With her final novel, Villette, Charlotte Brontë reached the height of her artistic power. First published in 1853, Villette is Brontë's most accomplished and deeply felt work, eclipsing even Jane Eyre in critical acclaim. Her narrator, the autobiographical Lucy Snowe, flees England and a tragic past to become an instructor in a French boarding school in the town of Villette. There she unexpectedly confronts her feelings of love and longing as she witnesses the fitful romance between Dr. John, a handsome young Englishman, and Ginerva Fanshawe, a beautiful coquette. The first pain brings others, and with them comes the heartache Lucy has tried so long to escape. Yet in spite of adversity and disappointment, Lucy Snowe survives to recount the unstinting vision of a turbulent life's journey - a journey that is one of the most insightful fictional studies of a woman's consciousness in English literature.
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Vilette's language was just as profound and extraordinarily self-reflective as Jane Eyre. Unfortunately, I was not convinced by the substance of the observations and the absurdly dismissive attitude towards the reader. Many descriptions were too lengthy for me, although I really have nothing against elaborate everyday reflections. Lucy's melancholy was difficult for me to bear and I couldn't empathise with her. The change in Emanuel's personality seemed absurd and unrealistic to me, which is a shame because I thought he was very likable at the end. I only really liked Polly and Graham, small and grown-up. A lot of things didn't seem to have been thought out together in one concept. I had to push myself very hard to finish this book and therefore had to fly over a few passages rather than actually reading them.
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