Wide Sargasso Sea

Written as a prequel to Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of Antoinette Mason, Mr Rochester's first wife.

What a disappointing book. The concept is wonderful - give a backstory to the mad woman of Jane Eyre but the execution was terrible. For starters about ⅔ of the book is written from Edward Rochester‘s perspective thereby denying the reader any real insight into Bertha Mason‘s mind as she descends into madness. The writing from Bertha‘s perspective is so detached that not much can be ascertained about how she views the events around her. If the book is supposed to evoke sympathy for her it fails spectacularly. So much could have been done to explore the hardships which contributed to her madness and to describe her thoughts as she watched her mother go mad, but instead the disjointed and impersonal writing offers no insight and adds no depth to Bertha Mason.