Member Review
Review by
Jasper E H C, Reviewer
Book Review
Title: Jane Eyre
Author: Stacy King (English script), SunNeko Lee (Art), Crystal S. Chan (Story adaptation), Charlotte Brontë (Original Author)
Genre: Classic/Manga adaptation
Rating: *****
Review: I am a person who has always been fascinated by classical literature but cannot read it due to its linguistic complexity and slightly outdated language, so when I came across a manga adaptation on NetGalley I was super pleased. I read a lot of manga so I though it might be a good way for me to read a classic without getting 30 pages in before giving up. I know virtually nothing about any of these classics so if I interpret anything incorrectly please let me know in the comments below. Jane Eyre is an orphan taken in by her aunt and is often bullied, sometime physically by her cousins especially John, who I immediately took a very strong dislike to but considering the story is set in the 19th century this type of behaviour can be understood.
After Doctor Lloyd mentions going to school to Jane is immediately decides that is what she wants but after months of waiting she is being to lose hope when the mysterious Mr. Brocklehurst arrives asking to see Jane. As she leaves for Lowood Institute Jane is hopeful that she will make a good impression although in a mere fortnight that hope is quickly shattered by the harsh conditions at the school and the almost brutal treatment of its students. While Jane tries to maintain a façade, she begins to crack under these pressures, but her friend Helen is there to help her even when everyone else had abandoned her. Despite this Jane does find some help in Miss Temple, however, not long after 45 of the 80 girls fall ill Helen among them and she soon succumbs to her illness leaving Jane alone without her best friend.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the manga we have jumped forward seven years after Helen’s death. We learn that Jane was a student for six years and a teacher for two years making her now 18. However, Miss Temple her only true friend marries and moves away reminding Jane that there is a huge world out there waiting to be explored. She soon accepts a position as a governess at Thornfield, the home of Mr. Rochester. She soon settles into her life at Thornfield and little Adele is amazing. One day while delivering a letter she helps a man who falls from his horse but for some reason his face sticks with her and she soon learns that man is Mr. Rochester, master of the house.
Soon after this meeting Jane and Mr. Rochester’s relationship changes from professional to more of a friendship and he begins to confide in her about many things including his life, his past relationship with a French dancer whose daughter he takes care of even though she might not even be his. However, things begin to change when someone starts a fire in Mr. Rochester’s bedchamber and Jane saves him. Both suspect Grace Poole as she has the most unusual laugh and is seemingly very strange, moving and acting almost like she is either mad or possessed. This event is the catalyst for their relationship to change again and Jane soon finds herself becoming attracted to the sweet, soft side of Mr. Rochester.
As we approach the halfway mark in the story, a spanner is thrown into Jane’s imagination when the beautiful and graceful Miss Blanche arrives at Thornfield with Mr. Rochester and there are whispers that he is to marry her although Jane can see as well as Mr. Rochester her falsehood and lack of love for him. Soon after a gypsy arrives to tell the ladies’ fortunes and Miss Blanche isn’t pleased with her and it isn’t until Jane is summoned that she realizes it is a hoax but on by none other than Mr. Rochester himself. However, when he is informed his friend Mr. Mason has arrived he is disturbed and when he summons Jane to take care of Mr. Mason’s wounds quietly he orders them not to engage in conversation while he summons a doctor. Soon after this Mr. Mason leaves and Grace Poole is segregated to specific parts of the house and Mr. Rochester announced to Jane that he is to marry. Jane is obviously devastated by this although never shows it on her face, and when she hears the news that John who had tormented her from childhood had committed suicide and her aunt taken ill she decides to temporarily return to the place she had turned her back on many years before.
Mr. Rochester on the eve of her departure makes her swear she will return and not to advertise her services and she agrees on the condition that she be allowed to leave Thornfield before his bride enters it and he agrees despite their feelings for each other they are bound by their position. So far, I was very surprised that I was enjoying this story and I felt there was an added benefit in this story being told in a graphic form. When she returns to Gateshead she finds her aunt at death’s door and a letter from an uncle she didn’t know she had asking of her whereabouts and her cruel aunt told him she had died at school and she would never received help from him. After her aunt’s death a month after she returns to Gateshead she returns once more to Thornfield to find Mr. Rochester waiting for her with a proposal of marriage she quickly accepts, and they are to be married in a month, a small, quiet affair.
Things take a stunning twist when at the wedding ceremony it comes to light that Mr. Rochester is already married to Mr. Mason’s sister and that her uncle who had heard she was alive was arranging a marriage between Jane and Mr. Mason. After meeting the insane monster that is Mr. Rochester’s wife he asks her to stay with him, but Jane cannot lower herself to be his mistress and decides to leave with next morning away from him and the marriage her uncle is arranging, to somewhere she can have a fresh start but for Jane to have this she must endure further hardship but finds help in some of the kind devote people in the town she finds herself in. As we cross into the final section of the manga, Jane finally finds the thing she has been wanting since childhood; a family.
It turns out the Moor family she had been staying with are her cousins by blood and that her uncle has died leaving her £20,000 and Jane splits it between herself, John, Mary and Diana. After living with them and working as school mistress John approaches her with an offer of marriage and asks that she occupancy him to India on his mission. Jane initial refuses him because he doesn’t love her but he wears her down and at the moment she is going to agree she hears a voice calling her; Mr. Rochester’s voice. Believing that God has shown her the true path she leaves at once for Thornfield only to learn of the tragedy and disaster that has befallen it and Mr. Rochester since her departure. Upon their reunion she finds Mr. Rochester blind and missing a hand but still madly in love with her. She manages against the odds to convince him that she stills love him to and in time he believes her and at long last they are married and their firstborn child, a little boy, follows shortly afterwards and for the first time in her life Jane is truly happy.
Overall, I really enjoyed Jane Eyre, it was heartbreaking, beautiful and the manga style in which the story was conveyed made it so easy to read. After years of trying and failing to complete this book, I have, and I must say I am madly in love with it. If you haven’t read Jane Eyre yet do it now!
Title: Jane Eyre
Author: Stacy King (English script), SunNeko Lee (Art), Crystal S. Chan (Story adaptation), Charlotte Brontë (Original Author)
Genre: Classic/Manga adaptation
Rating: *****
Review: I am a person who has always been fascinated by classical literature but cannot read it due to its linguistic complexity and slightly outdated language, so when I came across a manga adaptation on NetGalley I was super pleased. I read a lot of manga so I though it might be a good way for me to read a classic without getting 30 pages in before giving up. I know virtually nothing about any of these classics so if I interpret anything incorrectly please let me know in the comments below. Jane Eyre is an orphan taken in by her aunt and is often bullied, sometime physically by her cousins especially John, who I immediately took a very strong dislike to but considering the story is set in the 19th century this type of behaviour can be understood.
After Doctor Lloyd mentions going to school to Jane is immediately decides that is what she wants but after months of waiting she is being to lose hope when the mysterious Mr. Brocklehurst arrives asking to see Jane. As she leaves for Lowood Institute Jane is hopeful that she will make a good impression although in a mere fortnight that hope is quickly shattered by the harsh conditions at the school and the almost brutal treatment of its students. While Jane tries to maintain a façade, she begins to crack under these pressures, but her friend Helen is there to help her even when everyone else had abandoned her. Despite this Jane does find some help in Miss Temple, however, not long after 45 of the 80 girls fall ill Helen among them and she soon succumbs to her illness leaving Jane alone without her best friend.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the manga we have jumped forward seven years after Helen’s death. We learn that Jane was a student for six years and a teacher for two years making her now 18. However, Miss Temple her only true friend marries and moves away reminding Jane that there is a huge world out there waiting to be explored. She soon accepts a position as a governess at Thornfield, the home of Mr. Rochester. She soon settles into her life at Thornfield and little Adele is amazing. One day while delivering a letter she helps a man who falls from his horse but for some reason his face sticks with her and she soon learns that man is Mr. Rochester, master of the house.
Soon after this meeting Jane and Mr. Rochester’s relationship changes from professional to more of a friendship and he begins to confide in her about many things including his life, his past relationship with a French dancer whose daughter he takes care of even though she might not even be his. However, things begin to change when someone starts a fire in Mr. Rochester’s bedchamber and Jane saves him. Both suspect Grace Poole as she has the most unusual laugh and is seemingly very strange, moving and acting almost like she is either mad or possessed. This event is the catalyst for their relationship to change again and Jane soon finds herself becoming attracted to the sweet, soft side of Mr. Rochester.
As we approach the halfway mark in the story, a spanner is thrown into Jane’s imagination when the beautiful and graceful Miss Blanche arrives at Thornfield with Mr. Rochester and there are whispers that he is to marry her although Jane can see as well as Mr. Rochester her falsehood and lack of love for him. Soon after a gypsy arrives to tell the ladies’ fortunes and Miss Blanche isn’t pleased with her and it isn’t until Jane is summoned that she realizes it is a hoax but on by none other than Mr. Rochester himself. However, when he is informed his friend Mr. Mason has arrived he is disturbed and when he summons Jane to take care of Mr. Mason’s wounds quietly he orders them not to engage in conversation while he summons a doctor. Soon after this Mr. Mason leaves and Grace Poole is segregated to specific parts of the house and Mr. Rochester announced to Jane that he is to marry. Jane is obviously devastated by this although never shows it on her face, and when she hears the news that John who had tormented her from childhood had committed suicide and her aunt taken ill she decides to temporarily return to the place she had turned her back on many years before.
Mr. Rochester on the eve of her departure makes her swear she will return and not to advertise her services and she agrees on the condition that she be allowed to leave Thornfield before his bride enters it and he agrees despite their feelings for each other they are bound by their position. So far, I was very surprised that I was enjoying this story and I felt there was an added benefit in this story being told in a graphic form. When she returns to Gateshead she finds her aunt at death’s door and a letter from an uncle she didn’t know she had asking of her whereabouts and her cruel aunt told him she had died at school and she would never received help from him. After her aunt’s death a month after she returns to Gateshead she returns once more to Thornfield to find Mr. Rochester waiting for her with a proposal of marriage she quickly accepts, and they are to be married in a month, a small, quiet affair.
Things take a stunning twist when at the wedding ceremony it comes to light that Mr. Rochester is already married to Mr. Mason’s sister and that her uncle who had heard she was alive was arranging a marriage between Jane and Mr. Mason. After meeting the insane monster that is Mr. Rochester’s wife he asks her to stay with him, but Jane cannot lower herself to be his mistress and decides to leave with next morning away from him and the marriage her uncle is arranging, to somewhere she can have a fresh start but for Jane to have this she must endure further hardship but finds help in some of the kind devote people in the town she finds herself in. As we cross into the final section of the manga, Jane finally finds the thing she has been wanting since childhood; a family.
It turns out the Moor family she had been staying with are her cousins by blood and that her uncle has died leaving her £20,000 and Jane splits it between herself, John, Mary and Diana. After living with them and working as school mistress John approaches her with an offer of marriage and asks that she occupancy him to India on his mission. Jane initial refuses him because he doesn’t love her but he wears her down and at the moment she is going to agree she hears a voice calling her; Mr. Rochester’s voice. Believing that God has shown her the true path she leaves at once for Thornfield only to learn of the tragedy and disaster that has befallen it and Mr. Rochester since her departure. Upon their reunion she finds Mr. Rochester blind and missing a hand but still madly in love with her. She manages against the odds to convince him that she stills love him to and in time he believes her and at long last they are married and their firstborn child, a little boy, follows shortly afterwards and for the first time in her life Jane is truly happy.
Overall, I really enjoyed Jane Eyre, it was heartbreaking, beautiful and the manga style in which the story was conveyed made it so easy to read. After years of trying and failing to complete this book, I have, and I must say I am madly in love with it. If you haven’t read Jane Eyre yet do it now!
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