basiairene 's review for:

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

5.0

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Probably more a 4.5 than a straight-up 5, but I really enjoyed this book. It's billed as a retelling of Jane Eyre, which is wholly inaccurate. Jane Steele is very aware of Jane Eyre--in fact, it's her favorite book. But Jane Steele's life does mirror her favorite heroine's in some respects, but there are vital differences, the largest of these being our heroine is a murderer.

It regretfully took me a bit of time to read this, but not for lack of wanting to read it. I didn't have the time to sit down and devour this book in one go as I'd have liked to, but it is definitely the sort of book that lends itself to binge-reading. The tone is arch clever, and it recalls nineteenth-century novel language without being indecipherable to a more modern reader.

While this isn't a YA book, I think it is a book that recommends itself to readers who enjoy YA. I hesitate to say that, of course, because so often people think that the YA is somehow less of a genre than literary fiction meant to be consumed by adults, but with a heroine whose age is twenty-four, she exists in a sweet spot that brides the gap between YA novels and adult novels and also speaks to the young readers who, like myself, find themselves somewhere in between these two intended age groups. I would definitely read another nove, by Faye like this--drawing cleverly on the classic novel we all know while adding new elements and crafting her own story that is fresh and engaging.