Re Jane

by Patricia Park

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

The hype Re Jane received caught my attention, but that is all it was hype. Re Jane could have been a clever Jane Eyre retelling but instead, we received a bad adaptation of The Nanny, annoying voice and all.

The writing was mediocre and got tired of the amount of likes that were being used in conversations and the valley girl speech used in general. It seemed out of place in Queens and would have made more sense in California.

In Chapter 38 of Jane Eyre, the heroine Proclaims "Reader, I married him." Park nodded towards this line many, many, many times (think Donald Trump saying "China" ). It was a nice inclusion the first time, but as it was used throughout the novel got old really fast and extremely repetitive.

The biggest downfall for me was that Jane has an affair with Ed Farley, the novel's Mr. Rochester. Morally, I believe that to be wrong and have always had a hard time getting past that in books. Not only did she have a sordid affair but a cringeworthy sex scene was also spun into the mix and felt very unnecessary. Whatever happened to "they went into the bedroom" end scene? Where is the imagination when everything is laid out in front of you.

When Jane moves to Korea, I thought we were done with Rochester wannabe and the story would take a different course. How wrong I was, she pines for him and returns, trying to make up not only with him but to become BFFs with his daughter again, and was puzzled when she would have none of it. The fact that an attempt was made for said homewrecker to ingratiate herself with the family she wronged seemed improbable and completely inappropriate and left my eyes rolling.

The ending tied anything there was to salvage up in a tidy bow and became and enlightenment of Jane Re finding herself. Reader, unfortunately, I could not marry the enjoyment felt for Jane Eyre to Re Jane and came away disappointed.