A Wife Now Living

Wide Sargasso Sea Book Review by Margaret Jean Rhys Rating: 5/10 Date read: 17 February to 2 April      Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1966 novel written as a prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’, which serves as a postcolonial and feminist perspective on Bertha’s backstory. The novel presents themes such as ‘Victorian paternalism, sexualised racism and the complex social and political history of the West Indies’ (British Library).  The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Bertha, who is called Antoinette Cosway originally, and Rochester. It begins in Antoinette’s early childhood in her crumbling West Indian family estate and follows her life up until her imprisonment in Thornfield Hall. The story focuses on Antoinette’s relationships with those around her, particularly her mother, her maid Christophine and Rochester himself. The narrative is incredibly sensual and highly charged with anger, fear, bitterness, madness and erotica. This is enhanced by the exotic setting and

Never Let Me Go Book Review by Margaret By Kazuo Ishiguro Rating: 6.5/10 Date read: 11 February to 17 February Never Let Me Go is a 2005 dystopian science fiction novel which takes the form of a recounted narrative given by the main character, Kathy, who looks back on her life growing up at boarding school in 1990’s England with her two closest friends, Ruth and Tommy. However, throughout the story, it becomes evident that there is something sinister about the boarding school and the people involved with it. There is more to the story than Kathy immediately lets on, something which leads to desperation, regret, grief and death. It also leads the reader to question their own ideas about the value of human life and what makes us human. Never Let Me Go was recommended to me to read by two people who love the book and convinced me that I was in for a real rollercoaster of a ride. However, they were wrong. This book, while it has some ups and downs, was ultimately pointless and the ending f