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Shirley & The Professor
Shirley is the story of a complicated friendship between two very different women: shy and socially constrained Caroline, the poor niece of a tyrannical clergyman; and the independent heiress Shirley, who has both the resources and the spirit to defy convention. The romantic entanglements of the two women with a local mill owner and his penniless brother pit the claims of passion against the boundaries of class and society.
The Professor—the first novel Brontë completed, the last to be published—is both a disturbing love story and the coming-of-age tale of a self-made man. At its center is William Crimsworth, who has come to Brussels to work as an instructor in a school for girls. When he becomes entangled with Zoräide Reuter, a charismatic and brilliantly intellectual woman, the fervor of her feelings threatens both her own engagement and William's chance of finding true love.
The Professor—the first novel Brontë completed, the last to be published—is both a disturbing love story and the coming-of-age tale of a self-made man. At its center is William Crimsworth, who has come to Brussels to work as an instructor in a school for girls. When he becomes entangled with Zoräide Reuter, a charismatic and brilliantly intellectual woman, the fervor of her feelings threatens both her own engagement and William's chance of finding true love.
922 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1857
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About the author
Charlotte Brontë
2,165 books19k followersCharlotte Brontë was an English novelist, the eldest out of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. See also Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë.
Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly "Patrick Brunty"), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the family moved a few miles to Haworth, a remote town on the Yorkshire moors, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. This is where the Brontë children would spend most of their lives. Maria Branwell Brontë died from what was thought to be cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her spinster sister Elizabeth Branwell, who moved to Yorkshire to help the family.
In August 1824 Charlotte, along with her sisters Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth, was sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, a new school for the daughters of poor clergyman (which she would describe as Lowood School in Jane Eyre). The school was a horrific experience for the girls and conditions were appalling. They were regularly deprived of food, beaten by teachers and humiliated for the slightest error. The school was unheated and the pupils slept two to a bed for warmth. Seven pupils died in a typhus epidemic that swept the school and all four of the Brontë girls became very ill - Maria and Elizabeth dying of tuberculosis in 1825. Her experiences at the school deeply affected Brontë - her health never recovered and she immortalised the cruel and brutal treatment in her novel, Jane Eyre. Following the tragedy, their father withdrew his daughters from the school.
At home in Haworth Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children — Branwell, Emily, and Anne — continued their ad-hoc education. In 1826 her father returned home with a box of toy soldiers for Branwell. They would prove the catalyst for the sisters' extraordinary creative development as they immediately set to creating lives and characters for the soldiers, inventing a world for them which the siblings called 'Angria'. The siblings became addicted to writing, creating stories, poetry and plays. Brontë later said that the reason for this burst of creativity was that:
'We were wholly dependent on ourselves and each other, on books and study, for the enjoyments and occupations of life. The highest stimulus, as well as the liveliest pleasure we had known from childhood upwards, lay in attempts at literary composition.'
After her father began to suffer from a lung disorder, Charlotte was again sent to school to complete her education at Roe Head school in Mirfield from 1831 to 1832, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period (1833), she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. The school was extremely small with only ten pupils meaning the top floor was completely unused and believed to be supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young lady dressed in silk. This story fascinated Brontë and inspired the figure of Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre.
Brontë left the school after a few years, however she swiftly returned in 1835 to take up a position as a teacher, and used her wages to pay for Emily and Anne to be taught at the school. Teaching did not appeal to Brontë and in 1838 she left Roe Head to become a governess to the Sidgewick family -- partly from a sense of adventure and a desire to see the world, and partly from financial necessity.
Charlotte became pregnant soon after her wedding, but her health declined rapidly and, according to biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness." She died, with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855.
Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly "Patrick Brunty"), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the family moved a few miles to Haworth, a remote town on the Yorkshire moors, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. This is where the Brontë children would spend most of their lives. Maria Branwell Brontë died from what was thought to be cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her spinster sister Elizabeth Branwell, who moved to Yorkshire to help the family.
In August 1824 Charlotte, along with her sisters Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth, was sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, a new school for the daughters of poor clergyman (which she would describe as Lowood School in Jane Eyre). The school was a horrific experience for the girls and conditions were appalling. They were regularly deprived of food, beaten by teachers and humiliated for the slightest error. The school was unheated and the pupils slept two to a bed for warmth. Seven pupils died in a typhus epidemic that swept the school and all four of the Brontë girls became very ill - Maria and Elizabeth dying of tuberculosis in 1825. Her experiences at the school deeply affected Brontë - her health never recovered and she immortalised the cruel and brutal treatment in her novel, Jane Eyre. Following the tragedy, their father withdrew his daughters from the school.
At home in Haworth Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children — Branwell, Emily, and Anne — continued their ad-hoc education. In 1826 her father returned home with a box of toy soldiers for Branwell. They would prove the catalyst for the sisters' extraordinary creative development as they immediately set to creating lives and characters for the soldiers, inventing a world for them which the siblings called 'Angria'. The siblings became addicted to writing, creating stories, poetry and plays. Brontë later said that the reason for this burst of creativity was that:
'We were wholly dependent on ourselves and each other, on books and study, for the enjoyments and occupations of life. The highest stimulus, as well as the liveliest pleasure we had known from childhood upwards, lay in attempts at literary composition.'
After her father began to suffer from a lung disorder, Charlotte was again sent to school to complete her education at Roe Head school in Mirfield from 1831 to 1832, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period (1833), she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. The school was extremely small with only ten pupils meaning the top floor was completely unused and believed to be supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young lady dressed in silk. This story fascinated Brontë and inspired the figure of Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre.
Brontë left the school after a few years, however she swiftly returned in 1835 to take up a position as a teacher, and used her wages to pay for Emily and Anne to be taught at the school. Teaching did not appeal to Brontë and in 1838 she left Roe Head to become a governess to the Sidgewick family -- partly from a sense of adventure and a desire to see the world, and partly from financial necessity.
Charlotte became pregnant soon after her wedding, but her health declined rapidly and, according to biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness." She died, with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 23, 2021
A major theme of The Professor is that of finding one’s true vocation. Anyone who has ever had a false start can find wisdom in it. Young William Crimsworth, just out of Oxford, has cast off his objectionable relations who wanted him to enter the church. Having reverence for men of the cloth, William must now break with them because he knows he doesn’t have the aptitude for a spiritual post, and his relations are rather too insistent, having paid his college costs.
At first he works for his elder brother, Edward, who turns how to be this unbearable tyrant. Despite telling his now cast off relations that he would, like his father, enter the business world, he quickly realizes this field, too, is not for him. Happenstance then leads him to Brussels where he takes on, with no previous experience, the teaching English and Latin in a boy’s school. In this he succeeds but falls for the directoress of the neighboring girls school, the Rubinesque Mademoiselle Reuter.
This novel what the first Charlotte Brontë wrote; it was published posthumously. I am reading it because it is a kind of proto draft for sections of her last novel, the exceptional Villette. As a young woman Charlotte and her sister Emily went to Brussels ostensibly to brush up on their French. Opportunities for women were rare in those days, the mid-1800s, and there was thought of starting a school back in England where her father was a pastor. In Brussels Charlotte had what might be considered a crush on the school’s director, M. Hegel, which was not requited. From this experience poured both The Professor and her final novel, Villette.
At first he works for his elder brother, Edward, who turns how to be this unbearable tyrant. Despite telling his now cast off relations that he would, like his father, enter the business world, he quickly realizes this field, too, is not for him. Happenstance then leads him to Brussels where he takes on, with no previous experience, the teaching English and Latin in a boy’s school. In this he succeeds but falls for the directoress of the neighboring girls school, the Rubinesque Mademoiselle Reuter.
This novel what the first Charlotte Brontë wrote; it was published posthumously. I am reading it because it is a kind of proto draft for sections of her last novel, the exceptional Villette. As a young woman Charlotte and her sister Emily went to Brussels ostensibly to brush up on their French. Opportunities for women were rare in those days, the mid-1800s, and there was thought of starting a school back in England where her father was a pastor. In Brussels Charlotte had what might be considered a crush on the school’s director, M. Hegel, which was not requited. From this experience poured both The Professor and her final novel, Villette.
June 18, 2022
The Professor: page 655-922
Started on 24 May 2019, finished 23 June 2019
3 stars (barely)
While I enjoyed reading it, I didn't find William (the narrator) very engaging, and I disliked his habit of judging his students' characters and intelligence based on their ethnicity and physiognomy.
Shirley: page 1-653
Started on 11 July 2021, finished 15 September 2021
3 stars
While better than The Professor, it was very long-drawn-out. Some of it was interesting, but mostly it just dragged and dragged. The eponymous heroine isn't even introduced until 200 pages in, and there is a lot of unnecessary detail.
One thing that struck me as odd was a fast-forward to the funeral of a child who is a very minor character in the book. Charlotte probably wrote that while mourning her siblings who had died (or were dying) in rapid succession, but it felt very out of place.
In my opinion, the book could easily have lost 250 pages and be all the better for it. One of the last chapters is named "Wherein Matters Make Some Progress, but Not Much". I rest my case.
Edit 18 June 2022: adding my text updates under the spoiler tag in case they are disappeared (as happened to my The Professor updates):
Started on 24 May 2019, finished 23 June 2019
3 stars (barely)
While I enjoyed reading it, I didn't find William (the narrator) very engaging, and I disliked his habit of judging his students' characters and intelligence based on their ethnicity and physiognomy.
Shirley: page 1-653
Started on 11 July 2021, finished 15 September 2021
3 stars
While better than The Professor, it was very long-drawn-out. Some of it was interesting, but mostly it just dragged and dragged. The eponymous heroine isn't even introduced until 200 pages in, and there is a lot of unnecessary detail.
One thing that struck me as odd was a fast-forward to the funeral of a child who is a very minor character in the book. Charlotte probably wrote that while mourning her siblings who had died (or were dying) in rapid succession, but it felt very out of place.
In my opinion, the book could easily have lost 250 pages and be all the better for it. One of the last chapters is named "Wherein Matters Make Some Progress, but Not Much". I rest my case.
Edit 18 June 2022: adding my text updates under the spoiler tag in case they are disappeared (as happened to my The Professor updates):
October 14, 2018
This collection of Charlotte Brontë's two novels shows the growth as a writer brilliantly. I have read Shirley once before and it is still brilliant. The Professor, however, was a bit of a struggle. You can see how inexperienced Brontë is as a writer since it was her first novel. I didn't like the male narrator at all and it was a bit of a disappointment how women were described through the narrator's eyes. I am still glad that I finally picked up The Professor and can now say that I have read all of the novels written by Charlotte Brontë. Shirley was absolutely five stars for me. I loved both Caroline and Shirley as characters and wished the best for them. This edition, however, was a bit of a disappointment to me because it didn't have any translations of French used in the text and it especially annoyed me in The Professor where French was used quite a lot. In the end, even though I had struggles with The Professor, I enjoyed both of the books and am glad that I read them both in October.
December 28, 2017
4 stars for Shirley, 2 stars for The Professor. It was an interesting choice to pair Bronte's first book with her (I think?) next-to-last. You can really see her development as a writer and a person. And thank God for that development, because frankly, The Professor was pretty bad. She uses a male narrator, and let's hope she was either trying to be satirical or trying extra hard to hide the female authorship of the book, because he's one of the biggest male chauvinists ever to grace the pages of literature. Maybe she had her fun with that, but the result is almost unbearable, especially when he's also used to vent Charlotte's spleen against Belgians and Catholics. If she'd continued on in this vein, Jane Eyre and the rest of her work never would have achieved classic status. She should have been thankful that she had such a hard time finding a publisher for The Professor!
September 27, 2023
3.25/3.5 ish
June 26, 2008
Wow. . .Charlotte Bronte defended The Professor to her dying day, hoping someone would publish her very first novel. However, in looking at it now, it's just plain bad! It is literally Charlotte's fantasies of someday being romantically involved with Professor Hegar at Pensionnait Hegar (the boarding school she went to in France) being projected into the novel. It's just plain bad. I love Charlotte, but not this!
September 19, 2025
I'm going to avoid making a "Surely" joke because I know for a fact someone with more comedic acumen will have implemented it better than I ever could. I wasn't as enthusiastic for Shirley as I had hoped. While I like the way Charlotte creates these sets of characters at the beginning—the curates at Rev Helstone's, those involved with the troubles surrounding Robert Moore—and had very promising historical foundations and background events—Luddite uprisings, Napoleon— and even takes nearly 200 pages before the titular character is mentioned, once the book settles into the romantic machinations, I couldn't help but feel some kinship with the furious Luddites who wage war against Moore. Okay, maybe I wasn't that furious, but I was disappointed that her insights into class struggles and individual self-determination took a back seat to the more pedestrian route Brontë ended up taking.
“I know so well that human nature is human nature everywhere, whether under tile or thatch, and that in every specimen of human nature that breathes, vice and virtue are ever found blended, in smaller or greater proportions, and that the proportion is not determined by station. I have seen villains who were rich, and I have seen villains who were poor, and I have seen villains who were neither rich nor poor, but who had realized Agar's wish, and lived in fair and modest competency.”
“Eleemosynary relief never yet tranquillized the working-classes – it never made them grateful; it is not in human nature that it should. I suppose, were all things ordered aright, they ought not to be in a position to need that humiliating relief; and this they feel: we should feel it were we so placed.”
Shirley - **½
Then there's The Professor. Despite being an earlier work that was partially reworked and repurposed into Villette, I actually preferred this novel over Shirley. While it's much shorter, too short in fact, to its credit it didn't feel listlessly untethered to momentum like Shirley so often did. Here's a story that isn't grand by any means, but is told with efficiency and wit.
Although it lacked some of the fascinating underpinnings of the aforementioned, I never felt bored due to its well-crafted characters. William is interesting enough in his own right as a steadfast individual determined to achieve a life through his own strengths and efforts. Zoraïde Reuter was a nicely drawn misdirection, as I was quite sure she was to be the object of William's affection. Perhaps my favorite character is Hunsden. I found William's disdain for him to be droll, his insistence to continue helping William despite that to be endearing. Hunsden's a man who won't compromise or soften his views for an audience.
The Professor - ***
“I know so well that human nature is human nature everywhere, whether under tile or thatch, and that in every specimen of human nature that breathes, vice and virtue are ever found blended, in smaller or greater proportions, and that the proportion is not determined by station. I have seen villains who were rich, and I have seen villains who were poor, and I have seen villains who were neither rich nor poor, but who had realized Agar's wish, and lived in fair and modest competency.”
“Eleemosynary relief never yet tranquillized the working-classes – it never made them grateful; it is not in human nature that it should. I suppose, were all things ordered aright, they ought not to be in a position to need that humiliating relief; and this they feel: we should feel it were we so placed.”
Shirley - **½
Then there's The Professor. Despite being an earlier work that was partially reworked and repurposed into Villette, I actually preferred this novel over Shirley. While it's much shorter, too short in fact, to its credit it didn't feel listlessly untethered to momentum like Shirley so often did. Here's a story that isn't grand by any means, but is told with efficiency and wit.
Although it lacked some of the fascinating underpinnings of the aforementioned, I never felt bored due to its well-crafted characters. William is interesting enough in his own right as a steadfast individual determined to achieve a life through his own strengths and efforts. Zoraïde Reuter was a nicely drawn misdirection, as I was quite sure she was to be the object of William's affection. Perhaps my favorite character is Hunsden. I found William's disdain for him to be droll, his insistence to continue helping William despite that to be endearing. Hunsden's a man who won't compromise or soften his views for an audience.
The Professor - ***
February 1, 2021
Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books. How could the same person have written Shirley? I think she was trying to emulate Jane Austen, but should have stuck with her dramatic flair for storytelling.
May 1, 2022
Perfectly acceptable Victorian tale in which not a lot happens, but entertaining nonetheless.
August 10, 2019
I decided to read this one since it's about the Napoleonic Wars and I need to know more about it for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell that I plan on reading at some point (it's supposedly going to be a show!)
Obviously, this is much more political than a typical Jane Austen novel, if it has anything to do with Napoleon. (I'm resigned to not reading any more Austen novels because of the marriage & money plots.) I just adore the Bronte sister's novels though. The writing is so unique, eloquent, poetic... absolutely every sentence is lovely. I'm just hooked from the first page (maybe not as much as when little Jane is reading her book behind a curtain in 'Jane Eyre', but still hooked.) Shirley doesn't actually appear until about 1/3 of the book is through and remains a bit of a mystery but Caroline Helstone shares the spotlight as the main character. Maybe the book isn't named for her though, maybe as she remains love stricken for a man who only cares for his cloth business, which isn't doing so well now that trade has been cut-off with other countries because of the war. Though Shirley is a mystery, she often describes herself as strong as any man, being an esquire of her own estate and more headstrong in her ways than Caroline. (If this were Jane Austen's 'Sense & Sensibility', Caroline would be like Elinor, while Shirley would be a slightly more mature Marianne.) To be honest, the book does start out more politically than it finishes, the ending more concerned with marriages, but the book is so much more anyway.
If 'Shirley' is considered Charlotte's least important novel, then I will love ALL of her books. The plot of 'Shirley' might be more ambling, meandering, less focused than 'Jane Eyre' but the writing is so intelligent, gorgeous, and so insightful to psychology from a woman who was so very isolated. Not to say that the plot or the characters are not well done or interesting, but I think you couldn't improve upon the plot and characters of 'Jane Eyre' and you certainly can't get any better than the writing. The plot and characters are certainly secondary to the writing. Any other writer with these characters would make them cardboard cutouts. But maybe it's simply because 'Shirley' is focused on four main characters while 'Jane Eyre' is only focused on Jane and Rochester. Though this doesn't compare to the perfection that is 'Jane Eyre', 'Shirley' is one of the best books I've read this year. Though this is book isn't short, I was never tired with it... if only the Bronte sisters could have lived longer to write more!
Obviously, this is much more political than a typical Jane Austen novel, if it has anything to do with Napoleon. (I'm resigned to not reading any more Austen novels because of the marriage & money plots.) I just adore the Bronte sister's novels though. The writing is so unique, eloquent, poetic... absolutely every sentence is lovely. I'm just hooked from the first page (maybe not as much as when little Jane is reading her book behind a curtain in 'Jane Eyre', but still hooked.) Shirley doesn't actually appear until about 1/3 of the book is through and remains a bit of a mystery but Caroline Helstone shares the spotlight as the main character. Maybe the book isn't named for her though, maybe as she remains love stricken for a man who only cares for his cloth business, which isn't doing so well now that trade has been cut-off with other countries because of the war. Though Shirley is a mystery, she often describes herself as strong as any man, being an esquire of her own estate and more headstrong in her ways than Caroline. (If this were Jane Austen's 'Sense & Sensibility', Caroline would be like Elinor, while Shirley would be a slightly more mature Marianne.) To be honest, the book does start out more politically than it finishes, the ending more concerned with marriages, but the book is so much more anyway.
If 'Shirley' is considered Charlotte's least important novel, then I will love ALL of her books. The plot of 'Shirley' might be more ambling, meandering, less focused than 'Jane Eyre' but the writing is so intelligent, gorgeous, and so insightful to psychology from a woman who was so very isolated. Not to say that the plot or the characters are not well done or interesting, but I think you couldn't improve upon the plot and characters of 'Jane Eyre' and you certainly can't get any better than the writing. The plot and characters are certainly secondary to the writing. Any other writer with these characters would make them cardboard cutouts. But maybe it's simply because 'Shirley' is focused on four main characters while 'Jane Eyre' is only focused on Jane and Rochester. Though this doesn't compare to the perfection that is 'Jane Eyre', 'Shirley' is one of the best books I've read this year. Though this is book isn't short, I was never tired with it... if only the Bronte sisters could have lived longer to write more!
January 7, 2015
Neither of those books are my favourite from Charlotte Brontë, but I still enjoyed them. The three stars are for both of them.
Shirley is said to be about his sister Emily and I am willing to believe it. Though the story is fictional, Shirley is probably exactly as Charlotte knew her, and Caroline is probably a lot like Charlotte saw herself. The characters are endearing, although we don't develop as close a bond to any of them as in Jane Eyre or Villette.
However, the introduction is long, the main body is very long, but the conclusion feels like Charlotte was tired of writing that story so she just summarized the ending. Her endings usually leave you wanting more details - it was also the case of her masterpieces Jane Eyre and Villette - but Shirley's is the only one I think feels "sloppy".
And... Am I the only one who really wants to know what happened to Mr Malone?
~*~
The Professor might not be her most "mature" novel, but it is still good. In fact, it looks like a first version of Villette with a happy ending - when Charlotte still had her illusions.
It probably cannot compare to Jane Eyre or Villette in terms of quality, but hey, let's remember this was her very first novel; if MY first novel was this good I would be ecstatic.
Shirley is said to be about his sister Emily and I am willing to believe it. Though the story is fictional, Shirley is probably exactly as Charlotte knew her, and Caroline is probably a lot like Charlotte saw herself. The characters are endearing, although we don't develop as close a bond to any of them as in Jane Eyre or Villette.
However, the introduction is long, the main body is very long, but the conclusion feels like Charlotte was tired of writing that story so she just summarized the ending. Her endings usually leave you wanting more details - it was also the case of her masterpieces Jane Eyre and Villette - but Shirley's is the only one I think feels "sloppy".
And... Am I the only one who really wants to know what happened to Mr Malone?
~*~
The Professor might not be her most "mature" novel, but it is still good. In fact, it looks like a first version of Villette with a happy ending - when Charlotte still had her illusions.
It probably cannot compare to Jane Eyre or Villette in terms of quality, but hey, let's remember this was her very first novel; if MY first novel was this good I would be ecstatic.
June 29, 2011
I borrowed this volume from the library to read "Shirley", having been warned not to read "The Professor", so my review is for the first novel only.
The more of the Bronte sisters' work I read, the more of a crying shame it seems that they died so young, that they wasted their lives in an idleness that they disagreed with. Charlotte in particular was far too excellent an author for her time. In "Shirley" she is just beginning to get a high shine on her prose. She would've needed one more novel to work on dialogue and tighten plotlines - then she could have been counted among five or so of the greatest novelists ever. Would have, should have. She died shortly after finishing "Shirley".
I love Charlotte's character sketches. She must have been the keenest observer around. I believe that all her sketches are taken from life because they have great depth.
The more of the Bronte sisters' work I read, the more of a crying shame it seems that they died so young, that they wasted their lives in an idleness that they disagreed with. Charlotte in particular was far too excellent an author for her time. In "Shirley" she is just beginning to get a high shine on her prose. She would've needed one more novel to work on dialogue and tighten plotlines - then she could have been counted among five or so of the greatest novelists ever. Would have, should have. She died shortly after finishing "Shirley".
I love Charlotte's character sketches. She must have been the keenest observer around. I believe that all her sketches are taken from life because they have great depth.
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September 28, 2014ISBN: 978-0-307-26821-1(US) (hc) ©2008
3 volumes/chapters/pp
I can't properly review this book (Shirley) because I couldn't even get through the first chapter. Skimming ahead, I saw tons of French that had no translation, so I didn't even try to tackle the rest. I may try to at a later date, but, until I find a version with the French translated or until I learn the language, I won't even bother. This goes for all of C. Bronte's books; the last one I read was chock full of French! And it's too bad because I wanted to read this and generally find I enjoy her stories.
3 volumes/chapters/pp
I can't properly review this book (Shirley) because I couldn't even get through the first chapter. Skimming ahead, I saw tons of French that had no translation, so I didn't even try to tackle the rest. I may try to at a later date, but, until I find a version with the French translated or until I learn the language, I won't even bother. This goes for all of C. Bronte's books; the last one I read was chock full of French! And it's too bad because I wanted to read this and generally find I enjoy her stories.
February 6, 2016
Two stories. Both liked.
'Shirley' was longer than it needed to be. I think it would make a lovely movie in the line of 'Pride and Prejudice'. There's some good banter. I find it funny that one of the last chapters is titled "Wherein Matters Make Some Progress, but Not Much". Ha. A lot of the chapters could have been so titled, but ironically this actual chapter did make progress. :)
I think I like the 'Shirley' story line better, but probably enjoyed 'The Professor' more because it was much more concise.
'Shirley' was longer than it needed to be. I think it would make a lovely movie in the line of 'Pride and Prejudice'. There's some good banter. I find it funny that one of the last chapters is titled "Wherein Matters Make Some Progress, but Not Much". Ha. A lot of the chapters could have been so titled, but ironically this actual chapter did make progress. :)
I think I like the 'Shirley' story line better, but probably enjoyed 'The Professor' more because it was much more concise.
August 22, 2010
My four-star rating applies mainly to Shirley; The Professor would only merit three stars, in my opinion. Shirley, however, was wonderful; I only wish that Charlotte Brontë had been brave enough to make it a lesbian love story! I loved both of the female protagonists, and I think that Shirley and Caroline would have made a lovely couple.
March 18, 2012
The professor is ovbiusly the description of Charlotte's impossible love for ine of her teachers. The way she describes him and his virtues and his character... She sees him as a perfect man.. Even sometimes it seems he sees himself as a perfect man in comparison to her or to other characters... It wasn't at all bad but it wasn't my favourite book either...
I have to read Shirley.
I have to read Shirley.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews