Jane Eyre

I just finished reading Jane Eyre for the first time. Has any one else read it? What was your reaction? Overall I felt it was a decent book. The plot pace was too staggered for my liking (slow for long periods then intense action out of nowhere) and many of the characters were totally unbelievable. I did like the main theme (or what I take to be theme) about reconciling self-respect/love with the love of others. The characters that bothered me most were Helen Burns and the young Jane. Weren't they the most precocious children ever? I babysit and have done so for many years and I have yet to meet a child like Jane or Helen. I got the impression that these two were not so much supposed to be characters as they were to be representations of ideals/philosophies. Any thoughts?