Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #248577 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-26
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Overrated
One of the most overrated "classics" in literature. This "prequel" to JANE EYRE does little to illuminate the insane Bertha. Okay, so Rouchester is a terrible, awful, vindictive, Euro-centric pig . . . Didn't we already get that in JANE EYRE? Just because he's the "hero" doesn't make him, well, a hero we should look up to.

Supposedly, Rhys spent YEARS writing and rewriting this curiously weak, empty, underwhelming novel. I'll stop short of suggesting that she wrote it simply to capitalize on the popularity of JANE EYRE.

One of the book's saving graces is Rhys' vivid decriptions of the Caribbean setting: the colors and textures and culture. But it isn't enough to justify this novel's label as a masterpiece.

a poor defense
Okay, so Bertha Mason was treated awfully in Charlotte Bront?'s Jane Eyre. Point taken. But Jean Rhys does an exceptionally poor job at defending Mr Rochester's first wife, who she christens Antoinette Cosway. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette/Bertha can hardly be called a heroine. Instead she comes off as a spineless young woman who is only too eager to become a victim of her English husband. He in turn is convinced that he is actually the victim of their unfortunate marriage. With this, Rhys creates two exceptionally unsympathetic characters, who you wish would just get up and do something about their situations, instead of wallowing in self-pity and rum. I'm sure there was actually a strong woman behind the raving lunatic that Bertha Mason became, but Jean Rhys hasn't shown her.

Haunting
Wide Sargasso Sea is the prequel to Jane Eyre, following Antoinette Cosway from childhood to her marriage to Rochester. They don't care for each other, but must accept the match, Rochester because he has no other prospects, and Antoinette because her family has a history of madness and Rochester doesn't know the stories.

The book itself is very different from Jane Eyre. It begins from Antoinette's point of view, focusing heavily on Antoinette's mother, a troubled--eventually insane--widow. Then perspective shifts to Rochester and his preoccupied young wife, Antoinette.

Anyone who has read Jane Eyre (and probably many others besides) will know what's coming, and this contributes to the spooky tone of the book. Antoinette from her own perspective feels so justified and normal, but from Rochester's she is oddly detached and her behavior grows to mirror her mother's eerily. The book keeps you thinking long after the ending...it's one of the most amazing things I've ever read. Please, please read it.