111. Villette

Villette
Charlotte Bronte
1853
Around 500 pages

Hello, everyone!  Once again, I am back after a reading break that included Life of Pi and One Hundred Years of Solitude.  But now I have returned and now have about ten reviews to write for each of my blogs.  I am also still battling jet lag, which means I have to pause and stare into space for ten seconds after every sentence.  This might take awhile.

I absolutely loved Jane Eyre and absolutely hated Shirley so for me, this was the novel that would decide once and for all how I felt about Charlotte Bronte.  Wow, that was a well constructed sentence.  In any case, this book tipped the scales in Charlotte's favor.

Villette is narrated by Lucy Snowe, an extremely passive person that is described by another character
as being "inoffensive as a shadow."  In this way she is reminiscent of Fanny Price of Mansfield Park, although in this case Lucy is not rewarded for her meekness and instead is largely ignored by the other characters.

Lucy stays with her godmother after her family seemingly dies in a catastrophe that is never described.  Lucy begins to have feelings for her godmother's son, Graham, but she is largely ignored by him and is forced to watch while Graham falls in love with women who possess stronger characters.  Isn't that wonderful?  I know this book was written by a woman, but it still cool to get away from the romance tropes that we see in virtually every book on this list.

This is the last Bronte novel on The List, which I am sincerely sad about.  I am also sincerely sad that I spent the last two minutes trying to end that sentence without a preposition and failed.  Is it too early to take another nap?

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Oh my god, I forgot to mention the creepy nun scenes.  Every once and awhile, Lucy seems the ghost of a nun who was buried alive for breaking her vow of chastity.  Sweet dreams.

Lucy heavily denounces the Catholic Church throughout the novel ("God is not with Rome!").

UP NEXT: Bleak House by Charles Dickens.  He's baaccckk.