Reviews with content warning for Child death - Fiona and Jane

"𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 - 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 - 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑. 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒆?"

This book of short stories chronicles the lives and friendship of Fiona and Jane, two Tawainese women who grew up together and are now trying to find themselves out in the world. They navigate their friendship, relationships, sexuality and family dynamics along the way.

I don't usually have a great relationship with books of short stories, but I liked this one. I think that the stories actually being related and tying into one another really helped. The first story, right off the bat, broke my heart, and I was both scared and excited to read the rest. The stories were all very engaging, but my favorite was "Cold Turkey," which occurs around the halfway mark. I also liked that the side characters who fleshed out the worlds of Fiona & Jane felt complete and real, for better and for worse.

The only reason why this didn't end up getting rated higher for me was - for it being a book about friendship, I didn't see a whole lot of....well, friendship. Fiona & Jane are supposed to be best friends, but in some stories, they don't interact at all or seldom mention each other. When they do. have scenes together, you can tell that there is love there, but it doesn't feel like they should even still be friends - the chemistry wasn't really there for me. However, overall, I did enjoy this read!

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meishallaneous's review

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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camillatd's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really wanted to love this book. I was intrigued by the structure of interconnected short stories focusing on two characters over the course of decades, but it just didn't quite deliver for me. The narrative was too sparse for me to get to know the characters as well as I wanted to, which meant I wasn't as invested in their story. The narrative voice was also somewhat confusing--Jane's chapters are written in the first person, but Fiona's in the third. The story itself was compelling, and the writing was beautiful and evocative, but I just didn't love this book.

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kathleencoughlin's review

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.25

For a book called Fiona and Jane, these characters almost never interacted. I thought certain elements of the book had a lot of potential, but the author really narrowed in on parts that seemed more mundane. For example, I'd have like to know more about how Fiona and Jane reunited in LA or more about Jane's relationship with her mom or how Fiona turned her romantic life around to go from divorcée to wife and mother. Instead, we hopped around their a stories in a way that felt rather disjointed. Maybe it was because several sections were previously published as short stories, but it just felt like half a story, like there was a chunk missing out of the middle. I also felt like Fiona and Jane's characterization was a bit inconsistant. Jane seemed more reserved but was also apparently the bad influence who convinced Fiona to steal several thousand dollars from a church? I guess, I was just disappointed

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readgramrepeat's review

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challenging emotional reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This book has a unique structure of stories in alternating voices and timelines, but it doesn’t feel fragmented. They’re perfectly executed with details when you need them, and some vagueness so the stories don’t drag on. It creates a beautiful montage of friendship ups and downs!

Fiona and Jane can feel heavy at times because it touches on sexuality, coming out, racism, and death. Yet you won’t want to take a break and will probably devour this book in a day or two.

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