Book club selection (via PJ; session held 4 August 2019).
Somehow I've managed to never read even one book by any of the Bronte sisters. Borrowed this one from PJr. I liked it a great deal.
Immediately felt that the protagonist (Jane Eyre) overlapped in significant ways with Lizzie (protagonist in Mill on the Floss). A google search confirmed others have thought the same (unfortunately often couched in terms that strike someone like me as feminist critical lit gibberish).
The plot is quite well known - young Jane starts out living with her relatives (as unappreciated ward); then to boarding school for indigents; then to a role as governess at Thornfield; then to Moor House (with relatives); then the finale. Very appealing character.
Interesting how "physiognomy" was a thing in those days - often mentioned.
I hadn't realized how the views on Christianity in this work were considered controversial at the time. Including the idea that the protagonist is looking for human love moreso than the divine version. Didn't know that the author wrote under an assumed name.
I like the glimpse of 1847 England; ferment prior to the 1848 revolutions. Author (or at least her characters) considered India rather deadly (though the Brits had been active there for about a century at this point).
