Villette (Abridged) Audiobook

" 2.5* I read a few reviews prior to reading this, gushing over how awesome it is. Whilst the writing is beautiful and Bronte was clearly a forward thinker and I appreciated some of the themes she entered into, it was so slow, long, lonely, depressing and bitter, like Lucy, that I just couldn't connect with it. The ending superbly fitted the book and I was glad it was over at the end. "

" I'm not sure if its due to reading it while in bed at night but I couldn't stay awake long enough to invest in the plot and the characters. I know I will revisit it one bright morning but for now it sits unfinished. "

" All I can say is that I really hope Charlotte Bronte knew how awful the men were in this book! "

" I would give this 3.5 stars. I liked it, especially the second half of the book. The first half was a little slow for me, but overall, I did really enjoy the book. It's definitely not a happily ever after book, but the complicated storyline and the few twists in there, and of course, the love story, made for good clean reading. "

" I liked this book but not as well as Bronte's other ones. It was a great story but a little hard to wade through. "

" It was beautiful, humorous, tragic, and dark. It nearly made me cry, and yet, it was perfect. "

" Per my rating I really liked this book. I may some day have to read it again. There is so much going on in it and it is a longer, slower read. Reading it again, may bump it up to a "Loved It" rating. "

" Interesting to study, but unfortunately harder to read. Found Lucy a frustrating character, very repressed. "

" Very deep, a little disorienting at first, takes some getting used to. But over all I enjoyed it and found the character wonderfully distinct and vibrant. "

" I've read it before, but now there's a copy on my Kindle. "

" A deeply depressing book to read - describing sorrow in a way it cuts through your heart - and still contains so much happiness and love. A book full of personality, with charachters more real than in any other book I have read. "

" Wonderfully pretty in the home stretch, but the emotional resonance of the first 450 pages is all but doused by Bronte's compulsion to write, write, write, write, write. The four-star review is a testament to the power of the ending. "

" I read this in high school and now having read some of the reviews, I feel I need to read it again. I recall it being for the sad and lonely. "

" I liked it very much and was delighted with her unexpected but welcomed happy ending. Lovely. "

" Though this book is classic 19th century writing, it suffers from sub-plots which take more time than do the issues with which Lucy (the protagonist) deals directly. Additionally, there is a great deal of untranslated French, so if the reader is not proficient quite a lot of dialogue is lost. "

" I could relate a lot to the main character. Much of her life was just getting through without looking to much to hope, because that only leads to disappointment. But then when wonderful things happen it is a joyous occasion not looked for. "

" Not my favourite Bronte book. While I can understand its literary merit, I struggled through its 500 odd pages. "

" It would feel like betrayal to a wonderful woman if I didn't give this book a 5. The moments of brilliance added up to hours of pleasure and thought. For the lonely heart, Charlotte created a scapegoat in her character Lucy Snowe. "

" kind of exactly like jane eyre... "

" Very mannered as you would expect and funny in a depressing sort of way. The ending is totally unsatisfactory leaving you not knowing if they got together or not. "