I read it over 20 years ago & have to say it’s way overrated. It’s not all about sex like the movie makes it out to be. It’s about an unhappy woman trapped in a small town & with the wrong man. The book isn’t about female empowerment but rather about entrapment & having little or no way out.

It’s highly overrated & I’m not at all surprised by the modern take on classic, namely sex. She’s trapped & the movie doesn’t allude to this in any way. Skip the book & the movie. Read instead the Brontë sisters or Jane Austen.