The Wife Upstairs

Title: The Wife Upstairs
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Thriller
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 290
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

My Thoughts

I don’t know anything about Jane Eyre, at all. I’ve never read the book and I haven’t seen any of the movies / TV shows. I was drawn to THE WIFE UPSTAIRS by its title and cover. When I discovered it was a retelling of JANE EYRE, I decided to look up the setting and main characters so I’d have a little bit of reference. Most retellings I’ve read are far more subtle than this seemed to be. (I read the plot of JANE EYRE after I finished because I wanted to see how similar the stories were.)

I hated reading Bea’s POV. Although, she surprised me because I never guessed she was an unreliable narrator and the true antagonist. I didn’t mind Eddie’s POV near the end of the novel. His section was actually my favorite part of the whole book. Even though I didn’t want Jane to end up with him because of what he had done, I wanted her to find out the full truth and she never did.

There has been a huge debate in my book club for years regarding JANE EYRE. A couple of people love it and think it’s a beautifully written gothic romance. Others hate everything about it. I feel like I’d be in the latter camp, but I’m not sure. Too bad I have no desire to read the source material, lol.