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A review by lbarsk
Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
4.0
My friend was kind enough to get me an ARC of this novel, and I thank her for passing it along! Young Jane Young was a fun read that also managed to be tender and sharp -- I've never read anything else by Zevin and this was definitely a great entry point to her work.
In a way this book feels like a spiritual cousin of A Visit from the Goon Squad and Where'd You Go, Bernadette? because of the multiple character voices and the innovative formatting/framing of certain chapters. I especially thought of Bernadette because of the book's thread of mother-daughter relations, though of course this book and that one approach the subject differently and Bernadette is more about satirizing aspects of modern society, etc. Look, any book with Generational Tales Of Interesting Women is bound to be a hit in my eyes!!! And Zevin knocked it out of the park in that respect.
I also liked that the story kept gaining layers as it went on -- like, based on the blurb and the first chapter, you think that the novel is going to play out in x-y-z type of way. But then it doesn't! It twists and turns based on different characters' perspectives, and the biggest twist of all was a really clever one.
So, all in all, I was a big fan. A quick, engrossing read written cleverly with some good depth!
In a way this book feels like a spiritual cousin of A Visit from the Goon Squad and Where'd You Go, Bernadette? because of the multiple character voices and the innovative formatting/framing of certain chapters. I especially thought of Bernadette because of the book's thread of mother-daughter relations, though of course this book and that one approach the subject differently and Bernadette is more about satirizing aspects of modern society, etc. Look, any book with Generational Tales Of Interesting Women is bound to be a hit in my eyes!!! And Zevin knocked it out of the park in that respect.
I also liked that the story kept gaining layers as it went on -- like, based on the blurb and the first chapter, you think that the novel is going to play out in x-y-z type of way. But then it doesn't! It twists and turns based on different characters' perspectives, and the biggest twist of all was a really clever one.
So, all in all, I was a big fan. A quick, engrossing read written cleverly with some good depth!