The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin is young adult fiction at its finest. I remember listening to the audiobook as a kid – probably when I was middle school age. I was enamored with the story, the style, and especially the end. I have recommended it to people over the years, saying if you like a good game of chess, you’ll like The Westing Game.
At one point, I had two copies in my library. I bought the second one because I loved the book and couldn’t remember if I had a copy already.
Before I get to the story, I want to share a brief bit from the introduction which was written by the author’s close friend and editor Ann Durell.
“What a mind [Ellen Raskin] had! Mine was really put to the test in trying to keep it all straight in order to double-check her. She relied on me to do that and to tell her when her writing was ‘too adult.’ She said, with her usual candor, that she didn’t know what children’s books were like. She read only adult ones. But I never even tried to edit her ‘for children.’ She was too wise, too funny, too ingenious – and therefore unique – to tamper with in that way. She said that she wrote for the child in herself, but for once I think she was wrong. I think she wrote for the adult in children. She never disrespected them or ‘wrote down,’ because she didn’t know how.”
And I think that’s what I love about The Westing Game. The book itself is complex, a mystery with so many clues and details that you really have to be paying attention if you want to solve it before the end. However, you may notice (if you are a frequent visitor to my blog), I won’t have many New Words from The Westing Game. That’s because Ellen Raskin used simple, common words so her young audience would be able to follow along without much difficulty. You don’t have to remember all the details to enjoy The Westing Game.
What is the story of The Westing Game, you ask? Let me give you a bite from the beginning, because the author speaks for herself.
“The letters were signed Barney Northrup… and there was no such person as Barney Northrup.”
There. The mystery is set three paragraphs in. What strange letters could this non-existent person be sending?
Six letters were delivered to the future tenants of a new apartment building, Sunset Towers (which was a strange name because there were no towers and the building faced east). Advertised and talked up in such a way, the apartments were rented out to exactly the people who received the letters. “You’re in luck,” Barney Northrup told every one of them. “There’s only one apartment left. It was meant for you!”
“Who were these people, these specially selected tenants? They were mothers and fathers and children. A dressmaker, a secretary, an inventor, a doctor, a judge. And, oh yes, one was a bookie, one was a burglar, one was a bomber, and one was a mistake.”
How’s that for a beginning? The plot is thick, and we’re only in chapter one!
The tenants live in the building several months without incident. Some like each other; others don’t. But their lives are changed on Halloween, when a gruesome legend is combined with a dare, and the youngest tenant, Turtle Wexler, enters the old, abandoned house next door where she finds the corpse of the long lost resident, Samuel W. Westing.
Sixteen of the tenants are called on to attend the reading of the will and find they have been named heirs. They are separated into pairs, and then the will is read. It’s a bizarre set of rules, with a bizarre set of clues for each pair to help them discover who murdered Sam Westing. Yes, you read that right: Sam Westing was murdered.
Suddenly, all the tenants of Sunset Towers are thrown into a game of who-done-it.
The prize: Sam Westing’s two hundred million dollars.
The heirs begin to discover things about each other they never knew. Friendships are formed, suspicions rise, and to top it all, a heavy snowfall traps them all inside – with the bookie, the burglar, the bomber, the mistake, and the murderer.
Who killed Sam Westing? What do the clues mean? And who will pull Turtle’s braid next – resulting in a shin splitting kick?
And where does chess come in? Though it’s mentioned briefly during the first reading of the will, the significance of chess plays a greater role toward the end of the book. Strategy, precision, and patience are what help the winning heir in the end. That, and the wink of the chess master himself.
I really hope you will read this book. It’s easy; it’s fun. You don’t even have to be great at puzzles (or chess) to enjoy it. Just get your thinking cap and be ready to laugh.
Everything about this book drew me in. The title is intriguing, the cover art is fun. Can you see the suitcase and the bits of paper that make up the words of the title. The Dictionary of Lost Words.
It’s a stand alone novel, though a companion sequel has been added since my copy was published in 2020. The reviews printed on the cover laud the author’s extensive research which is evident on every page.
The story begins with a small child, Esme, who dives into a fire to retrieve a paper with the only word she knows. Lily. The name of her dead mother. Esme’s fingers bear the scars of her childish love for the rest of her life.
Esme’s father is a lexicographer, one of a team of men who worked tirelessly to compile what would become the Oxford English Dictionary. As Esme plays under their desks, the men collect letters, cut outs, pages from books, and anything else people submit with definitions of words and examples of how those words are used. They pin the examples together, alphabetize them, and place them carefully in fascicles – small sections – in the shelves that line the large room where they work. Their workroom is called the Scriptorium.
One day, Esme catches one of the papers dropped from the desks above. It has a word on it – bondmaid. She slips it into her pocket and then into an empty trunk. With that, she has the first entry in her Dictionary of Lost Words.
Soon, Esme grows too tall to play under the desks. She matures, goes to school, and enters puberty. But her love for words never changes, and she begins to carry slips of paper in her pockets so she can “catch” new words from people. She collects words from all over the city of Oxford, but her most prolific contributors are the common people in the marketplace. She quickly realizes words have different meanings for different people, especially women.
Esme gradually becomes involved with a group of suffragettes who seem to question the fundamentals of her upbringing. She is faced with decisions about what is right and good. She makes mistakes. She suffers pain and loss. She continues to collect words, stuffing them into her trunk along with other mementoes of her happiest and saddest moments.
As we read The Dictionary of Lost Words, we grow with Esme. We laugh with her, and we cry with her. With her, we question the norms of society. We recognize the importance of the women whom Esme stopped to hear. In her own way, she gave the women around her a voice they’d never had before by writing down and defining their words.
The author, Pip Williams, started writing The Dictionary of Lost Words with this premise: If everyone involved in defining the words were men, then how well did that first edition of Oxford English Dictionary represent the way women used words? Through research, she found the story of a word that was not printed in the first edition of the dictionary: bondmaid. The entries for that words went missing, and it’s still a mystery where they are a century later. That mystery sparked the story of Esme and her Dictionary of Lost Words. Williams weaves in true historical figures like Sir James Murray, one of the chief editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, his daughters Elsie and Rosfrith, who also worked on the dictionary, and Edith Thompson, a volunteer contributor and proofreader for the dictionary. Though Esme is fictitious, the things she experienced during her life in the book were all too real for many women of the time period, 1880s-1920s.
I highly recommend The Dictionary of Lost Words if you enjoy good historical fiction, however I have two words of caution:
(spoiler alert ahead)
First, there are a few uses of curse words that I do not like to read, however they are not used as curses in the text. Rather, they are listed, defined, and then the story moves on. Also, one of Esme’s contributors is a rough old woman who enjoys embarrassing Esme with crude words. Early in the story, one of the lexicographers said, “Our job, surely, is to chronicle, not judge.” And that is what Esme does – she chronicles the words and doesn’t judge. However, if you do not like books with certain ugly words, you will want to refrain from reading this book.
Second, about halfway through the book, Esme meets a man who takes advantage of her. She is consenting but naive. The chapter is not graphic, however, she ends up pregnant. In fear, she considers terminating the baby. She even goes so far as to visit a woman who could help her do that, but the woman tells her she is too far along. Instead, Esme leaves town to stay with her aunt until the baby is born so she can preserve her reputation. When I got to this chapter, I was very displeased and almost stopped reading the book. I felt it was pushing the boundaries too far for a historical fiction. But I’m glad I continued reading and finished the book. Esme’s pregnancy was dealt with tastefully, and I wept with her when she gave the baby away to a couple who could have no children of their own. I decided that as much as I don’t care to read about pregnancy before marriage and abortion, these have been experiences of women since the beginning of time. If Esme was to represent women and their words to the Dictionary, she must also suffer like them.
Pip Williams’ style is endearing. She uses word pictures like flowers strewn throughout her book. Esme’s wit made me laugh many times. But Williams shines most in the way she uses actions rather than words to describe sorrow. My heart broke, and I cried several times for Esme.
The Epilogue sends the reader forward in time to the 1980s and the introduction of the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s life is honored. Her words are given their place in history. A retiring woman rises, looks into the eager faces of an audience of new lexicographers and tells them the story of Esme. Her mother. An absolutely beautiful way to end this story.
Have you read The Dictionary of Lost Words? Did you have a favorite part? I hope you will share your thoughts in the comments below.
I have started One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp several times over the last few year (three to be exact), but inevitably, something would get in the way of me finishing it. I am a fiction reader; I love action and adventure, mystery and intrigue. So it takes dedication for me to want to finish a non fiction (even inspirational) book.
Well, now that I have have read (and finished) One Thousand Gifts, I must say I’m sorry I didn’t stick with it before.
The subtitle of the book pretty much sums it up: A dare to live fully right where you are.
Ann shares with readers how a seemingly simple challenge changed her life. But she doesn’t begin with the premise of the challenge. She begins with the heartbreaking tale of an accident that tore her family apart and plunged her deep into despair. Though she tried to fix it, then to hide it, she lived many years under a cloud of sorrow, anger, and bitterness.
Until her friend emailed her this challenge: create a list of one thousand blessings from God.
One thousand things to be thankful for.
One thousand gifts offered freely by the Father of Love.
As Ann shares glimpses of her list, she describes how she began to change. The active seeking of blessings in ordinary things changed the ordinary into extraordinary. The drivel of laundry becomes thankfulness for the husband and children who are healthy enough to dirty clothes. The always filling dish sink become thankfulness that there is plenty of food to go around. And these lay the foundation for her to say Thank You for the surgery because it will save the child’s finger. Forming the habit of thankfulness helps her get through hard things with the peace of knowing all things come from God even when we don’t know why.
As Ann searches for God’s gifts, she begins to see thankfulness throughout the Bible. She describes the greatest example of thankfulness: Jesus Himself. Every time Jesus sat down to a meal, the Creator of the universe gave thanks. Even as He sat at His last meal, with Judas his betrayer, Jesus gave thanks.
I was surprised that Ann’s full list was not given in the book until I got to the middle and she said she had long passed one thousand. But even after she quit numbering her list, she continued searching for moments in which to give thanks. She kept an open notebook with her at all times. She shared how her walk with God deepened when she began the journey of thankfulness. She found when giving thanks for every small moment the presence of God seemed to grow around her. Ann’s challenge to readers is not just to begin to live a life of thankfulness. It is a challenge to let God show Himself real in their lives.
I thoroughly enjoyed One Thousand Gifts. Ann Voskamp has a beautiful way of saying things, of describing things, that just pull you in. One of my favorite examples is that she calls her children love-children, and she calls her husband the Farmer. She is simplistic and real. She is like a cup of tea on a cool morning, refreshing and sweet. And while I bemoan the fact that I hadn’t finished it before, I know I needed to read One Thousand Gifts this year. I started reading it the day of my husband’s brain surgery. I took Ann’s challenge and kept a journal close to me every day in the hospital, the rehab, and the months of healing at home. I jotted things down like successful surgery, 2nd surgery moved from afternoon to morning,burned bacon and the hand that grasped min and eyes that softened and the words”I will love you eve if you always burn the bacon”, and quiet mornings for more than physical healing.
And I have seen my walk with God grow and strengthen as I’ve told Him “Thank you” over the last few months.
I’m going to challenge you now: read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Start your own list, and see where thankfulness will take you.
Nine Horses, by Billy Collins is a collection of about 50 poems. His subject matter ranges from art to birthdays to Colorado.
Now, I get it: poetry is not everybody’s cup of tea. But I want to encourage you to try – every once in a while – to read a small book of poems.
Poetry is not about understanding the “deep” or “hidden” meanings in the lines, as many of the critics will tell you. It’s about using words to express emotions that we all feel because we are all human beings.
You won’t like every poet. And of those you like, you won’t like every poem. But there’s something special about trying to see the world through someone else’s eyes and realizing you feel the same things.
Blue Horses is my first exposure to Billy Collins. A quote on the back of the book likens him to Robert Frost. Another says he’s charming. To be honest with you, I haven’t read enough Robert Frost to know if that’s true, but I can say I was not “charmed” by Collins. In fact, I found him rather negative and pessimistic. Collins’ poems, like the nine horses that adorn the cover of the book, could be called modern art. While they lack the beauty I usually seek in the written word, they offer something for everyone to observe.
There were several poems that I enjoyed because I realized we share common ground in the way we think about certain things. Those poems I will share with you because I don’t condemn a collection of poems just because I don’t like one. I want you to decide for yourself whether you think this is an author worth reading further. Reading, even if you don’t care for the material, helps us grow as humans. I can walk away from Collins glad I read his work for myself. And occasionally if I remember something he said about this or that, I can smile because in that small way, we are still connected.
Warning:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not a book for everyone. There are many intense graphic scenes. Murder, sex, and violence are major themes and foul language is used throughout the book. If you do not feel comfortable with any of these elements, I highly recommend you do not even open the book. Once you start, it will be hard to put down.
I started and stopped reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a few times last summer, mainly because of time constraints. This is a complex novel with several storylines and two main characters, and I wanted to be able to read it in its entirety without too many interruptions. So, when I finished my novel in October 2024, this was the first book I pulled off the shelf.
The story begins with disgraced reporter Mikael Blomkvist. He used unverifiable and untrue sources to slander a large company and its owner. For this, he was prosecuted and found guilty of libel. After the trial, Blomkvist semi-retires to north Sweden at the invitation of the Henrik Vanger, head of the wealthy Vanger family, and is given the opportunity to write Henrik’s autobiography.
But there’s a twist. Blomkvist is asked to try to solve the mystery of sixteen year old Harriet Vanger who disappeared forty years ago. Was she murdered? No body was found. Did she run away? If so, how was it that absolutely no one had seen or heard from her since?
Enter the girl with the dragon tattoo that wraps up her back and around her neck: Lisbeth Salander. Lisbeth specializes in research – but not the kind in libraries with old books. She can dig up anything out of anyone’s past with a few quick strokes on her laptop keyboard. She was originally hired by the Vanger’s lawyer to research Blomkvist, but eventually Blomkvist hires her to research the Vangers, especially Harriett.
What they uncover falls into my Best Plot Twist Ever list. Sorry, I can’t say more.
The author, Stieg Larsson was Swedish and the editor of the magazine Expo. From the introduction: “He died in 2004, shortly after delivering the manuscripts for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and the third novel in the series.” (The third novel is The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.) Other authors have carried Lisbeth Salander’s character into more sequels, but that is a subject for another day.
Did you read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or its sequels? Let me know what you thought of them in the comments below.
In early summer 2024, I was busy writing my pirate novel, and I remembered there is an incredible storm scene in The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Since I was working on a storm scene of my own, I decided it would be beneficial to reread the book for storm scene ideas. Have you read it?
Thirteen year old Charlotte finds herself to be the only female passenger on a merchant ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The book follows her through her fears, uncertainties, friendships and adventures. There is a mutiny, a storm, and eventually, Charlotte is faced with a decision that could alter the course of her life forever.
True Confessions reads like a cross between a diary and a novel. Before her journey, Charlotte’s father instructed her to write everything down in her journal, and he would read it when she arrived safely home in Providence. He thoroughly disapproves of what she wrote, telling her she must have been making it all up. If I remember correctly, he burns her original journal so she has to write it all down again with a preface that states she is willing to swear that everything therein is true. Hence the name, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.
Avi is a master storyteller. He usually writes young adult fiction, so his stories are colorful and fun and they move at a fast pace so there is rarely a boring page. He covers many genres, but his historical fiction is my favorite. If you enjoy True Confessions, you may also like Crispin: Cross of Lead (a medieval mystery), Poppy (the tail of the mouse who saved the forest), Something Upstairs (a colonial ghost story), Night Journeys (another colonial adventure without ghosts), and Who was that Masked Man Anyway? (a WWII era coming-of-age tale). One of the great things about Avi is that he touches so many genres and types of stories that if you don’t like one of his books, you will probably like another.
Have you read any of Avi’s books? Leave me some suggestions in the comments.
Jane Eyre has been hailed by many as a tale of romance, passionate love, and forward-thinking feminism. Charlotte Bronte’s young and plain heroine learns how to navigate the world with quiet calmness and deliberate, well-thought-out actions. Bronte’s writing style is endearing. She tells Jane’s story in the first-person view so it’s almost like a letter from Jane to the reader to tell her story with no apologies.
There, that was my fluffy introduction. Now I confess: I do not like Jane Eyre. That was the first thing I thought when I finished reading it as a teenager, and that’s still how I feel today, having just finished the audiobook as an adult. Why? I usually love a good romance. I always love a good storyline. And I definitely love the old English literary style. So why do I love to hate Jane Eyre?
Spoiler alert! Before I continue, I must warn you that I will be spoiling the story if you haven’t read the book before. I can’t tell you why I dislike the book without giving it away. Sorry. So, I put these pictures here as a barrier between my introduction and the rest of my post. These are my two lovely copies of Jane Eyre to distract you.
This volume with green vines and gold lettering doesn’t have a copyright date, but there is an inscription:
“From Grandma Christmas 1897”
The last page of the book is an advertisement for Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup.
It’s hard to read the inscription, and I can’t make out the name.
The stamp next to the inscription reads
“D. L. Juergen’s,
Drugs and Medicines
News Dealer and Book Seller
Complete Line of Musical Instruments
Sutton West VA”
My plain blue volume has a decorative stamp on the front cover. This was the first copy I bought. It’s an old library copy with permanent marker lines on the title page and a discard stamp inside. There is no copyright date. This volume is in better shape than the gold and green one. The pages are not so brittle. It’s roughly bound, by which I mean that the edges of the pages are uneven on the outer side. This is the book I carried with me when I dressed as Belle for Halloween because it just looks so neat.
It’s kind of sad to see the marks in this volume, but then I think of how many people got a chance to enjoy this very book before I found it, and that’s nice to think about.
Now you may turn back. Go find a copy of your own to read, and return when you’ve finished to see if you agree with me. If you proceed, you’ve been warned. I am about to spoil the book for you.
As a brief refresher on the story, yes, this is the one with the crazy wife in the attic.
First, the part of Jane Eyre that I love: the style of writing. Bronte is vivid in her descriptions. Her characters are believable; they could be real people. It’s easy to picture each of the story’s settings – the countryside or the house or the gardens. Lovely! The usage of the English language is so beautiful I find myself wanting to write or speak in the same manner.
Who are the major characters in Jane’s story?
Jane Eyre is described as youthful but plain. She is a deep thinker but doesn’t usually voice her opinion, having been taught early in life that her opinion was odious to those around her. She is religious and moral. Her belief in God dictates many of her decisions throughout the book.
Edward Rochester is twenty years older than Jane. He’s not handsome, has a temper, and – as we learn later – is full of deception. He professes his love for Jane in ardent, passionate, almost poetic words.
The Reid family consists of Aunt Reid and cousins John, Eliza, and Georgiana. Jane became the ward of the Reids when her parents died. Aunt Reid dislikes the child but promised her dying husband to care for her. Aunt Reid kept secret the fact Jane had a living uncle on her father’s side ’til Jane was grown and caring for the aunt on her deathbed.
Mr. Brocklehurst is the master of the school Jane is sent to as a child. He is harsh and hypocritical, and his actions lead to the deaths of half the students from typhus fever before the school is reformed.
Diana, Mary, and St John Rivers are siblings who take Jane in and nurse her back to health after she spends several days without food, shelter, or money. Eventually they discover they are Jane’s cousins on her father’s side. Jane receives an inheritance from their mutual uncle which she splits between the four of them. When they try to protest, Jane ensures them she is happier to have family who love her than money.
It’s important to tell you that St John’s desire is to be a missionary to India, and he tries to pressure Jane into marrying him, not because he loves her, but because he sees she is a hard worker who would benefit his ministry in India. Jane refuses his proposal because she knows he does not love her.
Helen is Jane’s friend in school who dies of consumption. She is the earliest example to Jane of piety and long-suffering.
Adele is Jane’s pupil in Mr Rochester’s house. She is the child of a French opera dancer.
Now, without further ado, the story of Jane Eyre through my eyes.
After a childhood devoid of love, the orphaned Jane is sent to Lowood School for girls. After she graduates, she teaches there for two years before becoming governess to a little French girl named Adele, the ward of the wealthy Mr Rochester.
Jane is young, barely twenty. Mr Rochester is almost forty. Jane is innocent; Mr Rochester has lived a life of pleasure in Europe. They begin to have daily conversations on deep subjects. Mr Rochester tells Jane of his life, his faults, his passions, his former lovers. Adele, he says, may or may not be his own child. Jane tells Mr Rochester of her lonely upbringing. He notices her piety and her goodness, the very opposite of himself.
Mr Rochester is, in my opinion, a rogue (rogue meaning dishonest and unprincipled). He plays with Jane’s feelings and tries to get her to see the world as he does, as though he is trying to corrupt her without corrupting her. What do I mean? He wants her to remain innocent, sweet, pure, pious, but he also wants her to feel jealousy, anger, discomfort. He draws out her human emotions which she had hidden behind her plain grey dresses and dutiful spirit.
Here is an example of how Mr Rochester plays with Jane’s emotions: After sone time, Jane begins to fall in love with Mr Rochester. Hers is the simple love that grows from a heart that has never felt love before. She reproaches herself, and she keeps telling herself she is only the governess. Mr Rochester couldn’t possibly feel for her as she feels for him. So, she tries to hide her feelings for him.
All the while, Mr Rochester knows exactly what he is doing as he draws Jane out of her shell. First breaking the shell of shyness, then tempting her with a private walk here and a personal conversation there. Glimpses, grins, and even subtle touches like a handshake or brush of his hand against hers. He draws her in.
Then he invites a group of neighbors to stay at his estate. Jane watches as Mr Rochester begins to give another lady – a high-born lady – tender glances and smiles. Poor Jane. She reproaches herself the more, believing he never could have felt anything for her. Again, she tells herself she is just the governess. The group stays at the house long enough for a rumor to begin that Mr Rochester intends to marry the lady.
During the group’s stay, Jane is called away to tend to her dying Aunt Reed. Before she goes, she asks Mr Rochester to find her a new position because she can’t stay at the house once he is married to the other lady. When Jane returns, Mr Rochester takes her on a walk through the garden. They begin discussing the new position he found for her in Ireland, and Jane’s calm resolve breaks. She speaks to him passionately, telling him that she cannot bear to leave because then she would never see him again, but she knows she cannot stay because his bride does not like her. This is when Mr Rochester tells Jane that he only ever loved her, and he didn’t care one whit for the other woman. He confesses that he brought her to the house to incite Jane to jealousy – he wanted to know if she truly, passionately loved him. He asks her to marry him.
Many people point to this scene as one of the most romantic, passionate scenes in the book. Indeed, Mr Rochester’s words are lovely.
“I offer you my hand, my heart, and a share of all my possessions… I ask you to pass through life at my side – to be my second self, and best earthly companion.”
Mr Rochester’s First proposal to Jane
The story thus far has been a wonderful tale of triumph over obstacles, courage for the next step, and the reward of passionate love at the end. But here the story takes a dark turn. Jane’s and Mr Rochester’s characters are tried by fire (figuratively and literally)and are shown to be what they truly are.
Mr Rochester is passionate, lustful, and he is hiding a secret that could destroy everything he thinks he loves. A secret which he is willing to keep from Jane, even though it would degrade her not only in the sight of men but in the sight of God. (I have mentioned that Jane was pious. She was God-fearing and extremely moral, steering clear of what she believed would stain her good name.)
Mr Rochester insists on lavishing Jane with gifts. New clothes, a dainty wedding trousseau, and promises of a grand honeymoon on the European continent. He wants to marry Jane within the month. She has no family to stand in the way, no former lovers to turn up and object. She is alone in the world except for him. And so – rush! rush! rush! – Mr Rochester rushes Jane to the alter. Even on the day of the wedding, he calls to her impatiently while she is getting ready. He not-so-gently leads her to the church and presses the minister to hurry up with his sermonizing and long talking so they can finally be wed. But just before Jane and Mr Rochester take their vows, two men interrupt the wedding.
“An insuperable impediment to this marriage exists… Mr Rochest has a wife now living… The record of the marriage will be found in the register of that church: a copy of it is now in my possession.”
Mr Briggs on what hinders Mr Rochester marrying Jane
Mr Rochester’s passionate love changes to rage and even hatred. He charges out of the church, pulling his almost-bride behind him. The minister and other men follow them up the stairs of the home to a locked room Jane didn’t know existed. There they find a woman grunting like a dog, unkempt and insane. She rushes to Mr Rochester with the intent of strangling him. After a struggle, he subdues her, turns to the small company, and states, “That is my wife“. He points out the differences between the insane woman and Jane – the demon and the young girl.
“Bigamy is an ugly word! I meant, however, to be a bigamist; but fate has out-maneuvered me, or Providence has checked me – perhaps the last.”
Mr Rochester when his first marriage is revealed
Jane’s heart is broken. The minister declares she is cleared from any blame; it is Mr Rochester who is at fault. Mr Rochester – who spent months of playing at Jane’s emotions – knew all along he could not lawfully take Jane as his wife. Mr Rochester, already married, yet still proposing to Jane. He called it passionate love. I call it lust. He wanted what he knew he should not have. And he’d had it on the continent with other women. Poor Jane, who had never been the attention of any boy – much less a man. Jane, who was tender, who was new to the world of love and passion and jealousy and loss. And so, at this moment, I knew I hated Mr Rochester.
Jane leaves Mr Rochester’s home. She is penniless, and in her haste, she leaves all her belongings in a carriage. After several days without food or shelter, she is taken in by three siblings: Diana, Mary, and St John Rivers. They become good friends. Then they find out that they are related on her father’s side. As I mentioned earlier, Jane is so happy to have family who love her and whom she loves that she happily splits her inheritance between the four of them. She would rather have family than money.
Try as she will, Jane cannot forget Mr Rochester and her love for him. Jane steps outside one night and hears Mr Rochester’s voice clear as though he were standing beside her. “Jane! Jane! Jane!” She decides in that moment to return to Mr Rochester, and so she answers, “I am coming!” She doesn’t even know to what she is returning, only that she is going to him whom she loves.
When Jane returns to Mr Rochester’s home, she finds it a burned-out ruin. She gets the story from the villagers: the insane wife broke loose from the upstairs prison and set fire to the home. Mr Rochester made sure everyone made it out safely, then he went to his wife who was standing on the roof. He tried to save her, but she jumped to her death. As he descended the stairs through the flames, they crumbled, injuring him terribly. Mr Rochester was now blind with only one good hand. And this is how Jane finds him, living with his former servants.
The first time Jane speaks to Mr Rochester, he believes she is a phantom. She stands before him, holds his hand, and convinces him she is real. That day and the next, Jane tells him where she’s been, of her new-found family, and even of St John’s proposal. She stirs Mr Rochester to jealousy, as he had done to her before. He bids her leave to return to St John, but she assures Mr Rochester that she intends to stay with him, as “neighbor, nurse, housekeeper, or companion” if he wishes.
“Ah! Jane. But I want a wife.”
Mr Rochester’s Second proposal to Jane
Their bond is renewed; their love grows deeper. And here, I will let go some of my hatred of Mr Rochester. By the end of the book, he has repented of being a rogue to Jane. He changed when Jane left him. He knew he was in the wrong all along, but I think he took for granted that Jane would ever see the situation from his point of view. He hoped that – even with the knowledge of the insane wife – Jane would be willing to be his mistress. She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t even let him kiss her once she knew of his first marriage. In the light of Jane’s goodness, Mr Rochester became the great transgressor.
I believe Mr Rochester eventually came to terms with the marriage he despised. And though he didn’t try to love his insane wife any more after Jane left, he did try to save her life, even putting his own life in peril. He was humbled by the fire and his injuries. So, when Jane returned to him, he could no longer offer her anything but himself as he was – blind with one hand. And much to his surprise, Jane heartily accepts him.
“I love you better now, when I can really be useful to you, than I did in your state of proud independence, when you disdained every part but that of the giver and protector.”
Jane Eyre
Jane does eventually get the happily ever after she desired. I am happy for her. And while I still dislike the rogue Mr Rochester began to be, I’m also glad he does in the end get to give Jane what she desired most: his passionate love for her.
And that, my friends, is Jane Eyre – the classic that I love to hate.
Last Christmas, I watched a movie called I Heard the Bells based on the story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the events that led up to his penning the beloved Christmas poem “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. Until then, I hadn’t learned much of Longfellow and had read even less. I did know he wrote a lot of long poems, so I didn’t want to invest in a large, expensive volume ’til I knew if I liked his poetry. So I purchased this little paperback from Penguin Classics. Some of the poems included are “Evangeline”, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, “A Psalm of Life”, and “The Village Blacksmith”.
The introduction is by Lawrence Buell. I’ve only read part of the introduction so far, but I learned so much about Longfellow that I can’t wait to read his poems. Did you know that he was a master of five languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German? And he could read in six more. He taught at Harvard until he decided to write poetry as his profession; he was the first American poet to do so. He lost two wives – the first after a miscarriage in Europe, the second in an accident when her dress caught fire. Longfellow knew deep love and deeper sorrow. I am really looking forward to reading these poems. Though, as with all poetry, I will have to read it slowly. Poetry, you see, should be read in small portions, both so you can take the whole meaning of a poem in to ponder and so you don’t get discouraged by misunderstanding.
Have you read any poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow? I would love to know which ones you like so I can read them too.
I am about to start a new book called Lion in the White House: A Life of Theodore Roosevlet. It’s a biography of my favorite American President. Though I haven’t done a lot of research on President Roosevelt, I remember in elementary school I did a project on “Teddy”, and I remember being really inspired by what I learned about him. I’m hoping to be equally inspired now.
This is a change in genre for me. I usually prefer fiction over biography. This may be a challenge for me. But sometimes it’s good to challenge yourself when you read. You never know what you may find.
I started a new book while I was on vacation last week: The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy. I absolutely love the movie with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin, so when I found this book for sale, I snatched it up quickly. The poor book has been on my shelf for a few years, so I think it’s about time I actually read it.
Here is the story briefly – I’ll write a summary when I finish. The Red October is a Soviet nuclear submarine with many secrets. When it suddenly drops off of all radar, the Americans and the Soviets must race to find both submarine and crew. Who will find it first? How and why did the sub go dark? The movie is exciting; I expect the book to be even more thrilling. I’ll let you know when I finish it. Now, back to reading!
