Published 1849
Source: downloaded from Librivox
Summary:
Set in the industrializing England of the Napoleonic wars and Luddite revolts of 1811-12, Shirley (1849) is the story of two contrasting heroines. One is the shy Caroline Helstone, who is trapped in the oppressive atmosphere of a Yorkshire rectory and whose bare life symbolizes the plight of single women in the nineteenth century. The other is the vivacious Shirley Keeldar, who inherits a local estate and whose wealth liberates her from convention.
My Thoughts:
First things first - if you ever consider reading this book, read it. Do not listen to it. It is incredibly slow going and Bronte is as much about making social commentary as she is about telling a story. This was also my first real disappointment with Librivox; in a book this long, there were a LOT of narrators and some of them were really not good making it even more difficult to stay focused on this book.
Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favorite books and I so wanted to love this one, too. But Shirley is an entirely different kind of book. Bronte doesn't even introduce readers to the eponymous Shirley until Chapter 11; much of the first ten chapters focused on setting up the political and religious atmosphere of the area and introducing characters that were primarily involved in the book for that purpose only. To be honest, to the end I felt like the book should have been titled "Caroline" rather than Shirley.
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| Charlotte Bronte |
If there weren't at least a thousand books I want to read, I might try reading Shirley in print. But there are, so I never will. I'd much rather find the time to reread Jane Eyre and fall in love with Charlotte Bronte again.
I had good and bad experiences with Librivox, as you mentioned some narrators are really difficult to understand and some sound like pros.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ManOfLaBook.com
I'll take your advice and read this - if I ever get to it. It probably would have made a big difference for you. Next up on my list of Bronte reading is Villette, followed by Agnes Grey.
ReplyDeleteI read Shirley right after I read Jane Eyre back in high school. I was confused and wasn't a fan but maybe if I reread it now being more aware of the world I might find it a bit more interesting. Glad you stuck with it, though! Good job ;)
ReplyDeleteA lot of the classics on audio are just too slow for my tastes.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I am STILL reading Jane Eyre in print. I read a little every night before bed and it's been over a year and I am still not done. LOL.
I do want to read Shirley, mostly because the premise interests me and I'm really interested in the industrialization of the north of England. That said, I am so disappointed to hear that it drags.
ReplyDelete>The treatment of "the help" really stood out for me in this one. More than once it was suggested that the serving girl walk a gentlewoman home because it's not safe for the gentlewoman to be on her own. Apparently, though, it was perfectly acceptable for a young working girl to do so.
That is an interesting thought!
I don't like the multiple reader approach on LibriVox because I like consistency. I was recently disappointed when I tried listening to a reading of The Merry Wives of Windsor--the reading was so wooden and harder to follow than to just read the text. I have found wonderful recordings on LibriVox, however--somewhat hit or miss, I think.