Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I know, Jane Eyre is old news to most folks…but I actually just finished reading it for the first time.  For any fellow newbies, here’s a brief synopsis of the plot.  Jane grows up in the household of an unloving aunt and abusive cousins until her aunt finally is able to rid herself of Jane by sending her to boarding school.  Her boarding school experience is equally miserable.  Once grown, Jane seeks out employment as a governess.  Her experiences as a governess are full of mystery, love and adventure.  I will refrain from more details so I don’t give anything away.  Here’s what I liked about the novel.  It is a true classic in the sense that it feels relevant in 2011 and although it feels “historical” it doesn’t feel “dated”, which to me is evidence that it gets at people’s deep nature and is therefore timeless.  I expected it to a stuffy tale, but it was a real page-turner.  Bronte’s prose was lovely and eloquent.  The characters were all interesting, believable and fully fleshed-out.  Here’s what I didn’t like about it.  Much of the plot, although interesting, was predictable.  Perhaps there was too much fore-shadowing?  There weren’t any real surprises to me, except that it had a happy ending when I was expecting a tragic ending.  Also, the romance between Jane and Mr. Rochester didn’t ring true to me, at least not until after she returned from running away and came back to him.  Then their relationship seemed more authentic.  All in all, it was a very enjoyable novel and I’m glad to have finally read it.  I give it 4 artichokes.  Now I will try to see some of the movie/t.v. renditions of this story and see how they stack up against the novel!