Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Finished on the second try. I starting trying to read this in high school, and did not get past the first hundred pages. This time, I really got into it, so I was able to finish it. It took me about a month and a half, primarily because I was really busy last month and just did not have the time.

I really enjoyed this amazing love story. Jane starts her life with no parents, left to live with an Aunt who hated her and cousins who routinely and continuously beat her up and harass her. She lives there for the first, and awful, ten years of her life, then gets shipped off to an atrocious boarding school called Lowood, by her Aunt Reed. This school is very cold and hard, she gets very little, and very poorly prepared, food while there. There is also Mr. Brocklehurst, the benefactor; he enjoys berating the girls for their "sins" all the while enjoying the finer things in life for himself and his family.
She endures the school, and manages to do well enough to become a student teacher after being there for 6 years. She teaches during her last two years at the school, then decides to leave for good when the headmistress leaves the school. She finds employment for herself as a governess at the Thornfield home, taking care of the master's ward. She starts to love living at Thornfield, being free and somewhat independent. The master of the house, Edward Rochester, is an odd man, not terribly handsome, but kind to her in his own way. They begin to develop feelings for one another, despite their age gap and differing social statuses.
I think I'll stop with the synopsis there, cause that's the point when all the juicy and intriguing stuff starts happening. I came to love this story very much, despite having trouble the first time I read it. Bronte has a way with description that makes reading a pleasure; sure you have to find the rhythm, but once you do, its a breeze. Vizualising everything is so easy when the author takes the time to really show you what they mean. And I love the love story between Jane and Rochester. Its not easy, it doesn't happen too fast, and you can really see that they truly are in love, not lust, like so many modern stories about love. They have real, deep feelings for one another that allows them to be apart for so long, then be able to come back together and not really have to work to rekindle the emotion. I definitely recommend this to everyone, ever. Go read a classic love story, then tell me what you think of all the modern ones.