Melissa: I recently re-read JE, so I'm more than happy to grab that cyber-latte' and chat with you about it! amy ==

Can you believe I'm still reading the intro? It's pretty involved, and helpful if you already know the story. But if you were new to JE, it would sort of spoil the plot for you. I'm looking forward to getting to Charlotte's words -- that gal knew how to turn a phrase! Do any manuscripts show evidence of much reworking, or did she just write that well in her rough drafts? chat ya later! Melissa

I saw the original mss. on display at the Parsonage in Haworth. Granted, it was her final copy, but I saw very little evidence of revisions. Charlotte herslf said she had written the whole Thornfield portion in a white heat, so maybe this was all first draft stuff! Which is pretty amazing, considering the quality. But I was really struck by the lack of cross-outs in the manuscript itself. . .

Hi Amy! Sorry it's taken so long to get back. Easter prep consumes a lot of time with kids! Anyway, we had our book club discussion of JE on Thursday night, and it was pretty lively. Everyone definitely liked the story better after she leaves Lowood. The topic of romance actually ended up with all of us swapping tales about how we met our own spouses and how they proposed! I mentioned some of the unusual words Charlotte used, like "irids" for eyes, and that actually turned out to be appealing to some other reader . The edition I read had lots of footnotes, and one of them remarked that conditions at Lowood couldn't have been too bad since Jane didn't eat the burned porridge, but did eat the discarded porridge intended for the swine when she was rambling cross country. I found that to be a ridiculous comparison, since in one situation she and the other girls knew there would be another "meal" later that day, and in the other, Jane had no idea where her next meal would come from! I realized for the first time that Jane herself was indirectly responsible for the interruption of the marriage ceremony. Her letter to her uncle is what alerted the Mason family to the impending nuptials. She effectively saved herself from ruin. One gal noticed that her cousins on either side of her family were sort of distorted mirror images. St. John is holy vs. John Reed being dissolute, and the two pairs of sisters were definitely opposite in their treatment of Jane. I've got the Timothy Dalton version of JE to watch now -- some think he's too handsome for the role, but if you consider that we're seeing him as Jane sees him, I don't see it as a problem. And I like the way he delivers the lines. Whenever there's some sort of segue that Charlotte didn't write herself, it really sticks out. The screenplay really could have been tweaked a little more to make the transitions less obtrusive to the informed viewer. Easy to be a critic, hard to actually fill the shoes, I'm su e. Anyway, it's fun to run through the story top to bottom every so often. Who knows what I'll find next time?! Melissa

This is not a response.I have no idea what to do.Are people still loking at this?The last post was last year from what I can see.I love Jane Eyre and if you are reading,help me!

I've not read Jane Eyre since about 1996, but I still love it. So, go ahead, Smantha - tell us what you like most about the book.