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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Probably 3.5 stars, really, but I'm rounding up because I really, really want Lindsay Faye to keep writing!
Reader, I confess: I've never read Jane Eyre. I've seen one of the movie adaptations and I know the general storyline, which was enough for me to see the parallel story that Faye wrote.
The story of Jane Steele begins with her living in a cottage outside a great manor house, although she is given to understand that the estate is actually hers. When her mother dies, however, she's sent off to a hideous boarding school by her aunt, who still controls the house and grounds. After eventually escaping, she supports herself in London along with her very good friend Clarke (also from the boarding school) by writing pulpy broadsides and sappy eulogies.
A notice that the estate where she grew up has been placed under new ownership drives Jane to pose as a tutor so that she can case the place and decide on her next moves. The house has been inhabited by Mr. Thornfield, a fine strapping gent with a shock of white hair and his Sikh staff, all of whom just arrived from India.
Jane has a pretty firm sense of right and wrong, and in this case she acts upon her moral sensibility in ways that prove fatal to several miscreants. There's a case for self-defense in at least one case, and Jane's murders seem quite justified to the reader, although Jane knows herself for a monster.
In this way, Jane Steele is a lurid piece of pulp fiction, but it seems that Faye loves writing lurid pulp fiction and I frankly love to read her stylings.
You probably won't find anything too surprising in this book, and that will be the case whether you've read Jane Eyre or not. There's a pretty decent effort at a romance, and Jane can always resolutely rescue herself- she is the furthest thing from a damsel in distress. There are missing jewels, a lost heiress, a hint of lesbian romance that frankly felt more believable to me than the featured one, and all in all it was a lot of fun.
However, I just did not attach to Jane the way I did to Timothy Wilde and his brother Val, and while the storyline of Jane Eyre is a good one, I probably don't know enough about it to see all the clever subversions that Faye has undoubtedly included. I don't feel a need to return to these characters.
Reader, I confess: I've never read Jane Eyre. I've seen one of the movie adaptations and I know the general storyline, which was enough for me to see the parallel story that Faye wrote.
The story of Jane Steele begins with her living in a cottage outside a great manor house, although she is given to understand that the estate is actually hers. When her mother dies, however, she's sent off to a hideous boarding school by her aunt, who still controls the house and grounds. After eventually escaping, she supports herself in London along with her very good friend Clarke (also from the boarding school) by writing pulpy broadsides and sappy eulogies.
A notice that the estate where she grew up has been placed under new ownership drives Jane to pose as a tutor so that she can case the place and decide on her next moves. The house has been inhabited by Mr. Thornfield, a fine strapping gent with a shock of white hair and his Sikh staff, all of whom just arrived from India.
Jane has a pretty firm sense of right and wrong, and in this case she acts upon her moral sensibility in ways that prove fatal to several miscreants. There's a case for self-defense in at least one case, and Jane's murders seem quite justified to the reader, although Jane knows herself for a monster.
In this way, Jane Steele is a lurid piece of pulp fiction, but it seems that Faye loves writing lurid pulp fiction and I frankly love to read her stylings.
You probably won't find anything too surprising in this book, and that will be the case whether you've read Jane Eyre or not. There's a pretty decent effort at a romance, and Jane can always resolutely rescue herself- she is the furthest thing from a damsel in distress. There are missing jewels, a lost heiress, a hint of lesbian romance that frankly felt more believable to me than the featured one, and all in all it was a lot of fun.
However, I just did not attach to Jane the way I did to Timothy Wilde and his brother Val, and while the storyline of Jane Eyre is a good one, I probably don't know enough about it to see all the clever subversions that Faye has undoubtedly included. I don't feel a need to return to these characters.
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
An entertaining caper. Jane, despite being a cold-blooded killer, was a very likable character.
I have a giant book crush on the four main characters in this book: Jane Steele, her childhood friend Clarke, Thornfield, and his bosom friend Sardar Singh.
This was one of those books I went into expecting very little: I've read so many Bronte/Austen retellings that did not live up to the sensibility of those authors nor added a twist interesting enough to keep my interest.
Not so this one. It's a gem. The first part of the book starts at Highgate House, where Jane and her french mother live in a cottage near the big house where vile cousin Edwin and Aunt Patience live. When an incident with Edwin causes Jane to both flee and feel utterly wicked, she flies to Lowan Bridge boarding school (based on a real life school from Bronte's history). These two sections: Highgate House and Lowan Bridge School are utterly Bronte-esque and gothic.
Jane begins to get a backbone once she leaves the school and must make her way in London with her best friend Clarke. This a bit more Dickensian (and the author cites Nicholas Nickelby as one of her inspirations in the afterwards) and still engrossing, especially as Jane finds reason to continue her wickedness and embrace her own power.
Then the twist happens. And as a lover of Asian myth/history, this was so very cool. Charles Thornfield, the inheritor of Jane's childhood home, has moved back to England from India, bringing with him an entire household of Sikh servants, including the powerful and mysterious Sardar Singh-- and a half caste child who needs a governess.
What follows plunges you into a mystery involving the East India Company's political manuevering in Punjab and tragedies of politics and the Sikh wars. As Jane uncovers the mystery, there is a slow, sweet romance where she falls in love with Charles Thornfield, who is hiding secrets of his own and always wears gloves...
I can't wax on about all the twists this book places on the original Jane Eyre without spoiling it for you, but I can mention how I loved the self-referential way that jane steele compares herself to Bronte's heroine throughout.
There are also thoughtful, emotional passages like "I touched the mark at my own neck and blessed it; for we are the doers of deeds, he and I, and as such lose parts of our flesh along the way, and can only pray to meet friends and lovers who can help to stitch us back again..."
Highly recommended for historical fiction nuts, lovers of gothic, and Austen/Bronte fans.
This was one of those books I went into expecting very little: I've read so many Bronte/Austen retellings that did not live up to the sensibility of those authors nor added a twist interesting enough to keep my interest.
Not so this one. It's a gem. The first part of the book starts at Highgate House, where Jane and her french mother live in a cottage near the big house where vile cousin Edwin and Aunt Patience live. When an incident with Edwin causes Jane to both flee and feel utterly wicked, she flies to Lowan Bridge boarding school (based on a real life school from Bronte's history). These two sections: Highgate House and Lowan Bridge School are utterly Bronte-esque and gothic.
Jane begins to get a backbone once she leaves the school and must make her way in London with her best friend Clarke. This a bit more Dickensian (and the author cites Nicholas Nickelby as one of her inspirations in the afterwards) and still engrossing, especially as Jane finds reason to continue her wickedness and embrace her own power.
Then the twist happens. And as a lover of Asian myth/history, this was so very cool. Charles Thornfield, the inheritor of Jane's childhood home, has moved back to England from India, bringing with him an entire household of Sikh servants, including the powerful and mysterious Sardar Singh-- and a half caste child who needs a governess.
What follows plunges you into a mystery involving the East India Company's political manuevering in Punjab and tragedies of politics and the Sikh wars. As Jane uncovers the mystery, there is a slow, sweet romance where she falls in love with Charles Thornfield, who is hiding secrets of his own and always wears gloves...
I can't wax on about all the twists this book places on the original Jane Eyre without spoiling it for you, but I can mention how I loved the self-referential way that jane steele compares herself to Bronte's heroine throughout.
There are also thoughtful, emotional passages like "I touched the mark at my own neck and blessed it; for we are the doers of deeds, he and I, and as such lose parts of our flesh along the way, and can only pray to meet friends and lovers who can help to stitch us back again..."
Highly recommended for historical fiction nuts, lovers of gothic, and Austen/Bronte fans.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think I would give it 3.5 stars. The in-your-face comparisons to Jane Eyre and the sideplot about Sikhs both grew a little tiresome. It was interesting and I am guessing a second title from this first-time ever might prove more enjoyable.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really, really like this book! What fun, and the writing is lovely and nostalgic and colourful! I may like it just as much as Jane Eyre. Jane Steele, the character, is awesome, tough, and takes care of business, and I think I might like her a bit better than Jane Eyre. This isn't a comedy, but I found some of her observations and the way she references Bronte's book throughout hilarious.
How have I never been recommended this before? Absolutely gripping -- read it in one day. Weirdly hilarious and heartfelt for a murderess' fictional biography. Highly recommend!
I feel I must start by saying I am a huge fan of Jane Eyre, it is possibly the only classic novel I have read (thus far) and actually enjoyed. If you have any concerns that Jane Steele may not do justice to the novel it pays homage to please set those worries aside.
This novel does indeed have a strong touch of the macabre and you must be willing to suspend your judgments and so as to allow the story to play out. Lyndsay Faye did a fantastic job of creating characters that echoed those from Jane Eyre without them being simple facsimiles. I greatly enjoyed the quirks of the English estate that Jane Steele finds herself a part of. This new fresh take on a Victorian Era story made me refuse to put it down. Nothing if not a page turner Jane Steele will have you engrossed until the last second.
This novel does indeed have a strong touch of the macabre and you must be willing to suspend your judgments and so as to allow the story to play out. Lyndsay Faye did a fantastic job of creating characters that echoed those from Jane Eyre without them being simple facsimiles. I greatly enjoyed the quirks of the English estate that Jane Steele finds herself a part of. This new fresh take on a Victorian Era story made me refuse to put it down. Nothing if not a page turner Jane Steele will have you engrossed until the last second.