Wide Sargasso Sea: A Novel

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It's a hit!

Who hasn't wondered about the lady in the attic? This is a great novel which gives an identity to one of the most mysterious characters in literat... (show more)

Who hasn't wondered about the lady in the attic? This is a great novel which gives an identity to one of the most mysterious characters in literature. Although artistic license is taken with time-lines relative to Jane Eyre, nevertheless this is still a lovely study of slavery (both literally; post-colonialism in the West Indies and entrapment in the attic, and metaphorically; woman's dependance on man and that enslavement of the mind which in this case reveals itself as madness). The imagery used is spectacular and such themes as madness are well-coloured in the richness of the landscape of Creole.

I never really felt taken in by Rochester or Antoinette but it's been a while since I read it so plan to read again to see what it was about the characters that did not lend themselves to my endearment.

As a novel worthy of technical analysis it is brilliant and much use can be made of the themes and imagery et al. It is also nice to give substance to that important and undervalued character of Bertha 'the madwoman in the attic'. (show less)

 

 

by Facebook-gebruiker

No, it's a flop!

Not sure what to make of this to be honest. It doesn't quite do what I thought it would. I was expecting some sort of prequel to 'Jane Eyre' but Je... (show more)

Not sure what to make of this to be honest. It doesn't quite do what I thought it would. I was expecting some sort of prequel to 'Jane Eyre' but Jean Rhys appears to have taken some random bits of information from the novel and run with it. She appears to twist things to suit her plot and at points I found it difficult to follow and quite unbelievable. Although I do agree that there should have been another side of the story it just doesn't flow with Charlotte Bronte's version of events. I think this book doesn't live up to the hype. (show less)

 

 

by Facebook-gebruiker

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  This is obviously a book you want to read after Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, since the main character in Wide Sargasso Sea is based on a minor character in Jane Eyre. Wide Sargasso Sea, though set in the same time period as Bronte's novel, was written in the mid-20th century and thus has a very modernist quality to it. The tone of the novella is often dark and mysterious, but not in the same way as you would expect in a Gothic Novel such as Jane Eyre (which, by the way, is my all-time favor... (show more)

  This is obviously a book you want to read after Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, since the main character in Wide Sargasso Sea is based on a minor character in Jane Eyre. Wide Sargasso Sea, though set in the same time period as Bronte's novel, was written in the mid-20th century and thus has a very modernist quality to it. The tone of the novella is often dark and mysterious, but not in the same way as you would expect in a Gothic Novel such as Jane Eyre (which, by the way, is my all-time favorite novel). Rather, it makes you want to watch your back, because you never know who you can trust. Set in the West Indies, Rhys does not seek to romanticize Bertha Mason's homeland, but instead exposes it as a place full of racial tension and corruption, a place where the privileged white person (rich or poor) has every reason to sleep with one eye open.

  We catch a glimpse of this world through the eyes of Antionette Cosway, a little girl from a rather disfunctional family with a history of madness (not exactly the town's best kept secret). The woman whom we later come to know as Bertha Mason, Edward Rochester's mad wife who makes frequent attempts on both her husband's life and Jane's. This novella is, simply put, her side of the story dating all the way back to her dismal childhood. Read: NOT a happy story.

  If you're interested in colonial literature, this novella offers a new perspective, one that has received far less attention than, say, India, or even Jamaica. I read the Norton Critical Edition, which provides a great deal of background, including excerpts from Jane Eyre and selections from Rhys' own letters (correspondences documenting the progress of her novella, which would mark the end of a very long hiatus--Good Morning, Midnight was published nearly two decades earlier). (show less)

   

  by Renée Gabrielle on May 04, 2009 at 08:44PM

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  It reads in a very special way! There are moments that you think that you are reading poetry instead of a novel. The fact that the story takes part on a Carabean island makes it even more gripping.
  Jean Rhys really succeeds in a taking you along in a head of woman that keeps searching for real love and understanding but doesn't seem to find the right way out.
  I felt the heat, the hatred, the passion, the warm winds that made Antoinette one of these characters in litterature that wil... (show more)

  It reads in a very special way! There are moments that you think that you are reading poetry instead of a novel. The fact that the story takes part on a Carabean island makes it even more gripping.
  Jean Rhys really succeeds in a taking you along in a head of woman that keeps searching for real love and understanding but doesn't seem to find the right way out.
  I felt the heat, the hatred, the passion, the warm winds that made Antoinette one of these characters in litterature that will keep you puzzled for a long time to come.
  And when you read a bit more about the author herself your respect will even grow. Turns out that she was one of these authors that really took some risks in writting stories that take you by surprise.
  This is not a book full of Jane Austen characters but one that will take your breath away till the very last page. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook-gebruiker on Feb 04, 2009 at 09:23AM

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