I am not a fan of William Blake (or Wordsworth). I thought I was getting a book on riots and social change and suddenly William Blake (or is it William Wordsworth?) showed up. And then there are the many, many didactic passages (entire chapters, even) by the omniscient narrator, on everything from gender to nature to politics to religion (established, pagan, you name it). There are the relationships between young women, young and old women, and women and men. There is the nominal plot, about the mill and the changing economic conditions of the region. Or not bloat, maybe, but there are at least three books in this book. I really did need all those hours driving alone to stick to Shirley, because my goodness there is a lot of bloat in this thing. I approached it as a lover of 19thC literature but not a lover of Brontë. Liz McC and Miss Bates have both written about their experiences reading Shirley, and both are far more competent than I to talk about it as a novel. After several previous starts and stops (from last year!) I finally managed to crack the back of this novel. At 26 hours, I think this is officially the longest audiobook I’ve completed. There is nothing like a 2100-mile road trip to give you the opportunity to listen to a really long book. Sunita B Reviews classic fiction / Historical fiction / Regency England / Victorian literature 8 Comments
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