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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
mysterious
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
What a phenomenal story! I had to put my life on hold so I could read this book. I fell in love with the narrator and wanted to go everywhere she went - even into the sordid affairs she encountered. So many turns and twists. And I loved the language and vernacular. It was simply delightful! Will definitely read more from Ms. Faye.
I don't think this book will stick with me a long time, but it was *very* enjoyable while I was reading it. I love Jane Eyre, and the author is up front about how her satire is a dark (and funny) reflection of the original. Jane, after all, goes through so much at the hands of her horrid, repressive aunt, and then her horrid, repressive school, not only because she's trapped in a melodramatic, Gothic tale, but also because life for women who teetered on the edge of respectable employment was horrid and repressive. This Jane, Jane Steele, doesn't have to take that horridness when it threatens her best friend. She doesn't have to see her Helen Burns die an early death, not when she can simply stick a penknife into the jugular of her school principal. See how easy that was? So Lyndsay Faye goes on, with her Jane as an avenging angel wreaking death and destruction on those who threaten her and hers. Jane Steele's story follows a slightly different path than Jane Eyre's, as Miss Steele is less concerned about respectability, and possesses a darker morality that doesn’t shy away from murder if she deems it necessary. She’s altogether a more 21st century miss as well. All the better, as in this era of #MeToo, I've become thirstier for villains to get theirs, and if we're making things up anyway, why not have it be satisfying and bloody?
My two favorite quotes from this book:
"In a mansion, blessings are lost amidst bric-a-brac; in a pit, they shimmer like the flash of dragonfly wings."
"We are all of us daily decaying, after all; the speed is our only variant."
I found a witty writer, and a self-deprecating, plucky narrator who embraces her macabre side. This story played on Jane Eyre, of course, and did so very elegantly. I did feel lost when the mystery deepened to the culmination, but eventually I caught up. And I felt delighted that the final twist caught me be surprise. Everything did wrap up very nicely in the end, but it's also what I (secretly) want to happen. Another very satisfying read.
Coming of age, romance, mystery, 19th century-esque novel with some spice added and a smattering of a gothic feel.
"In a mansion, blessings are lost amidst bric-a-brac; in a pit, they shimmer like the flash of dragonfly wings."
"We are all of us daily decaying, after all; the speed is our only variant."
I found a witty writer, and a self-deprecating, plucky narrator who embraces her macabre side. This story played on Jane Eyre, of course, and did so very elegantly. I did feel lost when the mystery deepened to the culmination, but eventually I caught up. And I felt delighted that the final twist caught me be surprise. Everything did wrap up very nicely in the end, but it's also what I (secretly) want to happen. Another very satisfying read.
Coming of age, romance, mystery, 19th century-esque novel with some spice added and a smattering of a gothic feel.
Wow, in like a lion, out like a lamb! The first third of the book is SO GOOD; it's this lovely self aware and darkly comic cousin to Jane Eyre with the perfect amount of drama necessary for a good Gothic romance. It's all hardness and sharp edges and it just feels so RAW.
A few quotes to give you an idea:
"Patience Barbary had shed her smug bravado as snakes do skins; everything about her was new, from the swollen pink edges of her eyelids to her raw expression, tender as a cut where the scab has peeked away." WHOA, intense.
Or "I bit the inside of my lip until I could taste all I had left of my mother, which was her blood." So deliciously emo.
I felt for her as she was mistreated with the same intensity that I felt for Jane Eyre, so it is so satisfying when she takes the life of those who have wronged her! I had worried it would be sensational or campy like so many of the Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies clones, but it is just too well done and earnest to be that.
BUT THEN- It just becomes this completely different book. Like I would not be surprised if it was a different author completely. Suddenly all the scrabbling for survival is gone, all the mistrust, the ambition, the drama- gone. UTTERLY gone.
It becomes this soft thing, this kind of sweet-ish romancy mystery. Every bit of momentum, every sense of dire consequences hiding around the corner, goes out the window. It was perfectly pleasant, mind you, but I went from not being able to put it down to taking 2 weeks to finish it.
And the biggest sin of all in my book: it is very obviously being set up for a sedate, predictable, STERILE little husband-wife detective mystery series. No, no, noooooo *pounds fist* UGH. NO.
A few quotes to give you an idea:
"Patience Barbary had shed her smug bravado as snakes do skins; everything about her was new, from the swollen pink edges of her eyelids to her raw expression, tender as a cut where the scab has peeked away." WHOA, intense.
Or "I bit the inside of my lip until I could taste all I had left of my mother, which was her blood." So deliciously emo.
I felt for her as she was mistreated with the same intensity that I felt for Jane Eyre, so it is so satisfying when she takes the life of those who have wronged her! I had worried it would be sensational or campy like so many of the Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies clones, but it is just too well done and earnest to be that.
BUT THEN- It just becomes this completely different book. Like I would not be surprised if it was a different author completely. Suddenly all the scrabbling for survival is gone, all the mistrust, the ambition, the drama- gone. UTTERLY gone.
It becomes this soft thing, this kind of sweet-ish romancy mystery. Every bit of momentum, every sense of dire consequences hiding around the corner, goes out the window. It was perfectly pleasant, mind you, but I went from not being able to put it down to taking 2 weeks to finish it.
And the biggest sin of all in my book: it is very obviously being set up for a sedate, predictable, STERILE little husband-wife detective mystery series. No, no, noooooo *pounds fist* UGH. NO.
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don't think this is YA at all. It was an interesting, entertaining read, but not my cup of tea.
Ever wanted to see a mash up with Clark and Dexter? probably nothing is more scarier the truth.
It took time for me to get into this one, but by the end I was desperately in love with the story and with each of the characters. Swoon.