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juliwi 's review for:
Jane Steele
by Lyndsay Faye
Adaptations of classics can go one of two ways. Either they become a weak copy of the original which leaves the reader slightly bereft, or it manages to take the spirit of the original and dress it up anew. When an adaptation succeeds it doesn't detract from the original but rather add to it, like a kind of cheeky homage. I have always been hesitant about adaptations of my favourite classics because I simply love them too much but I have been opening myself up to them. And I'm extremely glad to have given Jane Steele a chance. Thanks to Headline Review and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
There's something delightful about taking a proper and good governess and giving her a knife. As a literature student you learn to treat Classics with a capital C with a certain kind of distant respect, as if it should never be touched, which means that when you see someone taking it for a stroll and changing it it can trigger something of a knee-jerk reaction. But when it is done as deliciously as Faye does in Jane Steele there is no way someone who loves Jane Eyre couldn't at least appreciate her novel. Her plot is incredibly interesting, with little and big twists and an absolutely fascinating insight into the Anglo-Sikh wars, fought in the Punjab in the 1840s. Faye rightly recognised the presence of the neo-colonial in Mr. Rochester's past and translated it into Mr. Thornfield's past and presence. Faye's Sikh characters are some of the most interesting characters in Jane Steele and I left the book wanting to learn more about them.
Overall I loved reading Jane Steele, it got me straight back to loving Jane Eyre and cheering for Jane and Mr. Thornfield. Jane Steele has a delightful cast of characters, each of which will endear itself to the reader within pages. I'd recommend it, of course, to fans of Jene Eyre but also in general to fans of crime fiction and even historical fiction.
For full review: http://universeinwords.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/review-jane-steele-by-lyndsay-faye.html
There's something delightful about taking a proper and good governess and giving her a knife. As a literature student you learn to treat Classics with a capital C with a certain kind of distant respect, as if it should never be touched, which means that when you see someone taking it for a stroll and changing it it can trigger something of a knee-jerk reaction. But when it is done as deliciously as Faye does in Jane Steele there is no way someone who loves Jane Eyre couldn't at least appreciate her novel. Her plot is incredibly interesting, with little and big twists and an absolutely fascinating insight into the Anglo-Sikh wars, fought in the Punjab in the 1840s. Faye rightly recognised the presence of the neo-colonial in Mr. Rochester's past and translated it into Mr. Thornfield's past and presence. Faye's Sikh characters are some of the most interesting characters in Jane Steele and I left the book wanting to learn more about them.
Overall I loved reading Jane Steele, it got me straight back to loving Jane Eyre and cheering for Jane and Mr. Thornfield. Jane Steele has a delightful cast of characters, each of which will endear itself to the reader within pages. I'd recommend it, of course, to fans of Jene Eyre but also in general to fans of crime fiction and even historical fiction.
For full review: http://universeinwords.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/review-jane-steele-by-lyndsay-faye.html