I Don't Speak French

I'm an English major and, unfortunately, this is one of the books I have to read for school. I don't like many books considered to be 'classics'. In fact, most of them, I wouldn't read if I didn't have to. This is definitely one of those cases.

The story is about an orphaned girl named Lucy Snowe who travels around looking for work as a governess. She eventually finds her way to Villette, a school where she starts as a governess for the head mistresses children and then goes on to become a teacher. Not really a bad idea overall, but Bronte doesn't give what could have been an interesting plot any real substance. Characters from the beginning mysteriously appear in the middle, using different names and not really giving a clear message as to why they were brought back.

I tried to get into the book, I really did, but it's hard to lose yourself in a story if you can't understand huge passages of dialogue which Bronte doesn't even bother to translate. Okay, we understand that French people speak French, so why not do what other authors do and say "They said in French..." and then write it in English. I think Bronte was just trying to show off. I speak three languages (French is not one of them) and I don't write dialogue for my books in other languages, assuming others will understand.

I'd have to rate this book up there with Wuthering Heights, another Bronte classic I did not enjoy. It's so hard to get into that it took me almost three weeks to finish it. And I polished off the unedited edition of The Stand in four days and the last Harry Potter book in four hours (both of which are over 700 pages). I like a challenge, but this is ridiculous.