Villette Readalong -- Finished

Finally, I have finished Villette.  I know, it's a readalong, but I had some real momentum while reading it last week, and bloggers, I just couldn't help myself -- I finished the rest of the book.  The story really picked up for me and I had to keep going.  However, when it came time to actually put some thoughts down, I am kind of at a loss.

Without giving too much away, finally, the entire Lucy/Graham/Polly love triangle was resolved, pretty calmly.  Polly turned out to be a pretty good egg after all; Ginevra was as obnoxious as ever -- one of my commenters last week wrote that she wanted to push her off a cliff, which is about right.  Originally I just wanted to smack her, but then she got worse.

And some other characters who seemed pretty interesting and fairly benign earlier in the book got more complicated, and in some cases, more treacherous.  I won't say which ones in case anyone is still reading it, but some of them really infuriated me.  I know this sounds really vague but a lot happens in the last quarter or so of the book, and I got hooked on it and finished it all up in a couple of days.  I don't know if it's because the story got much better or if I was just unable to drag it out any longer.

After spending so much time on this book I'm at a loss, and I just can't come up with clever and insightful comments about this book.  After some slow spots, I did end up liking it (though I wasn't thrilled with the ending).  While it's not nearly as exciting as Jane Eyre, it has some great character development.  I'm not sure why some people consider it Charlotte Bronte's finest book. I suppose as her final work, it's her most mature.  My copy (Modern Library) has an introduction by A.S. Byatt and some Frenchwoman that probably has all kinds of insights and background which I was saving for the end, but it's 50 pages long, and I am too tired of looking at this book to open it again.  I'm glad I finally got around to reading it, but I'm in no hurry to pick up her other books Shirley (654 pages!) and The Professor (a mere 300).

Thanks again for Wallace at Unputdownables for organizing this.  I did enjoy participating in the Readathon, since it motivated me to keep going.  I apologize for cutting my participation short, but maybe two months was just too long for my short attention span.

Dueling Brontes

Right now, I'm reading Villette and listening to Jane Eyre on audio.  Is this a bad idea?  In my previous posting for the Villette Readalong, Melody from Fingers and Prose described it as "dueling Brontes."   Which naturally reminded me of . . . 

Bronte Sisters Power Dolls!!!

  I. Want. These.  That is all.

Villette Readalong Week 5

Sorry, but I'm getting kind of bored with Villette.

Not much happened the last few chapters.  Though she won't admit it, I'm pretty sure Lucy is falling in love with Graham/Dr. John.  They're spending a lot of time together, but I have a feeling he thinks they're "just friends."  During an outing to the theater, there's a panic, and in the throngs of people trying to leave, a young woman swoons.  Naturally, Dr. John comes to her rescue.  This girl is oddly familiar!!

This does not bode well for Lucy -- especially when all of a sudden she doesn't hear from him or his mother for weeks.  Seven weeks, to be exact!  Finally, she gets a note from her godmother, inviting her to come over and meet some old friends -- Ginevra's wealthy uncle and cousin.  Lo and behold, the cousin is the swooning girl who is none other than . . . little Polly, all grown up now!  I had been wondering all along when she would show up, or whether Ginevra and Polly were the same person.

Polly's father, who is now know as Count Bassompierre, is looking for a school for Polly.  She's seventeen but apparently her education has been sketchy.  He's very interested in Madame Beck's school.  Polly seems a lot like Ginevra, equally annoying, but with more money.  She is shocked -- shocked, I tell you!  -- that Lucy actually has to earn a living.

And of course, Dr. John rekindles his friendship with Polly.  I forsee him falling in love with her now that he's over Ginevra, and will break Lucy's heart.  I'm also envisioning some catfights between Polly and Ginevra now that Dr. John has gotten tired of her.  Will this be a love triangle? Quadrangle?  Hopefully things will pick up now because the last few chapters have been awfully slow.

The audio of Jane Eyre, on the other hand, is just getting better and better. And it's overdue at the library, eek!

Villette Readalong Week 4

I haven't touched this book in more than two weeks, since before my last posting -- I was ahead and then I had so much else to read for various online events and my library's book group, I have not given this book a second thought since then. Honestly, I don't think that's such a good thing, since I didn't even miss it.  Also, I made the mistake of starting the audio version of Jane Eyre in the car -- I love rereads when I'm driving around town or on my iPod when I walk the dog, since I don't feel like I have to rush through them to finish the story, since I already know what happens.  I can slow down and just enjoy it, like an old friend.

And although this isn't the best narrated audiobook (I find the reader to be somewhat stilted and robotic at times, especially when she's reading words more than three syllables) Villette really does pale in comparison to Jane Eyre!  I know I shouldn't compare them, but I couldn't help it.  I really had no right to start a different Bronte work at all, but I was so bored in the car and the new film version comes out soon, and I hadn't read it in forever.  But now all I can do when I start to read Villette is think about how Jane Eyre is so much more interesting!

Anyhow -- Lucy has been rescued from her medical crisis by the dashing Dr. John, who, lo and behold, is Graham, her godmother's son!  Ta-da!!! Was anyone really surprised?  I actually was, since how is it she didn't recognize him?  Why wasn't this mentioned at all?  I'm starting to not trust Lucy, honestly.  It did occur to me that she'd fall in love with Dr. John and somehow Graham would be a different character and show up later, and there would be some kind of love triangle.  Now I'm just thinking that the third person in the love triangle will be the wretched Ginevra, whom I still want to smack.   And Lucy Snowe is getting tiresome.  I still have more than 300 pages of this book and it doesn't look promising.  However, I am much too stubborn to give up on it now.

This probably isn't much of a review, but the last section made hardly any impression on me, so I guess I need to give it another shot and write about it while it's still fresh.  So, back to the books! 

Villette Readalong Week 3

Week Three of the Villette Readalong is upon us!  I apologize for posting this early, but I'm getting ready for Persephone Reading Weekend and I have a lot of posting to do.   It's actually been about a week since I finished this section, so if I mix up any of my facts, please forgive me.

So, this week, we're discussing Chapters 12 through 17.  At first was going to start out by writing that not much happens, but now that I look back, I suppose it does.  I'll explain.

Lucy has settled into her role as English teacher in the school and spends a lot of time observing everyone else around her.  She spends a lot of evenings sitting outside in one of the school's walled gardens, and one evening she finds a mysterious little package that someone has thrown over the wall.  Dr. John is spending a lot more time at the school -- ostensibly to take care of Madame Beck's children, but does he have ulterior motives?  Madame certainly seems to have a crush on him.

Ginevera Fanshaw is still playing games with all her suitors, which makes me want to smack her even more.  She's starting to annoy me as much as Cathy from Wuthering Heights (and I do realize they're different Bronte sisters, but I always lump them in together.  I can't help it).  Anyhow, Ginevera is playing two suitors off one another -- one is a French officer and another is a mysterious man she only refers to as "Isidore."  That is a truly unfortunate name for an alias.

There's also a somewhat interesting section in which Lucy is pressed into acting a part in a play for the annual school fete -- actually, in man's part, which makes her sort of uncomfortable.  Monsieur Paul, a very overbearing sort of teacher, basically strong-arms her into taking the part at the last minute, going so far as to lock her in an attic without food and water so she can learn her lines.  I can't imagine anyone putting up with that kind of treatment -- I would have been so angry I would have refused to be in his silly play at all.  (But I am not a 20-year-old English teacher in a 19th century novel, so of course this helps to advance the plot.)  Naturally, she's playing opposite Ginevera.  To her surprise, Lucy really enjoys the play:

What I felt that night, and what I did, I no more expected to feel and do, than to be lifted in a trance to the seventh heaven.  Cold reluctant, apprehensive, I had accepted a part to please another: ere long, warming, becoming interested, taking courage, I acted to please myself. 

However, the next day she has regrets and resolves never to do it again:

A keen relish for dramatic expression had reveal itself as part of my nature; to cherish and delight, but it would not do for a mere looker-on at life: the strength and longing must be put by; and I put them by, and fastened them in with the lock of a resolution which neither Time nor Temptation has since picked.

I'm not really into literary analysis, since I'm writing this for fun and not a class assignment, but I definitely get the idea this is an important section and one that would be discussed and analyzed if this was a literature class.   In general, Lucy seems to spend a lot more time watching than doing. Maybe this is because it's a later, more mature novel than Jane Eyre, but it seems to me this book is much more character-driven than plot driven, much more internal and philosophical.  I wonder if this passage signals that Lucy was tempted stop being so passive, but realizes it's not in her nature (which would surprise me because she took charge and moved to France and got a job); or, if it signals that she's ready to change and take charge of her life.  We shall see.

Before the close of this section, Lucy has a crisis of nerves and falls into a fever -- what is it with the mysterious fevers people fell into in those days?  Is it just a literary device?  Obviously they didn't have the medical knowledge of today but it seems like literary characters seem to mysteriously fall into a fever at convenient plot points, after a tragedy or broken heart or what have you.  Anyway, Lucy is naturally saved and when she comes to, the reader is presented with another of those fabulous and unbelievable coincidences of Victorian literature.  I'll say no more.

Villette Readalong Week 2

So, Villette, chapters six through eleven.  I had some real momentum while reading this the past couple of weeks and I'm way ahead, up to chapter 20.  Either I need to slow down my reading or starting writing posts as I read, because I'd almost forgotten what I'm supposed to be posting about.

After a brief review, I remember that this is the part in which Lucy makes a life-altering decision.  After going to London on her own in search of work (which I think is pretty gutsy for such a young girl) she decides to travel to France to look for a job teaching English.  She doesn't know a soul in France but on the crossing she meets a young girl, Ginevra Fanshawe, who is at a French school in a town called Villette (hence, the title) and Lucy decides to go there to look for work.  Upon arriving at the town at a late hour, she luckily encounters an Englishman man who gives her directions a reputable inn; however, she gets lost, and serendipitously finds Madame Beck's school for girls.

Though Lucy has no references and little experience, Madame Beck sizes her up and decides to give her a shot as a nursery-governess.  Much of the weeks' reading are about Lucy's experiences at the school and a great description of Madame Beck, who is kind of a tough lady making her way in what is still largely a man's world.  Lucy and Madame Beck don't exactly like one another, but it's obvious that there's a lot of grudging respect between the two.  Eventually, Lucy works her way up in the school, teaches more advanced students and apparently becomes pretty fluent in French.  The Englishman reappears, and so does the young lady from the boat, Ginevra.

So far this was my favorite section.  We got a lot of background and character development, especially Madame Beck.  I don't know if I like her exactly -- she's tough, but not quite a villainess -- and I think that's how Bronte wants the reader to feel.  I still don't know that I've gotten to Lucy very well, though I admire her guts -- first, she's gone to London on her own; then, she travels to a foreign country without any contacts or prospects, found herself a job; and now she's taken control of some uppity French students.  There's a great scene [MILD SPOILER ALERT!] in which Lucy is thrown into a situation substituting for the teacher of 60 teenaged girls, not much younger than herself, and she knows if she gives them an inch they'll walk all over her.  She has to show them that she's in control, and she takes a sassy student and locks her in a closet.  Well done!

I've now read about 40% of Villette but there's a lot left to go.  I'll try to catch up and write posts as I'm reading from now on  -- hopefully I won't lose momentum if I slow down a bit.  This book isn't quite as engaging as Jane Eyre, but I'm willing to give it more time.

I'm reading this as part of Unputdownables Villette Read-A-Long. Visit the link if you'd like to read more thoughts on this book.

Villette Readalong, Week 1

I am finally revisiting Charlotte Bronte.  Villette is another book which has been sitting on my TBR shelf for (ahem!) about five years, so when Wallace of Unputdownables suggested the read-along, I knew that participating would inspire me to finally pick it up .  It's been years since I read Jane Eyre, one of the first classics I really loved; strangely, I have yet to reread it.  (Might be a perfect choice for an audiobook -- I love rereads in the car because I don't feel pressured to finish them quickly since I already know the endings).   All I knew about this novel was that it is loosely autobiographical and has something to do with a teacher and Brussels or some such thing.  Sometimes, it's best not to know too much about a novel before you start it, so as not to have preconceived notions, right?

I've actually finished more than 100 pages but am technically not supposed to comment on more than the first five chapters.  It seems okay so far.   Basically, this is the story of Lucy Snowe, a young lady with some sort of family difficulties -- I assume later on that she will have financial difficulties and love problems as well, because isn't that what most young ladies faced during the Victorian era?  Well, in Victorian literature, anyway.

However, the first five chapters have very little information about Lucy, and this puzzled me.  In the first chapter, we learn that young Lucy is having some sort of family issues and has been sent off to visit her godmother, a widow with a teenaged son, Graham.  During her visit, a child of a relative has come to stay with the godmother, a little girl named Polly.  Polly's mother died recently and her father is bereft, so Polly has come to stay while he gets his act together.  He is traveling to France for business of some sort.  Polly is naturally sad at having lost her mother and misses her father terribly, so she's kind of withdrawn and sad.  The only one she really becomes attached to is Graham, who is about sixteen.

Basically, the entire first three chapters of this book is about Graham and Polly and their friendship as observed by Lucy -- we learn virtually nothing our narrator.  I didn't even know how old she was but I'm going to assume she's in her early teens.  I couldn't even figure out how old Polly was, but from the way she talked, I assumed she was about 10 -- until the book mentioned she's only six!  Either Polly was incredibly precocious, or six-year-olds were much more mature back then.  Or else Charlotte Bronte didn't know squat about six-year-olds.  I have two daughters who are now older than six, and they never talked like Polly at that age.  Well, Villette was written about 150 years ago, and times change, right?

Anyway, Polly finally leaves to join her father and the action shifts back to Lucy.  I can only assume that Graham and Polly are going to resurface later in the book, or their relationship is somehow symbolic of something else that's going to happen.  In chapter four Lucy is a destitute young lady working as a companion, and her life is a little bleak.  She has to go and make her own way in this world.  I was surprised that there was so little background about Lucy and her family.

The next few chapters do pick up a little and it's all about Lucy, but I'll save that for next week's post.  I was a little bored with Polly but I'm optimistic about the rest of the book, and wondering if Polly and Graham show up again.  If nothing else, this is a fairly fast read for a Victorian novel.  Who knows, maybe I'll love this and I'll take a chance with Bronte's other two novels, The Professor and Shirley.

Has anyone else read this?  Are you participating in the readalong?  How do you like it so far?  And what about the other Bronte sisters' works?  I hated Wuthering Heights, liked The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and I still haven't touched Agnes Grey, which is waiting patiently on the TBR shelf.  It might be next!