A review by thebacklistborrower
We, Jane by Aimee Wall

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I find the story of the Chicago Jane Collective so fascinating and inspiring. When Roe v Wade was overturned, I jumped on my library’s website and found the first book that seemed related. I honestly didn’t know what this book was about until I got it in!

The story follows Marthe, a Newfoundland woman in her thirties living a typical Millennial life in Montreal, who desperately wants to be part of something bigger than her. A cause to consume her, a responsibility. Trying to find this cause, she goes to a birth doula training class, only to find it too twee and clean, far from the darkness, dirtiness, and urgency that she was seeking. But while there, she meets an older woman who had been part of a Jane collective on Newfoundland. She (“Jane”) fires Marthe up with the possibility of returning home, and restoring Jane on the island. Apprenticing the skills that these other women knew and taking them to the remote outports, where women may not have access to more traditional services. 

This book was interesting. Parts felt slow and lacking in consistent momentum, but I also feel like that was done intentionally. One does not just *start* a movement. It is all fits and spurts, and that came across in the book well. The older woman is rather unlikable, and the relationship doesn’t feel healthy at times. But the team reincarnated in Newfoundland is full of wonderful women (and men are basically absent from the book). One interesting pattern I found was as a millennial in Montreal, children were also absent, but once she got to Newfoundland, they seemed to be everywhere. 

I think I found this book a good read, and it is on a lot of long and short lists to recognize that. Reading it intentionally, the pacing and characters work very well in the grand context of the story, bringing the reader into the frustration felt by Marthe when the grand plans faltered or slowed, but also the excitement when “Jane” talks big about grand plans for them. We are along for the ride - for better or poorer.

 
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