3 Stars
A gothic Austen.
It has been many years since I had read this and my rating remains unchanged at three stars because while there are parts I enjoyed a great deal and some lovely insights into women's lives there is a tremendous amount of liturgy and forbearance espoused, which I find to be quite chaffing. So, in the end this reads much more like a parable than a romance.
The story is one long letter written by Gilbert Markham. As an epistolary it is quite easy to forget as Markham employs two viewpoints, his and Helen's. The first third is relayed via direct narration by Markham and is quite enjoyable with some atmospheric touches of gothic primarily via the unforgiving natural elements to set the mood. The second portion is quite long and relays Helen's viewpoint via diary; it is much more dramatic and filled with Christian scripture that embraces martyrdom, which to be honest is not my cup of tea - I only give one cheek, I'm just not that good a person. Then we enter the extended drawing out of things as they spiral wildly to extremes in ways only Brontes can do. Toss in some updated courtly love concepts and more martyrdom - yes, this all makes terrible sense as Bronte's father was a clergyman - and finally we get to the precious ending.
All loose ends are tied up, any characters we might have had more than a brief introduction to is settled in bliss or eternal damnation, and thus the reader has the just desserts of their patience. I just don't read books that are nearly 600 pages with any regularity so that rolling pace swamped me, though to be honest, the severe morality of Helen was a bit much, especially in contrast to the wild cavorting of other characters. I would have much preferred Markham's narration even though he was prone to romanticism over Helen's which felt like it was delivered from a pulpit more often than not.
There was a lot of what if your only purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.
Favorite quote: ‘If such are your expectations of matrimony, Esther, you must, indeed, be careful whom you marry—or rather, you must avoid it altogether.’
It has been many years since I had read this and my rating remains unchanged at three stars because while there are parts I enjoyed a great deal and some lovely insights into women's lives there is a tremendous amount of liturgy and forbearance espoused, which I find to be quite chaffing. So, in the end this reads much more like a parable than a romance.
The story is one long letter written by Gilbert Markham. As an epistolary it is quite easy to forget as Markham employs two viewpoints, his and Helen's. The first third is relayed via direct narration by Markham and is quite enjoyable with some atmospheric touches of gothic primarily via the unforgiving natural elements to set the mood. The second portion is quite long and relays Helen's viewpoint via diary; it is much more dramatic and filled with Christian scripture that embraces martyrdom, which to be honest is not my cup of tea - I only give one cheek, I'm just not that good a person. Then we enter the extended drawing out of things as they spiral wildly to extremes in ways only Brontes can do. Toss in some updated courtly love concepts and more martyrdom - yes, this all makes terrible sense as Bronte's father was a clergyman - and finally we get to the precious ending.
All loose ends are tied up, any characters we might have had more than a brief introduction to is settled in bliss or eternal damnation, and thus the reader has the just desserts of their patience. I just don't read books that are nearly 600 pages with any regularity so that rolling pace swamped me, though to be honest, the severe morality of Helen was a bit much, especially in contrast to the wild cavorting of other characters. I would have much preferred Markham's narration even though he was prone to romanticism over Helen's which felt like it was delivered from a pulpit more often than not.
There was a lot of what if your only purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.
Favorite quote: ‘If such are your expectations of matrimony, Esther, you must, indeed, be careful whom you marry—or rather, you must avoid it altogether.’
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