Jane Eyre-A captivating great storytelling book

            Jane Eyre is an excellent book filled with passion, romance, and mystery. Because of these three characteristics, and its reputation as a classic, this book caught my attention immediately from the summer reading list. The story about a young girl’s relationship with her employer, which was very unusual at the time, intrigued me and led me ultimately open and read the first couple pages of the book. Although the book was very good, well-written, and included very interesting characters, there were some weaknesses to the storytelling as well.

            There were many great aspects of Bronte’s storytelling that helped made the story more enjoyable.  First, Bronte wonderfully describes the characters and the settings of the book in such detail that you can almost hear the main character’s voice echo in you ears and paint a picture the beautiful place for which she had set. For example when Bronte depicts the Thornfield mansion, one can picture the scenic path that led up to the house or the quaint haunted feeling Jane got when she passed by a room. The book included many uncommon difficult words scattered throughout the pages of the story. But, it helped give the story a sense of class and elegance, while increasing the reader’s vocabulary level. Bronte’s overall storyline was brilliant and suspenseful—It would be hard for someone to not be tempted to thumb to the next chapter to see if the relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester had heightened. Bronte also did an excellent job of constantly involving the reader with the plot and bringing out their opinions and emotions to the story. It made the reader feel like he or she was actually standing side-by-side with Jane and feeling the same frustrated or cheerful reactions to her decisions made throughout the book. For example, the reader probably experienced frustration when Jane ran away from the Thornfield mansion and decides to start a new life or happiness when Jane finally consents to marrying blind, helpless Mr. Rochester. Another strength of this story is that Bronte made her characters very relatable. She made teenage Jane Eyre have similar emotions and instabilities to that of a teenager today. Jane Eyre, though on the outside very poised and emotionless, is actually very vulnerable and melodramatic on the inside, which is what most teenagers act like. Teenagers usually act wildly and passionately rather than rationally similarly with Jane Eyre after she finally confesses to being in love with Mr. Rochester. Her change in personality can also be seen in her actions when before meeting Mr. Rochester, Jane took very calculated and planned actions compared to the end of the book when she decides to leave on the spur of the moment. The love affection between a nineteen year old and a grown man is very unusual and the way that Bronte sets the characters in a Victorian era adds to the oddity.

            However, there are a few weaknesses of the book that tarnish its overall great storytelling abilities. The main factor that might deter any reader from finding it to be a good piece storytelling literature is the length. The book sometimes tends to be a standstill, where there is not much moving forward with the plot but more of descriptions of emotions. Secondly, the longer the book is, the harder it is for the author to keep the readers engaged for so long. Also, some of Bronte’s storytelling is hard to understand because it is not succinct and to the point. She likes to drag out the details for too long that sometimes the plot of the story is lost. The plot is what keeps the story moving forward and if there are too many details the reader sometimes loses interest. In addition, Bronte did not have an amazing attention grabber. It took a few pages before the reader could feel that truly connected and interested in the story.

            Overall, Jane Eyre was strong in storytelling and the strengths outweighed the weaknesses. It did have a few rough spots telling the story but it peculiar storyline and description engaged the reader throughout and made it a fantastic story.  

Most Memorable Books

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.k. Rowling. This was the only 759 page book that did not take me years to finish. It actually took me 2 days to read because of the continual mystery and excitement. The book just made me feel apart of the wizarding world. This was my favorite out of the series but enjoyed many others.
2. Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan. I had the strongest connection with the characters in the book, coming from an asian heritage and growing up with similar stories, and felt as though I was apart of their story.
3. To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee. I read this book in eighth grade and was blown away by the cleverness of the author. This is probably the only book that I have read over and over again.
4. Catcher and the Rye, J.D. Salinger. I enjoyed the main character's constant pessimism about life and found it to be truly entertaining.
5. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer. Again, this is my favorite out of the series but loved the others as well. Just not as much as this one. This book was a great escape from reality with the mysterious and dangerous werewolves and vampires.
6. Homeless bird, Gloria Whelan. I read this book in sixth grade but fell in love with the story from the start. It made me very sad and I even cried during some of the chapters. Reading about how people deal with the hardships of extreme poverty is absolutely heartbreaking.
7. Snakehead, Anthony Horowitz. This thrilling action-packed spy book captured my complete attention the whole time. Many times I peeked ahead to the next chapter because I could not resist the temptation of finding out what happens next. This book is again just one of its series, but its better than the others.
8. Curious Incident of the dog in the nighttime, Mark Haddon. The way the author wrote the book to fit the exact speech of an autistic 15-year old boy made the book very funny, enjoyable, and relatable.
9. Pretty Little Liars, Sara Shepard. This is a mystery murder novel with high school girls being blackmailed through modern technology--texting, email, and ichat. I loved how I could relate to the settings, time period, and the typical high school girl drama with this book.
10. The Chosen, Chaim Potok. This is just one of those books that you never forget. Its great storyline and ending left me saying "WOW, that was really good!"

Excellent Storytelling by Mark Haddon

     "He as asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were stacking up in my head like loaves in the factory where Uncle Terry works. The factory is a bakery and he operates the slicing machines. And sometimes a slicer is not working fast enough but the bread keeps coming and there is a blockage. I sometimes think of my mind as a machine, but not always as a bread-slicing machine. It makes it easier to explain to other people what is going on inside it.
     The policeman said, "I am going to ask you once again..." I rolled back onto the lawn and pressed my forehead to the ground again and made the noise that Father calls groaning. I make this noise where there is too much information coming into my head from the outside world. It is like when you are upset and you hold the radio against your ear and you tune it halfway between two stations so that all you get is white noise and then you turn the volume right up so that this is all you can hear and then you know you are safe because you cannot hear anything else. The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn't like him touching me like this. And this is when I hit him."
     These paragraphs came from the book The Curious Incident of the dog in the nighttime by Mark Haddon. I really enjoyed reading this book because of its great storytelling features. This book is excellent in storytelling because everything the author says is concise and to the point. The longer the story is, the harder it is for the reader to keep their attention. Haddon focuses on the plot, which is the most important part in good storytelling. The plot is what keeps the story moving forward and if there are too many details the reader sometimes loses interest. However, some details are necessary to storytelling, but not an unnecessary flowery amount. Haddon adds the perfect number of descriptive details to help the reader visualize the situation better, keeping it simple and easy to picture. I also like how his explanations are very modern in the way he uses objects or visuals that are common today to illustrate his feeling or surroundings. These modern descriptions help the reader to be more involved and it is easier for them to relate to. Also, the narrator's speech is not in a proper and scholarly tone, but rather in a personal and simple tone. This type of speech makes it easier for audiences to connect with the story on a  more apprehensive level. I mainly chose these paragraphs because of its brevity of description and its relatable details and voice.