of entries):

1. Leave a comment on this post. You must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway or post about it on your sidebar. (1 entry)

3. Become a follower or leave a comment that you already are a follower of this blog. (1 entry)

4. Leave a comment if you are a part of the All About the Brontes Challenge. (1 entry)

There are four ways to enter, but you can put all four entries as one comment.

I will be using random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Wednesday June 30th.

Good luck!

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Audiobook)

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is one of my favorite novels of all time. It is a novel that I have read many times throughout my life; each time different sections of the novel speak clearer to me. Each time I have read it, I have loved it. Jane Eyre is an independent heroine who knows what she wants out of life, and does not submit to temptation to accept anything less.

I decided for the All About the Brontes challenge to listen to Jane Eyre for the first time on audiobook. The version I listened to was read by Wanda McCaddon (she also narrated a couple Jane Austen novels I listened to last year). Unfortunately I finished listening to this audiobook back in March during the crux of my morning sickness and didn’t write the review right away. Therefore, I do not have as detailed a review as I would have had otherwise. Overall, I enjoyed experiencing Jane Eyre in a different way, through listening to the novel rather than reading it. Although I think I prefer reading it the old fashioned way. It didn’t seem to beg to be read aloud as the Jane Austen novels did that I listened to last year.

Audiobook Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James

My first response upon finishing The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte was “Wow!” I thought this was a wonderful novel that fleshes out the life story of Charlotte Bronte in a realistic and fascinating way.

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte is written from the first person narrative of Charlotte Bronte as she relates the events of her life to her diary. The diary starts with a proposal of marriage to Charlotte which has thrown her household into an uproar. As Charlotte states, “Who is this man who has dared to ask for my hand? Why is my father so dead set against him? Why are half of the residents of Haworth determinded to lnch him – or shoot him.” The diary then goes back to start in 1845 and details Charlotte Bronte’s earlier life and first meeting of Arthur Bell Nichols.

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte lovingly describes the life story of Charlotte Bronte while remaining true to the facts of her life. Charlotte’s stay in Brussels and love of her professor, her best friend Ellen, her time as a governess, her relationship with her siblings, and the writing of her novels are all included. Overall though, this is the love story of Charlotte and Arthur Bell Nichols.

I enjoyed the love story and the development of the relationship between Charlotte and Arthur. Ironically, it often reminded me of Pride and Prejudice as their understanding of each other develops over time.

The end of the novel also has author insights, extras, and more which includes an interview with Syrie James, selected letters of Charlotte Bronte, selected poetry of the Brontes, complete works of the Brontes, and book club questions for The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte. I really enjoyed these extras, especially the author interview and Charlotte Bronte’s letters.

Overall, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte was an engaging, wonderfully written fictional account of Charlotte Bronte’s life. I loved, loved, loved how Syrie James has written the love story of Charlotte and Arthur Bell Nichols. Most often Nichols is the second choice and Monsieur Heger is written as the love of her life. I’ve read Bronte biographies and letters in the past, and it does seem that she truly loved Arthur Bell Nichols. It’s about time that their love story was given proper treatment.

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte is my third item for the All About the Brontes Challenge.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Giveaway and Review: Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler

Becoming Jane Eyre is a beautiful story of how Charlotte Bronte wrote her masterpiece, Jane Eyre. Charlotte is alone with her invalid father in Manchester when she is compelled to begin writing her second novel. She flashes back to different experiences in her life including her time as a governess and time spent as a student and teacher in Brussels. The tragedies and passions in her life find themselves transformed into a fictional tale with just enough truth behind it to become a very original novel. After Charlotte and her father return to Manchester, she finishes Jane Eyre.

Charlotte is more than a bit saddened when her first novel, The Professor, is rejected, while her sisters’ novels, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey are accepted for publication. Ironically, Jane Eyre is printed by a different publisher before her sisters’ novels and it is the fame of Jane Eyre that propelled the sales of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. Sadly the happiness of Charlotte’s newfound fame is offset by numerous family tragedies.

I enjoyed this novel immensely. I especially loved the scenes of sisterly bonds and friction when the three Bronte sisters are working on their novels and awaiting publication. To have so much talent under one roof is just amazing. The love and yet the jealousy of each sister and their talent is written very believably.

The only part of this book that I did not enjoy was that it ended so soon. The main focuses of the novel are the writing, publication, and first flush of fame with Jane Eyre. The novel then skips to the end of Charlotte Bronte’s life. I wish there would have been more details in this last portion of the book, but I also realize that the main focus was on the creation of Jane Eyre.

I really enjoyed the “Penguin Readers Guide to Becoming Jane Eyre” at the end of the book. The Reader’s Guide included an enlightening interview with Sheila Kohler as well as a book club questionnaire. I was thrilled to see that Kohler used Lyndall Gordon’s biography of Charlotte Bronte (Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life) as an inspiration for Becoming Jane Eyre. A Passionate Life is my favorite Bronte biography.

Overall Becoming Jane Eyre is a fascinating look into the creative process that Charlotte Bronte may have used to write her masterpiece. I highly recommend it to all Bronte lovers!

This is my first novel and second item for the All About the Brontes Challenge. Courtney from Penguin Books was kind enough to provide a copy of Becoming Jane Eyre for a giveaway as detailed below. There is also a companion book that contains the first published works of the three Bronte sisters. Details and a giveaway will be on this blog tomorrow so stay tuned!

Book Source: A review copy from Courtney of Penguin Books. Thank-you!

Giveaway Details
Courtney of Penguin books has been kind enough to offer two copies of Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler for this giveaway.

If you would like to enter this contest do any of the following (and make sure to mention each item that you are doing in your comment for me to use to determine your number of entries):

1. Leave a comment on this post. You must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway or post about it on your sidebar. (1 entry)

3. Become a follower or leave a comment that you already are a follower of this blog. (1 entry)

4. Leave a comment if you are a part of the All About the Brontes Challenge. (1 entry)

There are four ways to enter, but you can put all four entries as one comment.

I will be using random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday February 5th.

Good luck!

Music Inspired by the Bronte Sisters

The Bronte sisters are culturally significant and references to them and their works can be found pretty much everywhere. They have inspired many novels and movies since the publications of their wonderful works of literature, and they have also inspired music. I’m going to focus on Jane Eyre the musical and Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush. If you have a favorite Bronte inspired song or musical please comment about it!

Jane Eyre – The Musical
I have enjoyed listening to this CD that I checked out from the library for the past month. The songs are sung by the original Broadway cast from 2000. The lyrics of the songs cover Jane’s time at Lowood School, her time at Thornfield, and falling in love with Mr. Rochester. Where the musical deviates significantly from the book is after Jane leaves Thornfield. It has Jane go back to Mrs. Reed’s and meet St. John Rivers who is living in the home with the dying Mrs. Reed. Mrs. Reed leaves Jane her fortune and Jane must decide whether to marry St. John and become a missionary’s wife or go back to Mr. Rochester. As usual, the second act of the book is shortened and also changed significantly for dramatic affect.

While none of the songs had a soaring and memorable attribute to them such as songs from Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables, they were enjoyable. I particularly enjoyed “The Proposal.” (Watch and listen to a clip on youtube - and see Jane and Rochester kiss!) Sample lyric from Mr. Rochester,

“Jane, you are my second self
And Jane, Don’t you see the truth?
That you are the heart of my life.”

I also love this lyric from Mr. Rochester in the same song,

“JANE, TO MAKE YOU AS IN LOVE WITH ME
AS I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU
BE MY WIFE
SAY MY NAME!”

Overall enjoyable for any fans of Jane Eyre, unless you are a stickler for an accurate St. John part of the novel.

Wuthering Heights Song by Kate Bush
One year ago in January, I chose Wuthering Heights for my Lakeshore Mom’s Club Book Club Pick (read my rather detailed review of Wuthering Heights here). To try to convince my fellow book club members of the cultural significance that Wuthering Heights played, I sent them the Youtube link to this music video for Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush. They were very impressed by Ms. Bush’s dancing skills from the 1970’s, and we all got a good laugh out of it.

Cheesy dancing aside, I really like the song. Ms. Bush sings it rather high, but I also like the Pat Benatar version. Sarah McLachlan also sang a version of this song as did various other artists. Kate Bush wrote this song as an 18-year old and recorded it on her debut album, The Kick Inside, in 1978. The song quickly became success in the U.K. and number one single and launched her career.

I love the lyrics of the song:

Out on the wiley, windy moors

We'd roll and fall in green.

You had a temper like my jealousy:

Too hot, too greedy.

How could you leave me,

When I needed to possess you?

I hated you. I loved you, too.

Bad dreams in the night.

They told me I was going to lose the fight,

Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering

Wuthering Heights.

Heathcliff, it's me--Cathy.

Come home. I'm so cold!

Let me in-a-your window.

Heathcliff, it's me--Cathy.

Come home. I'm so cold!

Let me in-a-your window.

Ooh, it gets dark! It gets lonely,

On the other side from you.

I pine a lot. I find the lot

Falls through without you.

I'm coming back, love.

Cruel Heathcliff, my one dream,

My only master.

Too long I roam in the night.

I'm coming back to his side, to put it right.

I'm coming home to wuthering, wuthering,

Wuthering Heights,

Heathcliff, it's me--Cathy.

Come home. I'm so cold!

Let me in-a-your window.

Heathcliff, it's me--Cathy.

Come home. I'm so cold!

Let me in-a-your window.

Ooh! Let me have it.

Let me grab your soul away.

Ooh! Let me have it.

Let me grab your soul away.

You know it's me--Cathy!

Heathcliff, it's me--Cathy.

Come home. I'm so cold!

Let me in-a-your window.

Heathcliff, it's me--Cathy.

Come home. I'm so cold!

Let me in-a-your window.

Heathcliff, it's me--Cathy.

Come home. I'm so cold

My favorite lyric is the Chorus, “ Heathcliff, it's me--Cathy.Come home. I'm so cold!Let me in-a-your window.” I can just envision Cathy’s ghost knocking on Heathcliff’s door begging to be let in. I think this song really captures the essence of the novel, which is pretty hard to do in a short song version!

How do you feel about this song? Please check it out and comment below!

My All About the Brontes List

I am having a difficult time narrowing my list down of Bronte related items for the All About the Brontes Challenge. My goal is to read/watch/listen to six Bronte related items from January 1 to June 30th, 2010. My list of items includes the following.

Audiobooks

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

2. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

I have really enjoyed listening to Jane Austen on audiobook and want to discover how the Bronte novels sound on audiobook. It's time to reread these novels, so I'm going to spice it up by listening to them this time around.

Books

1. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James (I've been meaning to read this since I first heard about it and can't wait to read it!)

2. The Wide Sargasso Sea by by Jean Rhys (I've been meaning to read this for years and a friend just passed me a copy . . . I think it is meant to be!)

3. Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Bronte Sisters by Denise Giardina

4. Jillian Dare by Melanie M. Jeschke

5. The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte by Daphne Du Maurier (I've had this book for at least a decade and Du Maurier is one of my favorite authors. Now is a good time to finally read it!)

Movies

1. Jane Eyre (BBC - 1970)

2. Wuthering Heights (1970 - starring Timothy Dalton)

I have never seen either of these disco era classics and my library system has them both. It's time to watch a new version!

I know this is more than six items . . . but if this is anything like the Everything Austen Challenge, I tend to go a bit overboard:-) I will add probably add to the list as the challenge goes on!

I look forward to the start of the Challenge in January!