Reviews for The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall

The average rating for The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-06-21 00:00:00 Julian Egelstaff Carol said I must list my all time favorite books. What a challenge this is! I have read everything those Bronte girls wrote, even their childhood poetry and I love all of it. But Anne will take the showing on my list for her bravery. Of course Charlotte was the most prolific and Emily the true brainiac, but Anne has my complete respect for being a true literary pioneer: she was the first woman to write of a wife leaving her abusive husband - and then goes on to lead a happy, successful life! Up to this point, any woman who left her husband met some type of horrific demise. At one point in the novel she slams the door on her husband and feminists claim it was the door slam heard around the world. Critics were and still are harsh toward Anne because of the structure of the novel: she hides, somewhat, behind the devices of letters and diaries -they claim, and I agree, that her tale would have been more powerful had she faced her reader without these. BUT, let's give Anne a big break, she did a truly brave and unprecedented move here, so if she hid a bit behind a lengthy dairy entry, I will forgive her and relish in the power this tale gives women. We owe Anne quite a bit, so read this great story with a forgiving heart and when you finish, thank her because she is one of our noble literary grandmothers.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-01-24 00:00:00 Tom Williamson I've read this once before (I was thirteen and we went to the beach for the day; I read it in a single sitting and didn't end up swimming at all because I loved it so much!). The plot is fast-paced and was just as enjoyable this time around. The book is written part-epistolary and part-diary. Like Frankenstein, the form is a writing inside of writing inside of writing. This raises so many questions about validity & reliability of the story, especially with regards to the meticulous dialogue... It's also funny that, though written as a letter, it doesn't seem to follow the contemporary letter writing etiquette rules! I loved the character of Helen / Mrs Graham / Mrs Huntington -- she is one of the best proto-feminist characters in Victorian literature in my opinion (maybe even better than Jane Eyre!!). It's so refreshing to have a widow at the centre of the story, and one shrouded in scandal too. It makes a change from the typical respectable woman. Would very much recommend.