Re Jane

Neither fluff, nor smut yet this book has good potential to be a sleeper hit this summer. It did take me a while to get into the path of Jane Re, but I really started to like and appreciate her as a character by the third act of the novel. It has some unsufferable characters, but they truly aid in Jane’s metamorphosis into a confident, well rounded woman.

What I loved: I loved being exposed to the Korean culture throughout the novel - both the in the long Americanized family based Queens as well as the with the remaining family still in Seoul. The concepts of Jung (A bond between 2 people) and tap-tap-hae (a feeling like the walls were closing in on you) are ideas I can apply in my own life.

What I didn’t love: Because most of the characters native tongue’s were Korean, they have a different word pattern and sentence structure that differs greatly from English. Basically, it was like reading Yoda. And I admit, my mind tuned out the “woman-speak” from Beth that makes up a lot of the first act of the story.

What I learned: No matter the culture – everyone’s family has their own share of problems.

Overall Grade: B+