Superb and incredibly inventive prequel to Jane Eyre
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The Wide Sargasso Sea is the story of Antoinette Cosway/ Bertha Mason, the mad first wife of Mr Rochester from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.
It tells her story, as the marginalised outsider, and shows how she came to be locked in a grey tower in England, guarded night and day, and despised and feared by her husband, from her childhood roots in the Caribbean.
It is a brilliant book, atmospheric, passionate and political; still as relevant as when it was first written. It stands alone, without having read Jane Eyre, despite its brevity. However, it is in the context of Jane Eyre that it is really best understood.
It is always audacious to take on a classic novel in this way, but Wide Sargasso Sea does so imaginatively and sympathetically, creating characters that have a life of their own, beyond Bronte's text.
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A great book that gives in depth view into the mind of "Bertha"
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Even thought I didn't enjoy the film too much the book itself is phenomenal. The story of Bertha, the first Mrs. Rochester, "Wide Sargasso Sea" is a not only a brilliant deconstruction of Charlotte Bront's legacy, but is also a damning history of colonialism in the West Indies. This novel addresses the issue of race and culture, but it also addresses the inner thought processes of a woman confronted with cultural chaos between the Creole, Jamaican, and British in the Caribbean.
Told from different points of view, the text is a tapestry weaving Bertha's story with Edward Rochester's early life. Like the seaweed the book is named for, the structure floats in and out of artistic consciousness as though on a sea of many unwritten stories. Although some might argue that "Wide Sargasso Sea," detracts from "Jane Eyre," I feel that Jean Rhys gives us a fuller understanding about the cultural historiography that produces "great literature." As a champion for the silenced voices, Charlotte Bront herself was all too aware of societies' injustices.
While today, "Jane Eyre" is generally accepted as a tract on social class, feminism, and conscious production of art, 150 years ago, Bront was lambasted by contemporary critics as unchristian, seditious and a poor writer. I can not help but think Bront, as social critic, would have cheered the publication of "Wide Sargasso Sea." A wonderful book for anyone studying Latin America or the Caribbean.
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Caribbean then and now
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I re-read this upon finding it - along with Phyllis Shand Allfrey's The Orchid House - on a bookshelf a decade after first buying and reading both. They both depict a colonial way of life which has come to an end. Wide Sargasso Sea is quite simply an exquisite portrayal of Jamaica and the other un-named island which the newly-weds travel to and albeit short, a marvellous novel. Jane Eyre was an must for O-level but I never warmed to her, unlike Antoinette, whose story is tragic and still an enigma in the novel. Who really made her insane?...
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Mad women in the attic
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This is a story from the point of view of the 'mad women' in Jane Eyre. I found it all consuming and couldn't put it down. Don't worry if you haven't read JA it's still a fantastic book and if you are a JA fan, don't feel it will detract from that wonderful novel, as the 2 can be read exclusively of each other. Either way, you will be left wondering, was his wife mad, or did Mr Rochester make her that way?
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Makes you think...
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Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequel to Charlotte Bronte`s Jane Eyre.
It is a very short book but it is very moving,readable and beautifully written.Jean Rhys uses descriptions about Jamacia which conjer up it`s smells and sights so you feel that you are actually there.
The narrative displacement is easy to keep track of as it is only between Mr Rochester and his mad bride(who is actually called Antoniette by the way).Antoniette is easy to sympathise with especially in the first and final parts as they are told by her.If you have read Jane Eyre before you will see her in a different light and even care about her.
However I will not spoil this fantastic book.I would recommend reading Jane Eyre first as you will appreciate it better,but even if you haven`t I still recommend.
I am now waiting to read Quartet also by Jean Rhys.
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