Edward Rochester is Now the Protagonist

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: Purchased

TYPE OF NOVEL: Jane Eyre Prequel, Alternate POV

THE PREMISE:

It is Mr. Rochesters’s turn to have his say. Sarah Shoemaker flips the script and now readers share an intimate and revealing journey with Edward Fairfax Rochester from his childhood days at Thornfield, his time in Jamaica, and his adulthood. His happiness, his hopes, his hardship, and his heartaches are all canvassed in this thorough and detailed account.

WHAT I LOVED:

• Brontësque!: Ever since it was assigned reading for my AP Lit class, I have adored Jane Eyre as much as I do Pride and Prejudice. And while I live a majority of my reading life in the light, bright, and sparkling worlds Jane Austen created, I also love visiting the gothic, suspenseful, and impassioned worlds the Brontë sisters inhabited. I was very eager to spend some more time with one of the most beloved Byronic heroes in literature.

• Edward’s Bildungsroman: There was so much to unearth with Edward. Like Jane, he experiences a loveless childhood, is sent away for schooling, and tragically loses people dear to him at a young age. My heart ached for poor Edward – how pure and innocent he was as a child, how he always did anything asked of him without complaint, and how he eventually learned to never expect approval or affection from his father and brother.

• Dutiful and Industrious: Edward’s time working in both a textile mill and running a shipping business out of Spanish Town, Jamaica were new and intriguing. Especially with the complicated and conflicting circumstances surrounding these locales – with tensions rising about poverty, the Luddite movement, and slavery all becoming close to reaching a peak. I loved seeing Edward become his own man, form his own principles, and begin to act independently. His steadfast duty to his responsibilities and his moral consciousness are two big points of admiration for his character.

• Edward’s Love Affairs: One of the most interesting avenues to explore with Edward Rochester’s past are his romantic relationships – especially the development of his relationship with Bertha Mason. Readers witness Edward’s journey from inexperience and intrigue, to happy and hopeful, to conflicted and confined. I really appreciated his evolution and internal reflection being portrayed this way. In addition, I enjoyed how Sarah Shoemaker fleshed out and created some new developments between the Rochester and Mason families all together.

WHAT COULD’VE BEEN BETTER:

• Balance: Our girl Jane doesn’t make an appearance until page 313 (out of 450). And overall the events that take place in this last third of the book move at a much swifter pace. It felt a little off-balance in some respects – Edwards’s childhood and experiences as a young adult were recounted with leisure and day-to-day detail, but his time in Europe and Thornfield were recounted with jumps in time and sometimes summarization.

• The Correlation: The brooding Byronic Edward and the love-starved child, the jaded and mercurial man and the dutiful and responsible business owner – the many versions of Edward Rochester didn’t always feel connected to each other. I think all he experienced is plausible and instrumental in shaping his character, but I don’t know if the author provided enough connecting links from her younger versions of Edward to the mercurial, moody man we meet in Jane Eyre. And while the argument could be made that Jane Eyre brought out this other side to his character or that he finally found someone who he can share this part of himself, it still felt a little bit of an abrupt change-up.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

🎩  A compelling and compassionate recounting about a man’s search for happiness and home being extremely hard-won.

🪞 A mirroring tale, a new protagonist, familiar events, and a similar journey to discover one’s own identity and ability.

🥰  Dear reader, I love inhabiting this world and viewing the lives of these characters – I am strangely glad to get back again.

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