Customer Reviews

Adele: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Ugh, I gave this "book" one star because you can't give no stars, but that does not for one minute mean I think this piece of schlock excuse for a book has any merit whatsoever. Why do people write companion novels to great classics if they are going to change the author's original premise? Or in this case, crap all over it.
Many people compare this novel to "Wide Sargasso Sea" and while I have never liked that either, because I feel that Jean Rhys also misrepresented Charlotte Bronte's original intention, at least that book has the distinction of good writing. This one isn't good, in any way. There is simply not enough room to enumerate the faults of this book, but the other reviews have done an admirable job of listing them: Rochester's brutality, the constant insulting of Jane by Adele, the normality of "Antoinette" (it's always rankled me that Rhys called her that, in the original she is Bertha, why pretty her up by calling her her middle name?) The murderous insanity of Mrs. Fairfax, as kind and benign a creature as was ever invented in fiction, the ludicrous murder mystery later in the book when Bertha's body is found in a shallow grave. And the last hilariously awful plot twist about Celine being pregnant by both the Viscount and Rochester. I mean, maybe, just maybe, a pregnancy by two men is possible if you happen to release two eggs and have sex with two men all at the same time, but really, would you be able to spot the differences in the fraternal twins so exactly as to know who to hit up for child support?????
The whole book is so ridiculous, I can't even believe someone published it. Avoid it, taking a nap would be more productive than reading this.

Before buying this book. I wish I had. I was disappointed in this book. Jane Eyre is one of my favorite novels, I also loved Wide Sargasso Sea, but this book is nowhere close to being as good. The reason this book failed is that the author tried to write a book that was an extention of Jane Eyre but could also stand alone. The problem with this is that the person most likely to read this book, fans of Jane Eyre, want to read about familiar characters and make connections to the original story, which this book fails to provide. Since this story is written by a different person and at a different time, it is understandable that the feel of the book is different, and I did not expect a book that was exactly like Jane Eyre. However, this book is billed as a companion to Jane Eyre so the author owes it to her readers to make a connection to the original story. Instead the author fails dismally in her attempt to reproduce the original characters. Every character was wrong and did not resemble the originals. The author portrayed Adele as a rebelious, scheming, unhappy girl, whereas in Jane Eyre Adele was happy if not resigned to her lot in life. Even the character of Jane Eyre is not portrayed accurately in this book. Speaking of accuracy, there are a lot of inaccuracies in this book. Like others have mentioned, it's almost as if the writer had never read Jane Eyre. I think the writer chose to ignore certain facts in order to make the original story fit her own. This is a mistake as anyone who has read Jane Eyre will be annoyed by the inconsistencies. The grossest inconsistency being (in my mind) was the supposed murder of Bertha before she fell off the roof. It was made clear in Jane Eyre and earlier in this book that Bertha was seen and heard screaming before she jumped. Finally, I was most disappointed in the cheesy overwrought soap opera ending. Mrs. F as a murdering maniac who is so intent an Ingram/Rochester marriage that she kills the first wife and dangles the current wife over a ledge? Unbelieveable. Even if I had never read Jane Eyre I still could have not enjoyed this book. The dark, garbled plot and all the twists and turns make this a difficult read.

Alas, I cannot say anything other regarding this 'hidden' companion to Jane Eyre, than that it is dreadful. Having read several others of Tennant's continuations, I ought to have known better. For once again the author has decided to refocus a well-known book to make it read as she thinks it ought to be seen.
The book is mainly told from Adele's point of view, changing as she ages in tone to reflect her new, less childish perspectives. Then there are also several changes to the narrative of other characters: Rochester, Mrs. Fairfax and Grace Poole (of all people!). These made an already wobbly narrative thread, a jolting one. It was Wuthering Heights and not Jane Eyre that was written in this fashion.
I also could not help but be confused by several background references made in the text to such things as railway fortunes, Parisian boulevardes and Puccini operas. Were these meant to show the narrative was actually coming from the distance of many years? For none of these things were appropriate to the period setting. Odd and irritating.
Then the storyline itself seemed to be trying to out trump Bronte in the melodrama stakes. The whole of the drawn out conclusion with Adele's flight to Paris was too much. Tennant truly did evoke some beautiful, almost lyrical images - but it ill fitted the overall tone of dark melodrama. The whole mystery of Adele's birth being given an extra notch of dark deeds, was far too unbelievable.
I felt slightly insulted and definitely thankful that I had read it courtesy of my local library.

Having found this book, I thought the premise of a Jane Eyre retelling from Adele's, Rochester's daughter, point of view sounded interesting. The author's name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place her at the time. I was sure I had read one of her books before. If only I had remembered at the time, I would have never picked up this book, much less read it. Anyway, Rochester and Adele alternate the POVs in this novel (we also get narratives from Mrs. Fairfax and others) and it's about Adele's period in France, her somewhat cold and distant relationship with her father-slash-ward and her life in Thornfield Hall. Adele wants her parents to be together and sees Jane Eyre as a threat and an interloper. So she goes out of her way to criticize Jane and make her seem like nothing in Rochester's eyes...

Does the plot sound absurd so far? Well, believe me, it gets much, much worse. If you feel at all tempted to pick up this horrible book, I will spare you from spoiler details, but I will nevertheless vent my frustration from having read it and for not remembering the author. (I must warn you that this is more like a rant than a review.) The whole thing with Mrs. Fairfax, such a kind and wonderful character, is beyond ridiculous. Talk about character assassination! Speaking of which, Rochester would never be that horrible to Jane or indeed anyone even if he is brooding and at times callous in Bronte's masterpiece. Adele's treating Jane like dirt is not worth mentioning, let alone get into detail. I will sum it up by saying that this Adele is depicted as a villain in a bad soap opera. The whole idea that Adele would dislike Jane so much is laughable. I could have appreciated Tennant's parallels in terms of feminism from Adele's viewpoint to that of Charlotte Bronte's if it hadn't been for the series of ridiculous plot twists that occur. The author takes so much artistic license it's unbelievable. It would be like taking a copy of Jane Eyre and ripping it to shreds, only that this author chose to do that in writing. I don't expect a sequel written by a different author to be as good as the original, but I do expect the work to at least reflect the original author's vision of the character and plotline, and not the new author's version of it. Take this wonderful example. Celine was pregnant by two men at the same time. Well, at least that's what it sounded like to me based on the author's explanation. Leaps of logic are found here, much like the other novel I had read by this author...

Emma Tennant is the author of the atrocious Pemberley, a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. As said earlier, if only I had remembered before picking up this book. The only good thing that came out of this is that I will most definitely remember Emma Tennant in the future. She is on my black list of authors never to read again.

The reviews (professional and amateur) tell you it's bad, but you have no idea how bad it actually is until you read it. Check it out from the library: enjoy the scene where Mrs. Fairfax dangles a pregnant Jane Eyre out a high window (one-handed, from the sound of it) while narrating her diabolical deeds and future plans for at least two pages. Be amazed at the stupid errors (though the more I read the more convinced I became that they're not errors but the author simply ignoring what Bronte wrote): fer instance, Adele was not six months old when Rochester left Celine, as Bronte says; she was seven years old (mathematically impossible for any number of reasons), and apparently in the room while the two of them had kinky sex. Twins cannot have different fathers, and I'm pretty sure even people in the 19th century knew this. (I don't care if you've heard the urban legend about the black and white twins, it ain't true.) The red herrings abound, all of them bad, some jaw-droppingly hilarious. I can't describe them all. Read it, read it, you'll see.

I received this book from a friend of mine who knew that Jane Eyre was one of my favorite books...and it is only out of love for her that I finished it....

The idea of story of Jane Eyre being told through Adèle's perspective, at first, absolutely delighted me. But I had assumed that Emma Tennant would have at least STUCK TO Charlotte Bronte's story!

You start to read it and begin to note the creative liberties and changes that the author made; they start small only startling you a little, making you wonder where the author's twists intend to take you. Then it just becomes ridiculously laughable. LAUGH OUT LOUD laughable!

It is a very 'creative' story and an easy read (if your stomach can take it). I only recommend this people who read Jane Eyre a loooooong loooong time ago, and only vaguely recollect events and names....it will put the reader in the same frame of mind that the author was in.

I picked this book up because I love Jane Eyre and had a renewed interest after seeing the excellent Masterpiece Theatre version last month. Emma Tennant has written a few sequels to Pride and Prejudice which were terrible, but I thought I'd give her yet another chance. This book was so bad, I didn't even finish it. Too many narrators, characters inconsistent with the source material, idiotic storylines, etc., etc.

Don't waste your money.

The first half of the novel is well done, and enchanting in places. However, plot twists often become confusing, and by the last chapter, we are led to the most implausible surprise-- that Mrs. Fairfax was somehow the evil queen in all this. Nothing in the entire novel prepared us for this, and thus, it felt completely contrived. Perhaps the author was trying to be gothic, but she failed utterly to convince this reader. I felt cheated of the true richness and emotional depth that is "Jane Eyre."

This poor excuse for a book is an insult to a classic. If Emma Tennant did actually read "Jane Eyre," she misinterpreted it horribly. She basically took an excellent, excellent book, ripped it up, spit in it, and put it back together in a way that would send Charlotte Bronte to her window in vindictive ghost form.

Mr. Rochester as a raging alcoholic? That made me want to rip my hair out. The man's not perfect, but he would never stoop as low as he did here. Yes, he's detached and exasperated with Adele in "Jane Eyre," but by no means would he be capable of such brutality.

Mrs. Fairfax as a villian? Where on earth did that come from? "Jane Eyre" portrayed her clearly as a kindly old woman; Emma Tennant just wanted to Hollywood it up. Nowadays, a character can't just_be_nice - they got to have something to hide. Again, Mrs. Fairfax - the REAL Mrs. Fairfax - would never have behaved in such a manner.

The most enraging of complete-180 character distortion is the portrayal of Jane Eyre herself. She's one of my most favorite literary characters ever - aside from Astrid from "White Oleander" - and to see her the way this amateur writer did made me throw the book against the wall.

"Adele" is no more "Jane Eyre" than "Eragon" is to "Lord of the Rings."

Emma, just rename Pilot the dog "Cujo" and call it a day.

If you read the book Jane Eyre you will soon understand the moral concept of what I am saying.
When I bought this book I was hoping for a sequal. Instead Emma Tennant turned around all of Brontes work in to something awful and stupid. The worst part is they made Mrs. Fairfax the bad guy in this book. In Jane Eyre she was a good old lady servingthe house. But the way emma Tennant wrote the book she changed nearly half of what everything is supposed to be about.
Also they rebuilt Thornfield. Confused? Look at the name. It was a place of terror that held to many memories that haunted people.