for personal reasons, this was a tough one to get through. brontë’s writing is wonderful & her story is excellent especially when carefully depicting domestic abuse & the gradual wearing down of helen throughout the novel. at first i was concerned as it was from gilbert’s perspective but there was eventually a shift to helen’s. of course, it would’ve been better to have it all from helen’s perspective & not just through her diary entries but from her mind as well, but i understand this was written in the 1800s so of course there has to be a male protagonist. as i briefly mentioned, i found the manipulation, love bombing and the isolating of helen at her husbands hand quite triggering due to my past experiences but in way it was interesting how common it is for women to have the exact experience. in modern terms, her husband is obviously full of red flags & this is one of the earliest books i’ve read discussing the role of a wife at home in a bad environment so it’s fascinating how it translates to many relationships now. i guess it just shows how awful people use the same tactics in relationships to manipulate their partner over centuries & we’re still suffering today. my reason for my rating is not due to the writing or storytelling but based on my reading experience & what i think the book was lacking in some areas. if you are able to & are interested in exploring the female victims in literature, i urge you to pick it up.