Jean Rhys

'There is no looking glass here and I don't know what I am like now . . . Now they have taken everything away. What am I doing in this place and who am I?' If Antoinette Cosway, a spirited Creole heiress, could have foreseen the terrible future that awaited her, she would not have married the young Englishman. Initially drawn to her beauty and sensuality, he becomes increasingly frustrated by his inability to reach into her soul. He forces Antoinette to conform to his rigid Victorian ideals, unaware that in taking away her identity he is destroying a part of himself as well as pushing her towards madness. Set against the lush backdrop of 1830s Jamaica, Jean Rhys's powerful, haunting masterpiece was inspired by her fascination with the first Mrs Rochester, the mad wife in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. 'Brilliant. A tale of dislocation and dispossession, which Rhys writes with a kind of romantic cynicism, desperate and pungent' The Times

Wide Sargasso Sea

Antoinette Cosway is a Creole heiress living in Jamaica, who meets and marries a young Englishman, Mr Rochester. Taken from the vibrant, sensual Caribbean landscape to England, Antoinette finds herself the centre of disturbing rumours which gradually posion her husband's mind against her.

Bethany Jenkins

“She spoke hesitatingly as if she expected me to refuse, so it was easy to do so.”

I think this quote is a very clever way to both show the drastic changes to Antoinette’s life following the end of slavery and to show how little she understands them, but having now progressed further into the book, I also think it’s a very interesting observation about the state of white society on the island without forced labor. 

The racist characters in this book may try to attribute this standstill to the “laziness” of the black people who won’t work unless forced to, but I see instead a group of white people incapable of picking themselves up and addressing their own needs in the absence of free, forced labor — The roads are in disrepair because they will neither pay someone to fix them nor do the work to fix them themselves, but prefer instead to wallow and play the victim. 

“When I asked her why so few people came to see us, she told me that the road from Spanish Town to Coulibri Estate where we lived was very bad and that road repairing was now a thing of the past. (My father, visitors, horses, feeling safe in bed - all belonged to the past.)”

Jean Ryhs

sage lynn

I hated the mountains and the hills, the rivers and the rain. I hated the sunsets of whatever colour, I hated its beauty and its magic and the secret I would never know. I hated its indifference and the cruelty which was part of its loveliness. Above all I hated her. For she belonged to the magic and the loveliness. She had left me thirsty and all my life would be thirst and longing for what I had lost before I found it.

There are always two deaths, the real one and the one people know about.

Soon we were back in the shifting shadows outside, more beautiful than any perpetual light could be[.]

I clung to Aunt Cora as you would cling to life if you loved it.

We stared at each other, blood on my face, tears on hers. It was as if I saw myself. Like in a looking-glass.

All this was long ago, when I was still babyish and sure that everything was alive, not only the river or the rain, but chairs, looking-glasses, cups, saucers, everything.

Wide Sargasso sea

Shelby Doherty

This book was an amazing read! Offering a new perspective on Bertha’s maligned character in Jane Eyre, Rhys’s novel challenges Bronte’s imperialist othering of Bertha and renders Rochester a colonial villain (rightfully so) rather than an esteemed byronic hero. Rhys’s writing is extremely beautiful and eloquent, 10/10 recommend!📚✨

Chloe Norman

Rocío de la Hera

¿Hay que leer Jane Eyre? Sí, claro y después hay que correr a leer este libro. Es la respuesta de Rhys, fanática de la novela gótica, quien superpone la voz silenciada del relato. El lado americano de la historia inglesa.
Te sentís hechizado, abandonado, encandilado, perdido, asustado. La narración es tan hermosa, tan oscura y secreta a la vez. 
Es como una mezcla entre "lo que el viento se llevó" "Beloved" "the awakening" y "the yellow wallpaper" , que es lo mismo que decir que es espectacular. 
Dos personajes que se encuentran solo para lastimarse, para terminar de sellar el destino herido del otro. Una historia sobre violencias, traumas, imposibilidad de pertenecer donde no nos quieren. Secretos, vergüenzas y una belleza absoluta enredados entre personajes difíciles, que no se conocen, que buscan espejos que los reflejen. All tangled in a sargasso sea♥️

A gorgeous clothbound edition of Jean Rhys's great masterpiece of desire and madness in the Caribbean, published for the novel's fiftieth anniversary. Born into the oppressive, colonialist society of 1930s Jamaica, white Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway meets a young Englishman who is drawn to her innocent beauty and sensuality. After their marriage, however, disturbing rumours begin to circulate which poison her husband against her. Caught between his demands and her own precarious sense of belonging, Antoinette is inexorably driven towards madness, and her husband into the arms of another novel's heroine. This classic study of betrayal, a seminal work of postcolonial literature, is Jean Rhys's brief, beautiful masterpiece. This anniversary edition includes a new appendix featuring letters, photographs and manuscript pages from the novel's first publication in 1966. 'She took one of the works of genius of the nineteenth century and turned it inside-out to create one of the works of genius of the twentieth century' Michele Roberts, The Times

It is always tricky writing a transformative work as an established and published author (rather than informally, for your own enjoyment only) but it comes so naturally to Jean Rhys than one cannot help and read with awe.

The novel, of course, heavily relies on being familiar with Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre". However, it still manages to stand on its own, with Rhys's prose and style bringing to life a narration that draws on the author's own living experience. It addresses all the issues that Rhys has (and I feel a lot of modern readers cannot help but to have) picked upon and has felt warrant response - the way Antoinette / Bertha (an by extension - sex) is treated by Bronte's narrative, negative stereotypes of Creole people, the little addressed matter of British colonialism in the Carribean - and does so beautifully.

I understand why the novel as drawn a polarised response. It is on the more stylistic literary fiction side which may not always connect with readers. But I still found it draw a complex portrait of a woman and a marriage falling apart in a way that still reads contemporary and relevant.

It is always tricky writing a transformative work as an established and published author (rather than informally, for your own enjoyment only) but it comes so naturally to Jean Rhys than one cannot help and read with awe.

The novel, of course, heavily relies on being familiar with Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre". However, it still manages to stand on its own, with Rhys's prose and style bringing to life a narration that draws on the author's own living experience. It addresses all the issues that Rhys has (and I feel a lot of modern readers cannot help but to have) picked upon and has felt warrant response - the way Antoinette / Bertha (an by extension - sex) is treated by Bronte's narrative, negative stereotypes of Creole people, the little addressed matter of British colonialism in the Carribean - and does so beautifully.

I understand why the novel as drawn a polarised response. It is on the more stylistic literary fiction side which may not always connect with readers. But I still found it draw a complex portrait of a woman and a marriage falling apart in a way that still reads contemporary and relevant.

Powerful, truthful and honest also I hate him so much

Hannah Alexander 

Andrew John Kinney

I read this years ago, more because I was interested in Jean Rhys' Caribbean background than because I loved the book. This time, the book grabbed me and didn't let me go. The writing is much better than I remembered, and the Caribbean setting is so well drawn. The book is regarded as a feminist response to Jane Eyre, so at some point I'll have to read it as well. Rhys makes clear how tenuous a woman's existence was in the patriarchal society; even more so in the far-flung corners of empire like Jamaica and Dominica. I read a version I found on line that was a pdf of a side-by-side translation into Spanish with notes on the text which were actually quite helpful.

Antoinette Cosway is a Creole heiress - product of an inbred, decadent, expatriate community - a sensitive girl at once beguiled and repelled by the lush Jamaican landscape. Soon after her marriage to Rochester rumours of madness in the Cosway family poison Rochester's mind against her.

I loved this and I feel like this is the kind of book I love even more upon rereading it

Emmm :p

Absolutely loved the narration of Bertha or to say 'Antoinette's story Jean Rhys brings justice to Bertha's point of view for those who read Jane Eyre and felt pity or in favour of Bertha. The shift of pov's in the book gives a broader perspectives to the reader. It is a fast paced book with enthralling descriptions of nature and islands. One of the sensitive topic discussed by Jean is racial relationship during the Emancipation Act and after it After having read Jane Eyre years ago, I feel so much full of emotions for Bertha Mason. It's like the story of Jane Eyre is complete for me now! It's a must read.

Jasmine

Shona Tiger

Ugh. I can’t say I liked this book, at all. I disliked the narrator. I hated the way her mother treated her. I felt some sympathy for the mother, and wanted to hear her story, instead. I hated how bleak the setting was, atmospherically oppressive even while being beautiful. I liked the mysterious black figures in the book, but hated Antoinette’s descent into m̶a̶d̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ mental illness (was she, though? Mentally ill?)

I don’t know. I’m hard to please, and this didn’t please me. Maybe I needed to first read it when I was younger. Maybe I need to have a suitably analytical background (in literary terms). I just didn’t like it.

So many parts of this book were incredibly and cleverly crafted. It’s an intelligent commentary on and response to Jane Eyre, giving a voice to a character that was cast aside and used as a simple plot device in the original novel. 

I’m not sure to what degree I could believe that these are the exact same characters we meet in Jane Eyre; I would need a reread to really fit the two narratives together. However, I loved the themes explored in this book anyway, in particular those of nature v. nurture, gender roles, race, power, and above all, “madness.”

Despite the brilliant writing, I didn’t always enjoy reading it. It’s an incredibly sad and haunting story, and at times I struggled to push through it. 

Overall, I certainly think it’s worth the read. 

So many parts of this book were incredibly and cleverly crafted. It’s an intelligent commentary on and response to Jane Eyre, giving a voice to a character that was cast aside and used as a simple plot device in the original novel. 

I’m not sure to what degree I could believe that these are the exact same characters we meet in Jane Eyre; I would need a reread to really fit the two narratives together. However, I loved the themes explored in this book anyway, in particular those of nature v. nurture, gender roles, race, power, and above all, “madness.”

Despite the brilliant writing, I didn’t always enjoy reading it. It’s an incredibly sad and haunting story, and at times I struggled to push through it. 

Overall, I certainly think it’s worth the read. 

andrea

i had to go back after a while to change my original rating from 4 to 5 stars. i can't stop thinking about this beautifully written book and antoinette. jean rhys is so talented and put so much into such a little number of pages. i could talk about wide sargasso sea for hours, about antoinette's fragmented identity, her and rochester's displacement and their dynamic as a married couple, the presence of nature as if it were another character of the book, 'madness' and circularity, the impossibility to escape from fate. this might be one of my favourite classics.

This is such a great adaptation and expansion of Jane eyre, the parallels between the two protagonists are striking and really set an undertone of the dominating structure of the patriarchy

Brandon Avery

Kira L

as if i didn't despise rochester enough, this book further solidifies the disdain for sure.

Yulande Lindsay

I had issues with this book. I realise it is considered a classic. But I had issues with it's structure, with the thinness of the characterisations...I don't know, I need to give it some more thought...

Book Frisson

Interesting premise because I love Jane Eyre, but this book really angered me and made me feel like marriage is a curse and insanity is the only escape.🤣

01-22-22:
Coming back while rereading Jane Eyre, I loathe this book. I appreciate it, but I'm so frustrated with this book looking back.

Likes:
- Wow, I loved this book! The writing is something that I especially enjoyed from it.
- The emotion can really be felt in this book (especially the anger and hatred towards the end). I found myself being really affected by this book and emotional at the ending.
- The ending is utterly heartbreaking!
- This does a good job of humanizing Mrs Rochester and giving her a voice. This book turns the narrative of Jane Eyre on its head and makes Mr Rochester the villain. 
- I loved the descriptions of the setting and nature (something that I am not normally into)

Dislikes:
-At times I found the language a bit difficult and had trouble catching what exactly was going on, especially since the POV swaps around a couple times in the book.

Sarah Escorsa

The only reason I read this book was because I love Jane Eyre so much. Well, this was a huge disappointment and I had to struggle to finish it.

Cheryl Hedlund

This novel is a postcolonial, feminist response to the classic gothic novel Jane Eyre. Here we get the perspective and the life story of the character at the center of the secret hidden in Thornfield. Before, she was just a plot device. Now she tells her own experience growing up in the West Indies after the British slaveholders and colonizers were overthrown. It is traumatic and tragic. Rochester is not a romantic hero in any sense of the word. He is given a POV in this book and it shows the depth of his selfishness, cruelty, greed, and racism. The atmosphere painted by the prose in this short book is rich and vivid. The emotions are sharp, cutting quick and deep. I read this side by side with Jane Eyre and that was a great experience. I enjoyed both books even more. I fully believe this could stand on its own, but I am sure it is a richer experience having the background of the Bronte novel it is referencing.

Melody Izard

An unexpected eerie little delight of a book that attempts to answer the question of just who is Bertha Antoinetta Mason. The book takes place in Jamaica and presents us with a possible explanation for the madness of Rochester’s (from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre) mysterious wife that he keeps imprisoned in Thornfield. There is a distinct atmosphere created in this book engaging all the senses: the strong, almost nauseating scent of the night-blooming moon flowers, the sight of the heap of chicken feathers in the corner of Christophine’s house, the wooziness of the islanders as they sipped (or chugged) their white rum, and the feeling of total despair as Antoinetta discovers her mother’s horse lying dead under the frangipani tree. Of course I must now find time to re-read Jane Eyre while this possible prequel is fresh in my memory. (which god only knows is a very short period of time)

Sophia De La Garza

I enjoyed the new point of views regarding Antoinette but it wasn't a favorite in terms of enjoyment

sara louise

“you can pretend for a long time, but one day it all falls away and you are alone.”

wish we could’ve gotten more from antoinette’s pov rather than mr rochester. I already disliked him from jane eyre and being inside his mind wasn’t a pleasant experience. I am glad to see some justice done to the story of the madwoman in the attic, she never came across as a villain to me while reading jane eyre and it was nice that she had some redemption in this one.

Trevor Berrett

I loved the idea: Mr. Rochester's mad woman in the attic gets a past. Fascinating. And when I step back and look at the work as a whole, I really liked it. However, I had a really hard time getting through her writing. I felt like I was reading a bad translation.

Frederik Van den Bril

An exotic, nightmarish, feverish postcolonial novel. Not an easy read. Took me a while to grasp the context of post-slavery 1830s Jamaica. Social hierarchy, slavery laws and the differences between whites, blacks, mixed race, native Creole whites, British-born whites, Martinique-born blacks, etc. all play a big part in this very layered novel. The book is a prequel to Charlotte Brontë’s book ‘Jane Eyre’. In this book there is a violent and insane woman who is locked away in the attic. ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ sets out to write the history of this woman’s life. How did she end up insane and locked away? The feeling of displacement and constant stifled terror are pervasive throughout the novel with disease, madness, decline and magic all lurking from behind. Some scenes, especially the dream-like sequences, are incredibly bewitching and make you feel like there is much more to be understood.

Wide Sargasso Sea

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