Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling and Realistic, Mar 9 2009
I really enjoyed The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Like Agnes Grey, this book I found to be surprisingly realistic considering the time in which it was written. Anne Bronte seemed to be more willing to examine the ugly elements of Victorian society than were her sisters. Adultery, alcoholism, gambling, drug use, and other evils were written about by Anne without blinking. I am sure this was shocking to many readers of that day.
Some reviewers have commented that Helen is an unrealistic character because she is too pure and too good. I would disagree with this. Anne Bronte herself was extremely religious and strict with her ideas of proper behaviour, and I don't think Helen is much different than Anne herself in this respect. In every generation and in every culture there are those people who take their religion very seriously and who always force themselves to do what they feel is right--although these people may be the exception rather than the rule, they do exist.
Helen's story was very compelling for me to read. It was painful for me to see her young, naive self giving her love so freely to a man so unworthy of it. I acutely felt her suffering as she slowly came to a realization of her husband's true character.
I read the Penguin Classics edition of this book, and I would highly recommend this edition. The notes at the end of the book are extensive and excellent for getting a greater understanding of this work in particular and of the Bronte sisters in general.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Another lovely tale from Bronte, April 28 2007
This is a very different novel from the other of Anne Bronte's that I've read, Agnes Grey. The story is told mostly from the first person viewpoint of Gilbert Markham as he and his fellow villagers meet the mysterious new tenant of Wildfell Hall, the widowed Mrs. Graham, who has a bit of a mystery about her and her young son.
As feelings grow between the two main characters, the story is shifted to the viewpoint of Mrs. Graham as retold through a diary she wrote, and about her life married to an abusive, unfaithful alcoholic, and her efforts finally to extricate herself from the marriage.
An interesting tale, and I give the author marks for tackling what in her time would have been a most controversial topic (women just did not leave their husbands, no matter what the reason). Some of the melodrama is more than a tad bit over the top, Helen was just too pure and good natured, and having a woman writer write in the first person viewpoint of a man was a bit of a stretch for me. Gilbert was at times too emotional in a womanly sort of way -- I mean throwing himself down on the wet ground and having a good cry over a broken heart was way over the top for me. He was also a bit too brutish and rough at times for my taste, and not always very likeable, but that is the author's choice as to how she wrote her characters.
Other than those quibbles it was a very entertaining read and some very thought provoking topics to take with you when finished with the book.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Far better than I expected, Oct 25 2002
Now this was a surprising gem of a novel! Back in high school we read a couple staples by Anne Bronte's more famous sisters Charlotte and Emily. But you never hear much about Anne so you may expect "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" to be decidedly inferior to her sisters' work. You would be, umm, wrong. :-)This novel never approached the popularity of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, but believe me that wasn't on account of quality. Rather, Tenant explores themes that went quite against the grain of accepted English cultural norms of the time (early 1800s). Helen Graham (her assumed name in the beginning of the story) not only dares to think herself wiser than her fool of a husband Arthur, she acts upon it and takes drastic steps to protect her child from his influence. The heroine's actions were considered radical at the time and that's probably why the novel didn't do as well as those of her sisters, whose novels were relatively a sight more conventional. The story is told through two devices: (1) a flashback from the viewpoint of the hero Gilbert Markham and (2) a large section of Helen's very detailed diary embedded within Markham's story. The arrangement works well and allows Markham to withhold certain crucial details until later, making the novel quite a page turner. Despite Bronte's many grammatical errors (the editor of the Penguin edition readily points them out in excellent endnotes), her writing is superb. Characterization is phenomenal; you have met some of these people before and you may even find that Bronte describes many elements of your own personality in her creations! During Markham's flashback you'll be just as horrified as he was at discovering "evidence" of Helen's duplicity. During the diary portion you'll empathize with Helen for her poor choice of a spouse. You'll see Helen's opinion of Arthur spiral downhill as she gets to know him better during married life, showing how falling in love made her blind to the glaring faults in his character early in their relationship. The novel will likely make you examine yourself. If you're single it'll help you understand the criticality of choosing a spouse that won't doom you to a dull (or even worse, unhappy) life. If you're married it'll (hopefully!) make you grateful that you're not stuck with an Arthur or Annabella type. If most men and women were as selfish and shallow as nearly all of the characters in Tenant, the world wouldn't be a pretty place to live in. These people DO exist (I have relatives and their friends who proudly strut the behavior that Arthur and his cronies do), but thankfully not in near the proportions that Bronte paints. Highly recommended for all adult readers!
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