Jane Eyre: Timeless Classics

Written by Charlotte Brontë

Narrated by Saddleback Educational Publishing

Jane Eyre has had bad luck. In a fit of anger, her cruel aunt sent her off to Lowood, a bleak, charity institution for orphaned girls. There Jane learned to expect little from life. But her new position at a great country estate promises to be far more interesting than she ever dreamed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781612475080

Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sister authors. Her novels are considered masterpieces of English literature – the most famous of which is Jane Eyre.

Reviews for Jane Eyre

[florenceart · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nice romance, but a little too romantic (in the sense of over-excitable) and mystical for my taste. The main character is very believable and lovable, I like the way she stands up for what she believes in and her independence of character.

[lindseyrivers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My only regret about this book is that I didn't read it sooner. I never expected one book to contain so much drama, suspense, and heartbreak. I literally couldn't put it down. One of the best classics I have ever read.

[pidgeon92_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like many of the classics, this book was a long and difficult read, but ultimately satisfying.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my lifetime favorites. I have read and reread it starting when I was in junior high and again in college and since. The story is of Jane's suffering, first under Mrs. Reed who treats her poorly and then at Lowood the boarding school she is sent to. Jane develops a strong character and excels in her studies. This novel as all the aspects of the traditional bildungsroman and that is one of the reasons I enjoyed reading it. Jane eventually takes position as governess and it is at this point that the novel develops into a romance for she finds a job working for Mr. Rochester teaching a young French girl named Adele at Thornfield. As she teaches there a while, she falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and he falls in love with her. Needless to say there are several more changes in her life before the novel ends, but it never grows old as Bronte's tale seems to inhabit my being more closely than most others.

[taramatchi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have finished this book, hooray! I really did enjoy the book, although I can't say it was the most exciting book. I truly fell in love with the story, especially the ending, which I had been curious about since I read The Eyre Affair, which actually I am glad I read first. It was a wonderful story about a resilient and strong woman.

[trisarahdactyl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jane Eyre is the story of an orphan girl and the difficult life choices she must face. It centers around an intriguing love affair with her master, Mr. Rochester. The pace of the book is perfect; just when you begin to settle into the story, it takes an unexpected turn. These sudden twists continue to the very end.

[jfetting_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm sure I don't have anything to add that hasn't been said already about this book, so I'll just add my opinion. This is one of the greatest books ever written. Even with the lengthy St. John Rivers part (admittedly tedious.) I've read it every year since I was about 13, and it improves with time. To this day, I'm astonished to find people who HAVEN'T read it, since it was such an important part of my life. The 8 people who rated this 1/2 star completely blow my mind. Who ARE you people?

[bellettres · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this in high school and didn't care for it. I read it again last March and loved it. Besides the love story, there is so much here: how to be a woman in a world ruled by men, what constitutes true power, the danger (and the attraction) of religious fanaticism. I loved this book!

[tropic_of_cancer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love Jane's character. She's one of my all time favorite 'heroines'.

[vialys · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite books, a great subject for study of adaptation to film. I have at least 7 film versions - and a script of my own to place it in a modern setting!

[sangeetavaidya · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book almost two years ago but its still fresh in my mind. I picked it up after I read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and found it as fascinating or may be even more that Wuthering Heights. I loved the subtle romance of Jane and Rochester and the overall plot. plan to read other books by the author.

[15amyb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed Jane Eyre it was a really interesting book that showed the life of orphan Jane Eyre thru her different times in her life, but the story really starts when she gets a job as a governess at in a household owned by Mr. Rochester there as their love for each other unravels Jane is intrigued by the strange noises coming from the attack where Mr. Rochester keeps a secret. Jane Eyre unravels the mystery and secrets. it is really a great piece of lititcure that has been enjoyed for centenaries

[abbie47 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Shows classism and chauvinism. Jane's idea of being "good" is somewhat stifling. The writing is sometimes verbose. Nevertheless, it is a gripping novel, amazingly feminist and intensely thought provoking. Worth rereading as an adult.

[gwendydd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I generally don't re-read books - there are too many books and too short a lifetime to bother re-reading any but the best books. However, I just finished reading Jane Eyre for the fourth or fifth time.This is a stunningly timeless book. The emotions Jane experiences are so real, and so well-portrayed, that my heart breaks every time I read it. I cried during the sad parts, even after reading the book several times. Despite the chasm of years and culture that separates me from Jane, clearly some things about love and human nature never change.It's especially fun reading this after reading Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair.

[yoshikawa_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book had its moments, but was way too long! (Could've been better)

[mldg_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This classic was the first that I read of it's kind. It has left a lasting impression on me. Loved it.

[ruthich · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A little over long for me, but still a great read.

[tanyatomato · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this one before, but I understood and appreciated it more this time around. I decided to pick it up again after reading Jasper Ffojde's The Eyre Affair to fill in the missing pieces.

[joybee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. From the start Jane and her troubles held my attention. I was rooting for her the whole time hoping she would succeed in school as well as life. The romance that turns up by mid book was wonderful and I couldn't put the book down until I knew if Jane and Mr. Rochester would get together or not. Jane Eyre is a book about a strong woman who knows what she wants out of life and love. I definitely want to buy a copy so I can read it again and again.

[kimbee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful book! There were many parts that I loved and I related to certain parts of the book. I did not like the religious content of the book and it became too much near the end. It seemed too distant from the main storyline. Some parts were slow but I'm glad I finally read this classic. I loved the character of Jane!

[sesameg_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

With Pride and Prejudice, one of the two greatest romance novels of all time. By turns dark and redeeming, this story took my breath away.

[lalaland_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed the crazy person in the attic.

[simonea_533972 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like this book as a classic. I always struggle with the oldfashioned ideas about women in these kind of books, but Jane is a very strong and likeable character.

[librarylou · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really prefer the writings of the Bronte family to all other literature of that period. Their books have much more of a plot, and the characters are more layered and appealing than those of Austen. In this book we chart the story of Jane Eyre, and orphan who becomes a governess to Mr Rochester, a dark and brooding man, with a secret. It is wonderfully written, and a joy to read.

[ishtahar · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful as ever. What I particularly like about re-reading old favourites is the way that you find something new in them every time. This time it was the significance of the moon in the novel, especially as a forerunner of change.

[colemansheep · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read this first when I was still playing with Barbies - after that my Barbies and Ken all tended to be Jane and Rochester. Still love to re-read this now quite a few years later. I appreciate quite a bit more from it now than the lovely romance. Jane's independance and strong will, her and Rochester being real people with faults, and even the pathos of Lady Rochester. Perhaps it was Jane's example that helped me see through the nonsense I encountered later in the typical "romance" novels I read a few years later. I never could understand the "fall at his feet, helpless with passion" stuff so prevalent in those stories. Jane's passion was more real for being controlled by her will and understanding of what she could or could not accept in her life. The point is not about morality so much as what she herself could accept about her own life.

[caitak_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this - I'd thought I'd read it before but I realised that I hadn't. Though I had an idea of the story from TV and other books (I've read Wide Sargasso Sea in the last year).I especially liked the beginning and the time spent at boarding school.I also liked the way Jane's relationship with Mr. Rochester developed - I was really glad that she didn't end up with St. John Rivers.

[brenzi_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you have avoided the classics thinking they were boring, unimportant, lifeless, uninteresting slogs that have nothing to say to you, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a book that just may change your mind and encourage you to explore other 19th century novels, as well. It’s got it all---mystery, suspense, romance, passion and so startlingly modern that you may find it hard to believe that it was written over 150 years ago. A literary achievement at the time of its publication, there’s good reason that it has endured over the ensuing years. It’s a terrific story, written in luscious prose that appeals to a broad spectrum.If you haven’t read it yet, or if you read it many years ago in high school, do pick it up and give it a go now. What a treat. Written in the first person, Jane tells the story of her remarkable life starting with her life, as an orphan, living at her vile Aunt Reed’s with her obnoxious cousins. She knows, by the age of ten that she is very poor indeed, and must rely on others, and is a realist from an early age. She describes poverty in this way:“Poverty looks grim to poor people; still more so to children: they think of the word only as connected with ragged clothes, scanty food, fireless grates, rude manners, and debasing vices; poverty for me was synonymous with degradation.” (Page 31)It is at this early age that Jane hones her fiercely independent mind-set and determinedly decides that she will overcome poverty. She leaves her aunt’s house to attend a pitiful boarding school (patterned after one that Bronte attended herself) where the drudgery of life takes further hold on her. At her first breakfast there:“Ravenous, and now very faint, I devoured a spoonful or two of my portion without thinking of its taste; but the first edge of hunger blunted, I perceived I had got in hand a nauseous mess. Burned porridge is almost as bad as rotten potatoes; famine itself sickens over it. The spoons were moved slowly. I saw each girl taste her food and try to swallow it, but in most cases the effort was soon relinquished. Breakfast was over and none had breakfasted. Thanks being returned for what we had not got, and the second hymn chanted, the refectory was evacuated for the schoolroom.” (Page 56)After eight years as student and then teacher, she moves on to her first job as a governess for a ward of Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Hall and here she falls in love with her master. And here the story really takes off, with mystery and suspense center stage.Bronte is credited with Jane being one of the original feminists in literature because of her fierce independence and her uncanny ability to pull herself up by her bootstraps and do things that women at that time just didn’t, or couldn’t do. It is generally accepted that she was speaking up for oppressed women of every age.Jane Eyre is a book for the ages, influential but, more importantly, an accessible novel, appealingly written, that has drawn praise from men and women alike through the years. If you’re among the few who have not read it yet, what are you waiting for? It’s a crackerjack of a story, told in radiant prose. Very highly recommended.

[lismb_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely love this book! Great read, very enjoyable.

[cathepsut · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I expected to be bored. Classics usually do that to me. Especially, when I know the story already quite well. But this I liked quite a lot. I did a little skimming in the beginning and occasionally throughout the book, when it got a little too slow for my taste. Jane feels relatively modern and the language, although necessarily old-fashioned, wasn't too stilted. I could have done without the episode with St John. That part of the book felt like a filler to me and I don't remember seeing it in any of the various TV adaptations I have watched over the years. I was sobbing through the last chapter and bought the book for my mum as well. Can't wait to hear how she liked it.