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A review by jrug
Ironskin by Tina Connolly
2.0
I gather this is intended as a Jane Eyre riff in the same way that Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamour novels are Austen riffs. I have no problem with paying homage to a classic and old favorite - in fact, the way in which Kowal uses Austen's language and milieu conveys a great deal of information in the most delightful way possible - but you need to understand your material and find a way in which it's relevant to the new setting you're exploring.
So...no. Not so much.
One of the reasons that Jane Eyre is such a profoundly sympathetic character is that we're with her from the beginning. We see how hard her life is, and the extent to which her status as an orphan puts her at a disadvantage. In the case of Jane Eliot, the protagonist of Ironskin, we're introduced to her harrowing and traumatic story via flashbacks. I'm sure this supposed to have an effect on me. It did not. Burying the protagonists experiences and motivations in flashbacks only works if the story being told in the present is engaging and coherent. It wasn't. It would help, in fact, if the protagonist was likable, but it feels to me as if we're denied even that.
I can't bash this novel too hard - as problematic as I found the plot, characters, themes, and parallels with Jane Eyre, the writing itself is passable, and I was able to get all the way to the end without throwing the book. So I guess there's that.
So...no. Not so much.
One of the reasons that Jane Eyre is such a profoundly sympathetic character is that we're with her from the beginning. We see how hard her life is, and the extent to which her status as an orphan puts her at a disadvantage. In the case of Jane Eliot, the protagonist of Ironskin, we're introduced to her harrowing and traumatic story via flashbacks. I'm sure this supposed to have an effect on me. It did not. Burying the protagonists experiences and motivations in flashbacks only works if the story being told in the present is engaging and coherent. It wasn't. It would help, in fact, if the protagonist was likable, but it feels to me as if we're denied even that.
I can't bash this novel too hard - as problematic as I found the plot, characters, themes, and parallels with Jane Eyre, the writing itself is passable, and I was able to get all the way to the end without throwing the book. So I guess there's that.