Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Fiona and Jane

The only item I would have liked added is a note of how much time passed between chapters. But that might have been on purpose after reading one of the lines in the last chapter (not a spoiler) - “We were moving fast now, everything sped up; the years seemed to fly past like nothing.”

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evelyneh's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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gwynethburns21's review

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medium-paced

4.0

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robinks's review

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emotional hopeful medium-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

4.5

I really enjoyed reading through these little blips of Fiona & Jane’s lives, the ebbs and flows of their friendship over many years. I didn’t like that some of the stories seemed to be out of chronological order. Also, I sometimes could not understand Jane’s actions.

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bites_of_books's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

There's an idea about friendship that is romanticized that does not exactly fit what a lot of people experience in their lives. As someone who has moved a lot in her life, from childhood to adulthood, I've made plenty of friends in the many places I've been. Some of those friends have slowly become acquaintances while others have endured. With some I have deep conversations for hours on the times that we can make time to see each other or schedule a Skype call, with others it's sending each other memes or funny videos we find that remind us of the times we spent together.

In Fiona and Jane we get to read short stories from both Fiona and Jane's perspectives from their shared childhood to their adulthood. They come in and out of each other's lives, each wondering why they haven't reached out to the other, thinking about what the other would say in such and such situations. There's a longing, a sense of nostalgia, of loneliness that permeates the pages, and which I felt deep in my core. These slices of their lives are at times very difficult to read, from dealing with mental health issues, sexual identity, and family relationships, the stories touched some aspects of my life that I hadn't expected.

Overall, if you like non-linear stories that are told via short stories from multiple perspectives and deal with difficult themes of identity, mental health, and family relationships, then this one is definitely for you. If anything, this book delivers a sense of perspective on life that I haven't read in other places, specifically regarding friendship. It's not about the usual tropes around friendship, it's about what happens to friendships when people are simply living their lives. One I'll definitely remember for a while to come!

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