I buddy-read Agnes Grey with LaLa in the Library. We have been rereading Jane Eyre annually, LaLa many more times than I have. For me, rereading Jane Eyre has become a very enjoyable ritual, mainly because it is a very well written book in every respect, and secondly to make a small contribution in keeping Mr Rochester alive in a heaving sea of Mr Darcy fans. Exploring the Brontë sister’s works has truly been one of those “things you must read in your lifetime”. I recommend.

But on to Agnes Grey…

The very start of Agnes Grey got me excited, because Agnes immediately came across like the kind of character I could really become to like. Challenges and hardships? No problem. Keep your head up and just solve them. Her main motivation is to help her family, and she comes across as a real go-getter, which I totally admire in a person.

And then she becomes a governess.

Very quickly, I started to wonder if perhaps her family had been right to worry about Agnes taking on the job. Because Agnes has absolutely no business managing the unruly children of the upper class. Not necessarily because she is incapable, but because she is constantly undermined by their parents, who counteract pretty much everything she tries to do. How is one supposed to establish any kind of authority when the parents swoop in and undo it five minutes later? Was Agnes missing the “air about her” to command authority? She could hardly confront said parents due to hierarchy.

What disappointed me more, though, was what seemed to happen to Agnes herself. That initial “it’s okay, I can do this!” attitude gradually disappears, and instead she takes a defensive position and plays the victim card. Thus, she is of firm belief that it is never her that makes a mistake, while everyone around her is to blame. And that made it harder for me to stay on her side. Classic case of only seeing fault in others.

Don’t get me wrong, I still wanted to root for her. I wanted to stand next to Agnes and conquer those rich brats with a kind word and sheer moral superiority. But at the same time, I kept finding myself thinking: Agnes, come on. You cannot spend the whole book judging everyone else’s shortcomings while being completely blind to your own. She approached being a governess from a high moral ground, when through some of her actions she hardly had the moral ground to stand on herself.

Moving on to the writing style. Anne’s writing is solid enough, but for me, it is missing that little something extra. And I really don’t want to compare the Brontë sisters and pit them against each other because that isn’t particularly fair. Still, it has to be said: Charlotte has a much more lyrical way with words when it comes to describing, well, anything. Anne is much more matter-of-fact. Almost clinical at times. She tells you what happened, how people behaved, what they thought, and why it mattered, but she doesn’t always make you feel it in the same way.

This became especially noticeable to me in the romance. I actually liked the slowness of Agnes’s love story. The whole will they/won’t they aspect worked for me, and there was something very nice and pure about it. I never really doubted that they were going to end up together, but I didn’t mind having that firm knowledge. The anticipation was pleasant.

But. Anne’s writing style somehow turns the big emotions of a budding romance into a rather matter-of-fact recounting of events. Here are the feelings. Here is what happened. Here is what was said. And… that’s it.

Anyway, I came away from Agnes Grey with rather mixed feelings. I really liked the Agnes we meet at the beginning: determined, practical, willing to work hard and face whatever life throws at her. I wanted to like her throughout the book. But then her own actions and judgments started undermining the very character I had been rooting for.

So, ultimately, it was a bit of a frustrating read for me, slightly underwhelming.