I first read Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre many years ago when I was in grade 12. There was a lot of excitement in the female portion of the class; we were getting a chance to read Romantic literature in English and Mr. Rochester was supposed to be a sigh worthy figure. For some reason, our class didn't get very far with the novel. I think that we were assigned to read it over spring break, and we may have been required to write an essay. However, I don't recall that our class went very deep into studying this novel, probably because of time constraints to make sure that we covered the prescribed curriculum before June arrived.
This is my memory of reading Jane Eyre: it was a dry reading experience for me. The diction might have bogged me down. I seem to recall that there were about two to three pages devoted to a description of a painting. My teenage mind probably stalled upon reading that, wondering why so much space was devoted to that and not to the romance. However, I can't confirm that this is true or if I mixed that fact up with some other novel that I may have read at around that time, because I have not read Jane Eyre since. I also have to confess that I'm not a big fan of any of the Bronte sisters, because one of them dissed Jane Austen's writing. Yes, I'm more for Team Austen than for Team Bronte.
Anyways, Manga Classics will be releasing their own version of Jane Eyre, adapted by Crystal S. Chan, with the art drawn by SunNeko Lee. This graphic novel captured my interest as it described the story of Jane Eyre, a plucky and strong minded orphan who grows up to become a governess for the ward of her employer, Mr. Rochester, who eventually becomes her love interest. However, there are strange and bizarre happenings at Thornfield Hall, the home of Mr. Rochester, which may interfere with their romance.
Most of what I know of Jane Eyre is from two visual adaptations, a BBC series starring Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke, and a movie starring Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds. It's almost embarrassing to admit that I'm comparing the content of the Manga Classics version against the movies that I watched years ago. The graphic novel contains a few pages of commentary about adapting the novel to manga format; some changes were made in the order of the narrative to build suspense at the end of each chapter, and also to strengthen the cohesiveness of the story through foreshadowing. There was a small section about how the manga adaptation was better able to convincingly execute a particular plot point than the television or movie versions (where Mr. Rochester disguises himself as a female gypsy). I had read those notes before reading the manga, and had almost forgotten to check if it was very obvious that a man was trying to masquerade as a woman, so I'll agree that manga is probably more able to carry that deception off.
I'm not a manga expert, but most of the art work appeared to be in the shoujo style. There were probably only a couple of frames in the narrative that contained the chibi style. The dark and brooding mood of the novel might not lend itself to levity and light heartedness that suits chibi drawings. For a plain female, Jane appears to be pretty and cute, but my understanding is that the appearance of plain heroines in any manga story is non-existent. Mr. Rochester looks sufficiently mature, and he's got great hair!
Would I recommend reading this version? I would say, "Yes," for the following reasons: my daughter expressed an interest in reading this version when she saw what I was reading. Who wouldn't want their kids to have a interest in reading classic literature, even though it is adapted? Also, after reading this, I'm thinking about giving Bronte's original version another look. Not even watching the movies was able to move me enough to want to take the novel up again, but this version has stirred up my interest.
Disclaimer: In exchange for a review, I received from NetGalley an e-copy of "Manga Classics: Jane Eyre," by Crystal S. Chan and SunNeko Lee. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
