![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Jane, Unlimited, by Kristin Cashore
Apr. 5th, 2019 07:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mllelaurelJane, an umbrella artist grieving the sudden death of her beloved Aunt Magnolia, is invited by Kiran, a wealthy friend, to come stay at her family's private island. Funny enough, before she died, Magnolia told Jane never to turn down such an invitation, so Jane accepts. While on the island, Jane will find mystery, intrigue, horror, love and a lynchpin moment which determines what reality we follow her in.
Per Cashore's author's note, this book started out as a Choose Your Own Adventure, and morphed instead into a novel of alternate realities, each successively revealing a bit more of what's going on with Kiran's family, the island's mysteries, and even Jane herself. Each timeline takes place in a different literary genre, as well as timeline, starting with a mystery, then going to spy thriller, psychological horror, science fiction, and portal fantasy.
Alternate realities and girls in love? That sounded like everything I want in a book! Unfortunately, I did not care for the final product.
The sentence-level writing was serviceable but uninspiring for most of the book. The psychological horror section and bits of the portal fantasy were notable exceptions, especially the former, which was quite successful at creeping me out. The dialogue was stilted and affected, and Cashore frequently over-relied on quirks in place of deeper characterization. This was especially frustrating with Ivy, the love interest, and her babbling about Scrabble words. She mostly came off as awkward, and after all of that, I still had no idea why she was attracted to Jane, nor why Jane was supposedly attached to her.
I say 'supposedly' because Jane was my biggest problem with this book. I found her to be unempathetic, self-absorbed, and not very bright. I suspect, though cannot prove, that her constantly relating everything to her Aunt Magnolia or her umbrellas was meant as theme reiteration on Cashore's part, but instead it added to my impression of self-absorption. The fact that she chose what and who to care about in different timelines more or less on a whim, rather than from a deeper psychology or character decision added to the lack of empathy impression. She was supposed to be actively solving a variety of mysteries, but all her revelations came from 'insight,' or dumb luck. Yeah, I never warmed up to Jane.
And don't get me wrong, I love protagonists who are flawed or not conventionally likable. But I part of the reason they're so good is the people around them react to them as they really are. They irritate others. They fuck up their relationships. Instead, the other characters in this book bent over backward to reassure Jane she was likable and a good artist, no matter how rude she was to them. I love protagonists who have room to grow, and Jane learned things but didn't so much grow as a person.
She and Ivy had a silly meet-cute, and more or less instalove. I never had the sense Jane cared about Ivy's well-being, and Ivy wasn't quite a cypher, but she never came off the page either.
I do want to give credit for Kiran and her family having a bit more depth than the average character in this book. They were melodramatic at times, but Cashore did convincingly portray them as a family who care about one another despite their own respective issues. I wish the book had focused on them instead.
So yeah. Sorry I couldn't give y'all a positive recommendation. Maybe next week.
Per Cashore's author's note, this book started out as a Choose Your Own Adventure, and morphed instead into a novel of alternate realities, each successively revealing a bit more of what's going on with Kiran's family, the island's mysteries, and even Jane herself. Each timeline takes place in a different literary genre, as well as timeline, starting with a mystery, then going to spy thriller, psychological horror, science fiction, and portal fantasy.
Alternate realities and girls in love? That sounded like everything I want in a book! Unfortunately, I did not care for the final product.
The sentence-level writing was serviceable but uninspiring for most of the book. The psychological horror section and bits of the portal fantasy were notable exceptions, especially the former, which was quite successful at creeping me out. The dialogue was stilted and affected, and Cashore frequently over-relied on quirks in place of deeper characterization. This was especially frustrating with Ivy, the love interest, and her babbling about Scrabble words. She mostly came off as awkward, and after all of that, I still had no idea why she was attracted to Jane, nor why Jane was supposedly attached to her.
I say 'supposedly' because Jane was my biggest problem with this book. I found her to be unempathetic, self-absorbed, and not very bright. I suspect, though cannot prove, that her constantly relating everything to her Aunt Magnolia or her umbrellas was meant as theme reiteration on Cashore's part, but instead it added to my impression of self-absorption. The fact that she chose what and who to care about in different timelines more or less on a whim, rather than from a deeper psychology or character decision added to the lack of empathy impression. She was supposed to be actively solving a variety of mysteries, but all her revelations came from 'insight,' or dumb luck. Yeah, I never warmed up to Jane.
And don't get me wrong, I love protagonists who are flawed or not conventionally likable. But I part of the reason they're so good is the people around them react to them as they really are. They irritate others. They fuck up their relationships. Instead, the other characters in this book bent over backward to reassure Jane she was likable and a good artist, no matter how rude she was to them. I love protagonists who have room to grow, and Jane learned things but didn't so much grow as a person.
She and Ivy had a silly meet-cute, and more or less instalove. I never had the sense Jane cared about Ivy's well-being, and Ivy wasn't quite a cypher, but she never came off the page either.
I do want to give credit for Kiran and her family having a bit more depth than the average character in this book. They were melodramatic at times, but Cashore did convincingly portray them as a family who care about one another despite their own respective issues. I wish the book had focused on them instead.
So yeah. Sorry I couldn't give y'all a positive recommendation. Maybe next week.
