Cover Blurb:
"Wide Sargasso Sea, a masterpiece of modern fiction, was Jean Rhys' return to the literary center stage. She had a startling early career and was known for her extraordinary prose and haunting women characters. With Wide Sargasso Sea, her last and best-selling novel, she ingeniously brings into light one of fiction's most fascinating characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. This mesmerizing work introduces us to Antoinette Cosway, a sensual and protected young woman who is sold into marriage to the prideful Mr. Rochester. Rhys portrays Cosway amid a society so driven by hatred, so skewed in its sexual relations, that it can literally drive a woman out of her mind.
A new introduction by the award-winning Edwidge Danticat, author most recently of Claire of the Sea Light, expresses the enduring importance of this work. Drawing on her own Caribbean background, she illuminates the setting's impact on Rhys and her astounding work."
Review:
Now, reviewing this novel is a bit of a complicated thing. Technically, Wide Sargasso Sea is officially recognized as the feminist prequel to Jane Eyre, which means that this is not a standalone novel. But, as it was written by a different author, around 110 years after the death of Charlotte Brontë, can it really be verified as a prequel? Are these the characters that Charlotte Brontë envisioned when she wrote Jane Eyre? Is this how she imagined the life of Antoinette Cosway? Is this Edward Rochester the same creature that roamed the halls of her mind? Likely not. And given that the cover of Wide Sargasso Sea does not mention that the book is a prequel to Jane Eyre, for the duration of this review, I am going to treat these as two separate stories that happen to share an ending for one of the characters.
Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys, takes place in Jamaica during the late 1830s/1840s, shortly after slaves in the area were emancipated*. The story follows the life of one Antoinette 'Bertha' Mason Rochester née Cosway, and is split into three parts (one of which is largely written from the perspective of the (in this book) unnamed Rochester). For the purposes of this review, I shall be referring to these parts as the Before, the Honeymoon Period, and the Attic.
I'm going to begin with stating that, outside of the Honeymoon Period, I didn't care for Antoinette's voice. In the Before, she seemed out of touch with everything that happened. She was delivering the stories of her childhood, but I didn't really feel any of them. She didn't read as being as young as she was, but nor did she cover the detail an older character might have covered. In short, the Before felt both too long and too thin for what we got, and it proved to be rather boring, in my opinion. And while the Attic captures what it was going for, it seemed to require one to have more knowledge of Jane Eyre than I possessed**.
By contrast, the Honeymoon Period was excellent. The few scenes we get from Antoinette's point of view during this part sing with greater clarity. This iteration of Rochester is abhorrent (I mean, seriously, what kind of person renames their spouse and refuses to call them by their actual name?), but I absolutely adored the structuring of his character. He carries a great deal of the plot; and the build-up of tension throughout this segment, due to the way he relays information to the reader, was exquisite. I hated where the Honeymoon Period ended up only in the best sort of way.
Outside of the section-specific information, I'd also like to draw attention to the side characters. Christophine, in particular, was brilliantly crafted; seeing her from both Antoinette's and Rochester's points of view left the reader with the impression of an actual person with a wholly separate life occurring somewhere in the off-screen world—a gift rarely given to side characters. Tia, while infuriating, was quite interesting, too, as she offered a glimpse into the way her and Antoinette's perceptions of their relationship differed. While many of the side characters give the impression of secrets and other worlds, they also do a lot to carry the themes of the novel, and I appreciated most everything they brought to the story.
Obviously, based upon the rating I've given it, I neither loved nor hated this book. The Before really fell flat for me, and the Attic didn't offer enough. But for every aspect that didn't work, Wide Sargasso Sea offered up another that did.
This book opened a number of important conversations (which if I ever find the motivation to reread it, might wind up posted in a discussion here on the blog), the writing was often lovely, and I think the length of the book was only slightly too short.
In the end, I suppose I just wanted more from it.
(The cover on my copy of Wide Sargasso Sea is really quite excellent. The paper is thick and waxy, and the colors are beautiful. It does scuff somewhat easily, but I find I don't mind so terribly. I think I've linked you to the same copy, if that sounds appealing to you.)
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* Please note that period-accurate language is used throughout the novel.
** That, I acknowledge, is entirely on me. No stars were docked because of this. As a book that does not specify it is a prequel, though, I think this segment ought to have contained more context and been a bit longer.
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