But as I got to know Lucy better, I found a lot of things to admire about her – her independence, for example, and her bravery in leaving England and travelling to another country with no idea of where she would go once she got there. She’s an intensely private person and doesn’t open up to the reader very often. And throughout the early chapters, although Lucy is our narrator, we learn more about the people around her than we do about Lucy herself. Lucy is also quite secretive and often withholds important information from the reader. It is not a declaration I have often made concerning my acquaintance, in the course of this book: the reader will bear with it for once.” It’s quite sad that she doesn’t make this observation until two thirds of the way through the book: Despite her cold exterior, underneath she was a person who desperately needed love and friendship. She was so lonely and isolated and my heart broke for her at times. My perceptions of Lucy changed as I learned more about her and saw how badly other people treated her.
I didn’t like her at all at the beginning of the novel, but eventually I did begin to feel a lot more sympathetic towards her and this coincided with the point where I started to enjoy the story more. I think part of my problem with the first half of the book was that it took me a long time to warm to Lucy Snowe.
She travels to Europe on her own and starts a new life teaching English to the girls at Madame Beck’s school in the city of Villette. Villette is the story of Lucy Snowe who, after an unspecified family tragedy, finds herself completely alone in the world. I ended up enjoying it, but sadly it was too late for this book to become another favourite. There was a point where I didn’t think I was going to be able to keep reading, but eventually things improved and I finally became immersed in the story. I wonder whether reading it along with other people would have helped, as there were times when I really started to lose the motivation to continue with the book. I actually read this book at the end of January and discovered too late that there was a readalong taking place in February/March. Unfortunately, for a long time Villette just wasn’t working for me and I’m not really sure why not. Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favourite books and although it has taken me a long time to get round to reading another Charlotte Bronte novel, I had high hopes for this one.
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