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    Jane Eyre
    Jane Eyre
    Jane Eyre
    Audiobook (abridged)3 hours

    Jane Eyre

    Written by Charlotte Bronte

    Narrated by Emma Fielding

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Jane Eyre is the tale of a young governess who becomes entangled with the powerful Mr Rochester, finding mystery and uneasiness in his house.

    ‘Young Adult Classics’ is a new series from Naxos AudioBooks which aims to bring key works of literature to a young audience in abridged form. Lively, accessible readings with music is the key.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateFeb 1, 2009
    ISBN9789629548391
    Author

    Charlotte Bronte

    Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sister authors. Her novels are considered masterpieces of English literature – the most famous of which is Jane Eyre.

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    Reviews for Jane Eyre

    4.5/5

    474 ratings418 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Fantastic until the finale.
    • 5/5
      One of the most powerful books that I have ever read, and quite rebellious considering its time.
    • 5/5
      Jane Eyre is my favorite female character of all time. And Mr. Rochester has always been my favorite love interest. Though, to be fair, I haven't yet read "Pride and Prejudice" so we'll see if that changes.

      Jane is so independent and so desperate to live her life on her own terms that she sometimes comes off as harsh and rude. For the times, however, I think that all of the Christian aspirations and self-infliction of suffering makes sense.

      This novel, though a longer one, has always captivated me and, I think, always will. Jane feels sorry for herself as a child but grows to become a woman who understands that to suffer is to live and that finding your own happiness is what one should seek in life. She enjoys being a refined woman and knows herself well.

      It's easy to find fault in her not becoming Mr. Rochester's mistress but she clings to her morals and for that I have always respected her. At the end of the book when it is proven that they both love each other for who each other is the ending is that much sweeter. Had she become his mistress I think the ending would have been much closer to her death in India or some such place.

      One of my favorite things about "Jane Eyre" is the awful way that everyone constantly tells her how plain and horrible she is. It's terrible and I don't really understand why this was acceptable to do even to a woman of 19...however, it makes it so sweet and romantic when Rochester calls her his fairy and his sprite and talks of how pretty he finds her and how interesting. And I love how she calls Edward ugly but finds him handsome through her love for him. I like how it's not a perfect romance with beautiful people that don't seem real. At the end, she loves him even in his mangled state and finds herself happiest when with him.

      My favorite favorite book in the whole world. Even before "Matilda" by Roald Dahl.
    • 5/5
      The classic story of Jane Eyre an orphan who goes from boarding school to being the governess for the mysterious Mr. Rochester and their ensuing romance.Jane is a wonderful heroine. She has tremendous strength of will and despite the often horrible circumstances she is in, she maintains her equilibrium. I particularly enjoyed her biting repartee with Mr. Rochester and her fortitude in opposing such a strong (both physically and emotionally) man. I also now have a much greater appreciation for the many Gothic elements of the narrative and recognize them as vital element of the genre.I also admire Charlotte Bronte's excellent writing. Her characters are wonderfully crafted and maintain a surprising relevance to a modern audience. She also writes beautiful descriptive passages that evoke the varying scenes of England she includes. A brilliant first novel.
    • 5/5
      A novel from another era. I do so love the civility and manners from that time that, too often, are lacking in our own.
    • 5/5
      I first read this book in my early teens. I was going through a phase in which i decided to read all the classics with Jane Eyre being the first.The story revolves around Jane Eyre, a young orphan girl still in her teens, who starts working as a governess for a Mr. Rochester. Even though Jane is "plain" and average, she and Mr. Rochester fall in love. Unfortunately, life is not always a fairy tale and the two of them must confront not only their pasts but each others' past as well.I will proudly say that this was the first book that I actually cried from reading. And it was not the small-tears-forming-in-the-corners-of-the-eyes crying, but the balling-and-sniffling-since-this-is-so-sad-but-so-good kind of crying. I think especially female teenagers should read this story, especially since the main character is a female who not only speaks her mind, but isn't a great beauty and still manages to fall in love, etc.This is a gothic horror, so do expect that not everything will be peaches-and-cream. There is a mystery in the background and strange events taking place. Though other books and stories of the Bronte sisters feature gothic horror, I think Jane Eyre balances the gothic part and the romance/realistic part better.A recommendation is that once you finish reading this book, do read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I thoroughly recommend it. It will give you a different take on the story and make you fall in love with the tale all over again. Also, for a more hilarious and play on the young-orphan-girl-who-becomes-a-governess-and-experiences-strange-things-in-her-new-place-of-residence trope, I would also recommend the series of The Incorrigible Children Ashton Place.
    • 5/5
      I really liked this book - my only complaint was that I couldn't read the paragraphs that were in French, but I could get the gist of them, and to be honest, they weren't central to the story. I highly recommend this book, even if I could see the ending coming from a long way (I could guess what would happen, more or less, from about the middle of the book).
    • 5/5
      It isn't every book that speaks to both the Wild Romantic and the Stern Puritan in me, and since the day I first read Jane Eyre - up in the woods of Michigan, the summer I was twelve - I have revisited it often, and always with pleasure. It is a book that speaks in many tongues, to many people, and presents many faces to the world, all worth exploring... Depending on who you speak to, this is the best and truest love story ever written - a narrative of the suffering and endurance of true love; a commentary on the social and economic subjugation of women in 19th-century England; or an oblique exploration of race and empire. It is all of these things, of course, but for me, the power of Jane Eyre stems from its keenly observed and acutely realized portrait of the conflict between duty and desire.From the very first line, when a hidden Jane looks out onto a rain-soaked world, I entered wholly into the psyche of this character. Her desire to love and be loved, so cruelly denied in her childhood, seemed as piercingly real to me as anything I had ever felt in my own life. Lonely Jane, for all the Gothic trappings that surround her, could be the poster child for that "transcendental homelessness" of which Lukács speaks...So it is, when Jane seems to find a home with Rochester, whose "bad-boy" persona would make any schoolgirl's heart flutter, I could enter with abandon into the almost ecstatic joy of her homecoming, her communion with another soul. Lonely Jane no more...And when Jane discovers the duplicity of her lover, and the insurmountable ethical obstacles to her happiness, her stern devotion to duty, her almost-desperate recourse to principle, permit her a tremendous (but costly) moral victory. To this day, I cannot read the scenes in which Jane must tear herself away from Rochester, or the following passage, without getting chills:Still indomitable was the reply--"I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad--as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth--so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane--quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot."After many travails, Jane does find her happy ending (thank goodness), and having triumphed over her own heart, she is rewarded with her heart's desire. But that conflict, between the desire to be happy and the need to do right, is what gives Jane Eyre its peculiar power. It is Jane herself who is the masterpiece.
    • 5/5
      With Pride and Prejudice, one of the two greatest romance novels of all time. By turns dark and redeeming, this story took my breath away.
    • 4/5
      I cheered for Jane Eyre right from the first page.
    • 5/5
      It seems hard to imagine that someone who reads as much as I do had never read Jane Eyre. Until this past week that was the case, however, I now can count myself among the millions who have. This enticing novel was by far the very best I have ever read. It seems silly to write a review on a timeless classic. What could I add that hasn't already been said and realized by everyone who has read it. I will say this though; Jane Eyre has the recipe for writing novels. Scenes that are descriptive, characters that are memorable, mystery, intrigue, angst and much more are the ingredients for classic, timeless novels.If there is anyone other than myself who has not read Jane Eyre, pick up a copy soon/now and start reading the unforgettable story of Jane and Mr. Rochester.
    • 5/5
      I read this in high school and remembered loving it, so now 6 years later or so I picked it up to re-read it and see if it still struck a chord with me. I love this book still, and devoured it in only a few days. Jane is such a well defined, interesting, amazing lead character, and leads the way for Charlotte Bronte's other characters to be equally well defined and enjoyed. The story line is dreamy, fantastic and toes the line of fairy tale and believable. I understand why this is recommended reading in so many classes, and why so many film makers try (and usually, fail) to create a visual version of Jane Eyre. It's a classic that has stood, and will continue to stand, the tests of time. Highly recommended to all.
    • 4/5
      This book might be a bit hard to understand, but if you're okay with old fashioned English, it's a great choice.
    • 4/5
      (Original Review, 1981-01-31)Ever since my first reading of Jane Eyre I've always viewed it as an account of the indelible effects of emotional abuse, and as such, a very grim book indeed. The novel opens with a recall of the emotional deprivation the 8-year-old Jane receives daily at the hands of her aunt. The story then continues with Jane's time at Lowood School, an institution devoted not so much to teaching the children of paupers, as to teaching them their place in life.By the time she reaches adulthood Jane is really quite damaged, and she regards herself as a social inferior. This self-image is never really challenged, much less altered or dispelled. The many reviews that praise Jane's undoubted courage unfortunately gloss over this or omit it completely, giving a misleading impression. It is apparent that Jane never ever overcomes the effects of her ghastly childhood. Remember, she is only able to accept Rochester after he had been brought down in the world by the loss of his home and fortune, and his disablement. And while she does, in the end, reject St John, the reader should note how close she comes to succumbing to this emotionally remote, manipulative, hypocritical bully.To my mind, the most astounding thing in Jane Eyre is Charlotte's implicit (explicit?) criticism of the saintly St. John Rivers. He's supposed to be a man of God, as beautiful as an angel, but with a will of iron and a heart of stone. The way he bullies Jane, using his power as a man and as a servant of God to try to force her to submit to him against her will, is horrific. It's as if he sees an independent woman as a threat which he has to destroy.Where did this terrifying character come from? Imagination, or did Charlotte perhaps know someone like him?I think it's Jane's raw, violent, unexamined sexuality. Having never really had much in the way of human warmth, guidance, or emotional education, Jane is quite literally wild. She seeks sensuality like a starving beast and has an almost animal understanding of what constitutes a connection between two human beings. Jane probably doesn't even know what sex is, yet she burns with desire. Rochester - depraved, debauched, debilitated by vice and excesses- sees this in her and in the purity of her passion, he is able to cleanse himself and transcend his baser instincts. I completely buy their relationship, and while it is, objectively, very iffy by today's standards (the gap in age, experience, social status! the mad wife in the attic! the illegitimate child!), it is also completely, viscerally believable. Jane Eyre still shows that lust within love should still be the (moral) goal. She actually effectively teaches Rochester this, as someone barely half his age. She teaches him some morals.For me, the novel’s strength lies in vivid writing that brings the people and the scenes to life, whether or not one likes them, or approves. The style isn’t always to my taste (I don’t care for the 19th Century habit of addressing the reader) but is compelling in a way that is the hallmark of a great writer.Maybe a modern politically-correct world that is obsessed with conformity no longer recognises this kind of gift.The inherent craft of a storyteller is to use invention to more clearly express essential truths of ideas, emotions, impressions and events. Sometimes fiction contains more truth than a fact. What else can a reader expect from a group of authors other than some uncertainty between what's real and what's not?
    • 4/5
      This book is a little bit tricky for me to review.

      Initially, I adored it. Then I found out some problematic things about Rochester's character and the nature of his relationship with Jane.

      However, I still really love it, I just think it's important that when you read this book you acknowledge that it's not perfect, and Mr. Rochester is not always the perfect man he appears to be.

      I read this because I wanted to read Wide Sargasso Sea, which is probably not the right way around, but that's how I did it anyway. I really adore Jane's character, particularly when she's young and precocious - she's stronger, bolder than when she becomes older.

      I liked one character in particular (who shall remain unnamed because I don't want to spoil it for you). They, to me, really represented Jane's inner self - a wilder, bolder side that she never let anyone else see. This person was a manifestation of all her frustrations of being a poor woman in 19th century England.

      Is it a feminist novel, though? Sometimes, I don't know. But I want it to be, and maybe I'll read it again more critically, and figure it out for myself.

      This novel is really atmospheric, and it's not nearly as romantic as you might assume it to be. Jane is a complex character, worn down by her experiences, and brought to life again through Bronte's writing.

      If you haven't read this novel, try it out. c:
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite books that melts together elements of romance, mystery and horror effortlessly. The main character is relatable to anyone who is more bookworm-ish and shy while not being a pushover when it comes down to it. I love this book and it's one of the first classics I read that felt like its hype was more than lived up to.
    • 4/5
      Jane's parents both die when she is very young, and her uncle sets out to care for her. However, he also becomes ill and makes his wife promise to care for Jane after he is gone. Jane's aunt cares only for her own children and soon Jane is sent off to school for six years and teaches there for an additional two years. Later she becomes a governess to a girl taken in by Mr. Rochester. Jane and Mr. Rochester fall in love and plan to marry, but Jane finds out on her wedding day that Mr. Rochester is already married to an insane woman who he keeps hidden away in his attic. Jane runs away and ends up at the house of Diana, Mary, and St. John Richards who later discover that they are cousins. St. John wishes Jane to marry him so that she can be his helper in his missionary work, but Jane does not love St. John and knows that he does not love her. She runs back to Mr. Rochester, who was blinded and injured when his house was burned, and whose wife was killed in the same fire. Jane and Mr. Rochester soon marry. This is an interesting story with a Gothic feel similar to 'Frankenstein.' However, some things were just a little unsettling to me. For instance, every male character of importance in the story, with the exception of Mr. Rochester, is a minister. First her father, then the director of the school she attends, and finally her cousin. I know Charlotte Bronte's father was also a minister, but couldn't she come up with any other interesting occupations for some of her characters. Next, the fact that the men Jane associates with are so controlling over her, and she allows it. I know things were different in the era that the book was written, but I don't like the fact that Jane allowed men to control her so much. Also, I felt it strange that Jane called Mr. Rochester, 'my master' even after they were going to be married. Lastly, the convenience of having the people who rescue her end up being her cousins. That's a little too difficult to believe. Of all the people in the world, the ones who rescue her are her only relatives in the world? Even with its faults, however, it was an interesting book, and worth reading.
    • 5/5
      Amazing! Jane is a wonderful heroine and it is a beuatifully written book with great characters. I love Mr.Rochester!
    • 4/5
      The first time I read Jane Eyre I was fourteen and had really liked (I do believe I skimmed towards the end). This is my second read. I still find it very romantic and the "lovey-dovey" scenes are hard to put down, but I didn't remeber it being so wordy. Almost every dialogue is like a soliloquy - you forget the other person is even involoved in the conversation. That aside, it is a powerful, gothic romance that is a must read classic.
    • 4/5
      One of those books I really ought to have read before now, but have somehow never got round to. Having finished it I am quite pleased I never read this as a teenager. I'm not sure that I would at all have understood Jane and her actions, particularly relating to Mr Rochester. My rather selfish teen self wouldn;t have got that at all. As it is, I'm not sure that I would have been quite that principled, but I can at least understand and admire it in others. It takes quite some time for this to get going. It's always described as a love story, but the main love interest doen't appear until you're half way through the book. That's not to say that there aren't other examples of love, but the grand passion is delayed. This is Jane's life story, told in the forst person, talking directly to the reader. This makes it sound very contemporary, even though at times the language is not. And the treatement Jane recieves is also highly reflective of its time. There are a host of contracts in attitude. None of the people representing religion come out of this in any human light, while the people representing human kindness and good works are put in contrast to them. So Mrs Reed, Jane's aunt, has taken Jane on and claims to be acting in charity, but is, in fact, doing less than the bare minimum.. Mr Brocklehurst is uncharitable and hypocritical, set against the school superintendant, Miss Temple and the almost angelic Helen Burns. Then the male contrast of Mr Rochester & St John Rivers. The later starts out quite well, taking Jane in from the cold night, but it becomes apparent that he only does good works from a sense of duty, he doesn't support that with any emotional supprt or understanding. Mr Rochester is a different situation. He does not present the handsome apperance that Rivers does, so in that sense he is a contrast, but he isn't exactly a saint himself. His attitude to Adele is somewhat cold, he isn't sure if he is her father, but he supports her out of some sense of obligation - but that doesn;t include having the child near him except occasionally. Then there's his immediate attitude to Jane, he is her superior and acts it. The declaration of love from him is, in some sense, a surprise, as it isn;t immediatelt obvious from his behavior that he was warming to her at all - although reading the passages back again, there's a sense that maybe Jane wasn;t seeing what was developing, rather than it wasn't there. The interlude with the gypsy being a rather strange episode, but seems to have been used to put Miss Ingram off the trail. The mad wife is an odd one. Again there is the idea that he is behaving to her with duty, in fact you could argue that he has done his duty towards her at the expense of his own mental health and happiness. But the attempt to marry Jane with the wife alive is somewhat beneath his dignity. Jane will only marry him after the wife's demise, but she also only marries him when their relationship is apparently more equal. If they'd wed earlier, Jane would have been the junior partner in terms of what she brought to the relationaship, whereas by having the fire and the loss of protery and function, Jane returns to him with more power and status. He'd have remained the man of the house ahd she subservient had they married earlier. You could argue that there are a few too many co-incidences -Mr Mason visits Jane's Uncle when he discovers Jane is due to wed Rochester - with Mason's sister & Rochester's wife still alive. Jane lands on the doorstep of the Rivers - who turn out to be estranged cousins.But those small winges about plot apart, the whole thing does hang together and works. So a most satisfying read. Takes a while to get going, but the end does justify the rather odd happenings on the way.
    • 3/5
      I'll admit, I only read this book so I could get the full plot and all the jokes in "The Eyre Affair." I know it's a classic, but it's also fairly boring.
    • 5/5
      This book is the best book of all time. I love the fact the character, Jane Eyre is a witty and sharp young women who falls in love with a proud man. It is Pride and Prejudice all over again
    • 3/5
      My name-sake! Beautiful novel...while it does drag on a bit in the middle sections, the ending is so bitter-sweet. Great 3-day read.
    • 5/5
      Read this book for an English Course at UPEI - was a great read and lots of great discussion regarding the content and interpretations of the intent and bacground of the writer.
    • 4/5
      Tedious but grows on you. My favorite part is near the end - their references to the burned tree in describing Rochester.
    • 5/5
      One of my most favorite novels, I reread it at least a couple times a year, and it never ceases to hold my attention. While it can be criticized that it contains many cliches (like the rogue lover and the sudden, convenient inheritance) its structure is very comforting. A gothic subtext prevents the novel from becoming schmaltzy; the story is best when it is thrilling, dark, and passionate in its scenes at Thornfield. The story by now is a familiar one: Poor, orphan Jane Eyre leaves the abusive school in which she was brought up for a governess position in the wealthy home belonging to Mr. Rochester, a man with skeletons in his closet. They strike up a friendship which turns into something more, but Rochester's past threatens to tear them apart. The two are significant for a relationship that wavers between repressive, passionate, and dsyfunctional. Yet they are both eccentric outcasts in their own right, and connect through their strangeness.The romantic story aside, the novel is also significant for other themes that reveal much about the author's time. One theme is the poor treatment of orphans in the charity schools to which they were sent. Bronte herself lost two young sisters to a poorly-run school riddled with disease, so this is not just a devise written for dramatic purposes. Bronte exposes the hypocrisy of the schoolmasters who live in luxury while the students starve and freeze, of unjust punishments for crimes such as having naturally curly hair, and being given dubious religious instruction solely centered on God's wrath, rather than love. Indeed, these children are so love-starved, it is no wonder that Jane falls for the first man who treats her with any semblance of understanding.Another theme indicative of the author's time is Christianity and its misinterpretation and affects on the community. At its evilest is at the school in the conditions described above. At its saddest is when Jane meets St. John, a man whose piousness denies him his heart's secret desire. Like Lowood school, St. John believes that his Christian duty is to deny himself love and happiness. Jane is of another opinion. Having lived a lonely childhood, she has faith enough in God to believe that love is a gift that should not be turned away. (Indeed, it was gut-wrenching for her to leave Rochester after learning of his past. If it was not necessary for her to leave, she would not have done it.) St. John believes that by living a life deviod of joy, sacrificing himself to be a missionary in India and married to a woman he does not love, he can secure God's approval. Bronte wants to assert that love and morality can be achieved in harmony, and Jane is permitted a happy, though bittersweet, ending as reward for her faith and morality.
    • 5/5
      This is one of my all-time favorite books, so I will succinct and to the point. Charlotte Bronte was an amazing author who could make characters like strong-willed, independent, lively, Jane Eyre and contrast them with brooding, mysterious, and intense characters like Mr. Rochester. I admire her adroit talent with the pen and how she captured and wove a story such as Jane Eyre. This is a story of enthralling passion, romance, love, mystery, and the human condition; what's not to love.
    • 5/5
      A timeless classic and a book I return to again and again.
    • 4/5
      I like this book as a classic. I always struggle with the oldfashioned ideas about women in these kind of books, but Jane is a very strong and likeable character.
    • 5/5
      I remember buying this book from the Scholastic/TAB book orders at school in sixth grade. It was that very cover and edition. I do not remember why I picked it, why I spent my allowance on it. I don't remember having heard of it before then. But I remember well this particular book, laying across my bed reading it, staying up late, carrying it around with me. I read that particular copy several times during my teens (somehow it was never ruined for me by being required in a class). I'm not sure exactly why I gave it away -- there was a point in my early 20s when I felt driven to divest myself of all the books I'd loved in my early teens -- but now I have it in a nicely bound omnibus.

      How does an eleven year old approach this novel of feminine independence, moral dilemmas, romance and pain? It was just a story to me then. But, that early introduction gave me time to grow my appreciation for it over several years. I've read it -- and about it -- many times now. I need not discussion the story itself -- with movies, parodies, and a million cultural references under our collective elbows, it's hardly important -- but the ideas in it implanted themselves in my head and have had influence subtle and not so subtle ever since.