I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.
InWide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys tells the story of a young Creole woman, Antoinette Cosway, growing up on the island of Jamaica. However, you probably know her as Jane Eyre‘s Bertha Mason, the iconic “mad woman in the attic.” We follow Antoinette as she tries to navigate racial tensions, her ultimately doomed marriage to Rochester, and the many problems in her family. In Jane Eyre, Bertha is a furious spectre, barely more than a grunting animal trying to scratch our heroine’s eyes out. Wide Sargasso Sea, on the other hand, gives Antoinette a voice, her own story to tell, and even her own name (I’ll come back to this).
If you have ever taken any class that touched on postcolonialism in literature in your life, you know this title. Wide Sargasso Sea is one of the ultimate must-read titles in the field, a work that other postcolonial rewritings of classic literature are measured by; this is how it’s done. As a fan of both Jane Eyre and reworkings/reimaginings of well-known stories, it is downright embarrassing that I have not read this novel until now. However, when I came across a copy in a second-hand bookstore, I decided that it was finally time to correct this oversight. So did it live up to the hype?
That time 10 year old Jane Eyre was like “I won’t perish then, so I don’t go to hell” instead of “I’ll be a good girl so I go to heaven” lmao, what a lil shit. I love her.
running around in my bathrobe at 1 am desperately trying to find that one assignment that’s due tomorrow makes me feel like the crazy wife in the attic in the best way possible
I wish more than anything in the world I remembered what the book was called, because I will 100% never find it again (too niche) (hyper local history on Wisconsin lumber camps) and once I type it out no one will believe me BUT
Way out in the woods there wasn’t much opportunity for entertainment, and at night the foreman or whoever would fall back on that tried and true 19th century past time of reading aloud, which was more popular than one might expect. Apparently there’d be a bunch of burly dudes around the campfire rapturously listening to Jane Eyre, to the point where one of them exclaimed, at a moment of peril for the heroine [sadly paraphrased by me] ‘God DAMN them! God them that would be so cruel to one of God’s own lambs!’ etc
I wish more than anything I could find the book again and confirm the quote both for my own sake but also for our proud heritage of being completely insane. Heirloom blorbo.
holy SHIT i found it
“He spent his winter evenings reading from the boss’ collection of Walter Scott novels. The linkage of lumberjacks and literature was not entirely exceptional. James Johnston, a Canadian immigrant who spent the winter of 1856-1857 logging on a branch of the Snake River, was delighted to find in camp a copy of Ivanhoe and a collection of Captain Maryatt novels. Later he "made it a custom to have some book in camp and sometimes at the request of the boys would read aloud while the crew would listen.” On one improbably occasion he was reading Jane Eyre to the men who sat in rapt attention as the young orphan Jane was humiliated by one of her teachers. One of the men, who regarded Jane Eyre as “one of God’s little lambs”, shouted out a curse “from the very bottom of his soul” at the insult to the heroine. The rest of the crew then “broke out in cheers and laughter”
The beauty of The Wife Upstairs is that the book is very clearly based on Jane Eyre but also in its own little parallel universe, not relying too heavily on staying true to the classic, which was so important in making this a new and interesting read.
In this book, twenty-three year-old Jane, a foster child who aged out of the system, is walking dogs for her rich neighbors and surviving by stealing things people wouldn’t miss. Then Jane meets Eddie Rochester, who is still the rich, handsome widower, even in this version. Quickly, Jane and Eddie fall into a whirlwind romance which inevitably ends in Eddie asking Jane to marry him. The only problem? Jane feels that Eddie is also keeping some secrets. The story leads you wanting to find out the truth and what really happened.
This book is great for those who enjoy the classics and also some modern thrillers, as well as people who enjoy lighter reading rather than the classics. It’s really an interesting combination of genres that would interest so many types of readers, which makes it great. Of course, it’s not actually Jane Eyre, one of my favorites, but it’s definitely an interesting, fun read.
Thank you to Rachel Hawkins, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I have new prints up on my Etsy shop! Inspired, yet again, by the Bronte Sisters! Three photo intaglio printed portraits of the famous trio, perfect for any Bronte lover!
This is the view from Charlotte Brontë’s bedroom (now the Brontë Parsonage Museum), Haworth, Yorkshire. Charlotte was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels became classics of English literature.
