Sunday, December 23, 2018

My Plain Jane

Similar to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, My Plain Jane takes the story of Jane Eyre and spins it on its head. Here, Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre both exist in the same world. A Victorian "ghostbuster" society is trying to rationalize its existence and recruite Jane Eyre to its membership. However, Jane likes her ghost friend and doesn't want to join. There are also the advances from Rochester as well as other shenanigans going on. With this and the Eyre Affair, I've now read two books in the Jane Eyre universe that have left me totally confused as to what the actual book is about. Maybe I should try to read the original. This one, however, is rollicking good fun.
It presents the actual novel as a story that was inspired by Charlotte Bronte's experience with the real Jane Eyre. Charlotte and Jane are friends in this novel. Other historical and fictional characters also have various roles. I can make some educated guesses as to who is from the novel and who is from the author's life, but some could have just as well been created solely for this novel. The understanding doesn't really matter. (Though it could make things more interesting.) There are various cases of good ghosts, bad ghosts, and ghosts just meandering around. The bad guy ends up being super bad, but there are plenty of twists and turns, with just about everyone being a possible "bad guy". The book is a great "ghost mystery comedy" on its own.

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