Agnes Grey

320 pages

English language

Published Nov. 20, 2000 by G.K. Hall, Chivers Press.

ISBN:
978-0-7838-9143-9
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OCLC Number:
44493250

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4 stars (2 reviews)

45 editions

reviewed Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë (The World's classics)

Review of 'Agnes Grey' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This is Anne's first novel and it's a lesser work than the subsequent Tenant of Wildfell Hall but it shows some similarities; it is most powerful when tackling social issues of autobiographical concern to the author; the protagonist is a bit self-righteous; it never suffers the dullness that afflicts the lesser parts of Jane Eyre; it never tilts over into the almost insane hysterical passion of Wuthering Heights.

It seems fairly obvious that Anne wanted to tackle the plight of poorly treated governesses and bolted a very conventional and largely uninspired romance on the end in order to make it a novel. This romance section in itself serves more to act as a warning about the potential fate of people who marry merely for money or social status than to provide any satisfying against-the-odds meeting of soul-mates; the outcome is dictated by convenient chance. I note that as with other …

Subjects

  • Governesses -- Fiction.
  • Single women -- Fiction.
  • Large type books.
  • England -- Fiction.