Wide Sargossa Sea by Jean Rhys

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had heard of this book before through it's connection with Jane Eyre. But I put off reading for awhile.

It was until I read a postcolonial criticism of that I really felt the urge to read it. I wanted to buy it but then I realized that the library had a copy.

So I checked it out and I think now after finishing it I will buy my own copy.

The prose reads easily. I feel like the word I would describe the writing as is smooth. I don't know if that makes sense but it just flowed along. The footnotes were really helpful as well.

I felt like I could get along with Antoinette. I felt like I could empathize with her and that is very important when I'm reading.

Strangely while I was reading Part Two I could I felt like I could empathize with Rochester as well and I still don't quite understand why but it was interesting reading from his POV. The only compliant I might have is that he didn't seem quite as...brash as he did in Jane Eyre. He seemed more subdued but I felt like the whole book felt like that.

Part Three was the shortest. I was waiting for the end and I felt like Rhys described it beautifully. This was a really beautiful book.



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I do rec this book but get the Norton Edition if you can. It has footnotes which gives the novel more context. I would have been lost when the narration shifted in Part Two without it. Definitely a good book.