BOOKCLUB NOTES: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 🌊

THE BOOK: This was a wild ride and we talked a lot about the style and structure - many of us felt baffled at times so it was a relief to share! It made for an interesting conversation, especially with the link to Jane Eyre and the author’s personal story. We scored it an average of 3.5 ⭐️.

The writing had a dream-like quality to it which could be confusing at times but powerful in many ways as we witnessed Antoinette slowly lose control of her life. The book touches on themes including identity and belonging in a community suffering the aftermath of slavery.
An entire life is told in under 200 pages, so it packed a lot in - some found that to be heavy at times but most of us felt that it paid off in the end. Many found it to be a tough but ultimately rewarding read - which is sometimes the way with a classic!

THE WINE: The strong saline and mineral quality of Rosalia 2024 from Constantina Sotelo represents the ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’. A title that is rich with symbolism, representing the passage between Antoinette’s two worlds. Sargasso Seaweed, known for trapping vessels, mirrors her own entrapment by Rochester. The sea itself belongs to no nation and touches no shore, echoing Antoinette’s identity as someone who fits nowhere.

We then chose Claret 2023 from Larural to pair with Antoinette herself. Following emancipation Antoinette finds herself in a tricky social position - too Caribbean for England, too white and colonial for Jamaica. This wine, a blend of red and white grapes, is a representation of that, too dark to be a rosè, too light to be a red.