Re Jane

by Patricia Park

[layawaydragon]

Well, this is a messy journey. It did drag in certain places and felt way too long towards the end. But I loved it. Especially the conclusion. There is so very much to love in this book, I don't know where to start. It seems the one thing people resoundly hate about it is calling it a re-telling of Jane Eyre. So let me present a different perspective on that.


In Defense of Beth & This Re-Telling:

"Bertha Mason is a complex presence in Jane Eyre. She impedes Jane’s happiness, but she also catalyses the growth of Jane’s self-understanding. "- Spark Notes.

Ding-ding-ding!

I think people, especially other white women reviewers, aren't giving proper credit. Beth is an interesting fully fledged character, if you look at her intersectionality. There is a gap between white feminists and racial intersectionality, not to mention the classism, and elitism. Like making the want ad for an au pair too wordy, literally saying we're in a post racial society, so there wasn't room to mention they were looking for a Chinese woman. And the transracial adoption. And how all the academics Beth looks up to and works towards being like are old white straight men! One of whom hits on Jane out of nowhere like the sexist, racist pig he is.

And who does Jane end up cutting out of her life at the end of it?

In fact, I'll so far as to say this is the Jane Eyre retelling for those who said FUCK MEN, and wanted the women to team up and smash the patriarchy.

Rochester sounds like a huge asshole anyways and Eyre should've left him for what he did to his wife and lying about it rather than for being married. Being a missionary in India is fucked up and not a good thing. Having the crazy wife kill herself and them sweep him up and bare his children? Yeah, not seeing the moral superiority and feminist value there.

This version about nunchi, dual heritage, different types of families, and finding a passion beyond a man is better take. It does explore love versus autonomy and substitute mothers. And thank gods it's not all about Christians and Christianity.

I don't condone cheating. I've DNF'd books for cheating. However, it happens. It's something that's personally painful for me but it needs to explored. It's controversial and in a way pushes the limits of today's literary scene like Jane Eyre did at the time. Only now we're smart enough to appreciate it ;)

In Re Jane, I find it more believable and understandable. Jane has obvious issues due to her childhood and has never been romantically affectionate before. Falling in love with a man in a crumbling marriage, she's impressionable, vulnerable, and desperate. I can see the slippery slope of them all keeping secrets from Beth with her impossibly high demands. And I find it disconcerting how there's so little backlash against the men for their far more reprehensible behavior (for both Ed and Rochester).

Notes Made While Reading:
Interesting about the "f" sound in Korean
Retail is HELL
haha love Unice
"post racial" bullshit
Aww Juan
lol Nina & her making fun of acedemic feminism "my uncle speaks better english"
They got Thanksgiving right.
Oh the fake turkey...
Therapy isn't a bad thing!
lol the fashion circa 2001
More Nina love - celebrate it.
He's married Jane, shut up.
oh god why skip the financial interview?
Not in her office!!
holy crap the graphic awkward oral vaginal sex.
She is freaking out.
Sure it's he couldn't keep it up and not that he came early?
holy shit she left!
holy shit 9/11. She would've died!
holy shit ED!
haha uncle worried and can't deal.
Interesting about Korean subjects in sentences, most important info first.
left her 100,000 & "share, not shame!"
That's BS about Big Uncle getting everything
Aww Auntie Emo
Sudden decisions galore
Interesting how Flushing is more conservative than Seoul, but makes sense. In Sol it's progression, Flushing sees the outside as corruption and giving up. Faces going more American in Seoul.
Chandler from friends. oy. jay z fan.
"development of myself schedule" so stealing this phrasing!
love the soap opera - lol
Jane you're being pretty stupid abt jeolous with Ed and beth
you made the choice first!
haha setting up chandler with monica
"rotting away in the bottom crisper of my mind"
Aww Nina.
omg, the "real American" scene in the bar
"Nina is a fucking genius" (nina says something) "Nina also has no fucking nunchi!" LOL
demonstrations down town b/c soldier found not guilty for running two korean kills down with a tank
"I've seen you around cannoli, you're more excited about that than Chandler"
omfg just tell her to shut up
holy shit finally her dad.
awww emo they say "watermelon" instead of "cheese"
poor devin
can't believe ed lost his family home
what about ed?
They are going to start a business together
There we go.
Feeling slow and dragging with 2.5 hrs
good decision
yeah saw the blackout and shower coming
great car ride scene
gentrification
love the epilogue