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kaitkallista 's review for:
Fiona and Jane
by Jean Chen Ho
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
I try not to use this space to respond to others’ reviews but I disagree so strongly with a common refrain in many negative reviews of this book that I feel compelled to address it: this is absolutely a book about friendship, with all its jealousies, betrayals, doubts, distances, and secrets. Fiona and Jane were both such complicated characters, not always easy to like, but always real.
I didn’t know going into this book that it was somewhat a collection of short stories, but that explains some of the POV inconsistencies that threw me off occasionally. Otherwise, I liked the looping, nonlinear narrative style. It felt like a natural way to get to know the characters through their memories of each other.
This book was a perfect balance of the unfamiliar and the familiar: Two Taiwanese women, children of immigrants, growing up in California, couldn’t be more different from me on paper. But I immediately recognized the scenes of an adolescence spent in junky cars, feeling unsure in even your closest friendships, struggling to connect with and distance yourself from your parents, hanging out with the wrong older guys. The push-and-pull in the relationships established early on are the connective tissue of a book of slice-of-life vignettes, as Fiona and Jane outgrow each other without ever letting go of each other entirely. I really enjoyed this book. Occasionally challenging as they fail themselves and each other, rich with a full cast of characters who we come to know through Fiona and Jane, ultimately hopeful as two flawed women wake up everyday, still alive.
I didn’t know going into this book that it was somewhat a collection of short stories, but that explains some of the POV inconsistencies that threw me off occasionally. Otherwise, I liked the looping, nonlinear narrative style. It felt like a natural way to get to know the characters through their memories of each other.
This book was a perfect balance of the unfamiliar and the familiar: Two Taiwanese women, children of immigrants, growing up in California, couldn’t be more different from me on paper. But I immediately recognized the scenes of an adolescence spent in junky cars, feeling unsure in even your closest friendships, struggling to connect with and distance yourself from your parents, hanging out with the wrong older guys. The push-and-pull in the relationships established early on are the connective tissue of a book of slice-of-life vignettes, as Fiona and Jane outgrow each other without ever letting go of each other entirely. I really enjoyed this book. Occasionally challenging as they fail themselves and each other, rich with a full cast of characters who we come to know through Fiona and Jane, ultimately hopeful as two flawed women wake up everyday, still alive.