Review: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

A quick guide on knowing whether or not to root for a character in an Anne Bronte novel: if they like animals, then they're good, but if they're cruel to them, they're bad. Clearly, Anne was a lady after my own heart.

The premise of Agnes Grey is very simple: a young woman becomes a governess to help her family, has to deal with unruly and mean children and their horrible families, then finds love with a cute priest. Ms. Bronte was a clergyman's daughter and her religious upbringing is heavily featured in the books. By that I mean there were copious mention of God and censored cursing. I know that people were more religious back then than they are now, but I don't recall copious quotations from the scripture in Persuasion or Pride and Prejudice. As a non-christian and not very religious myself I sort of rolled my eyes when Agnes started to go on one of her faith rants, but the rest of the book makes up for it.

Anne Bronte is not like her sisters in her writings. Charlotte and Emily likes to romanticize rakes and bad boys; Anne very explicitly say that these kind of "heroes" would only mean endless trouble. I think Kate Beaton illustrates it best:



Some might say that Anne is inferior to her sisters; since she's the first Bronte I've read I can't know if I share their opinion or not. But judging from the synopsis of Wuthering Heights and from the Jane Eyre film starring Mia Wasikowska that I've watched, I don't know if I would like Charlotte's and Emily's novels. I have low opinion on romanticizing rakes. Agnes Grey had a certain sweetness to it that the Gothic Wuthering and Jane lacked. Sure, the Bloomfield children were nightmares who tortured animals for their own amusement, but nothing dangerous ever threatens or happen to Agnes and there were no mad wife in the attic to ruin her happiness. The plot is very simple and I suppose one might say that nothing much happens for two hundred pages. Agnes becomes a governess, complains about her unruly charges, falls in love - and that's it. I never get the sense that she grows up as a person, even though in Agnes Grey is supposed to be a coming-of-age novel. Agnes from the start is perfect and I don't think she has or need to better her conduct. I wouldn't say that the book is boring, but it's a quick and easy read. Agnes Grey is Anne Bronte's first work and it certainly shows. It's lovely and sweet, but somewhat lacking in depth, although I'm looking forward to read her other work.