Jane the Killer

The best summary I can give of this book is that is basically a Jane Eyre retelling except Jane is a serial killer. This book was classified under mystery at my library which I didn't understand because we know exactly who Jane killed. However, there is a mystery in the book. so I do understand why it was classified as such. Also, while I would best describe this as a retelling, the character of Jane Steele actually reads the novel Jane Eyre and is telling us her story because Jane Eyre's life is so similar to her own.

Jane Eyre is one of my favorite classic novels, so I was very interested in reading a retelling. I was both intrigued by the idea of Jane Eyre being a killer and also slightly disturbed. However, Jane only seems to kill men who hurt women which isn't really a good justification for killing anyone but I suppose revenge killings make her more relatable to the reader.

The novel does also discuss topics like colonizations with the East India company and how they invaded India. I am not sure the novel entirely covers the topic to satisfaction but I am also not sure that is the novel's purpose either. However, there is diversity in the cast of characters that is amazing. Many characters are characters of color and while not explicitly stated there is an asexual character and a lesbian character. The sexuality of the characters is not made a big deal of in the book and issues around sexuality in Victorian England are not covered and I actually like that. These characters just existed and that was one of the most refreshing things I have read. The words asexual and lesbian are not used to describe the characters in the novel but I think that is entirely appropriate to the era as those terms are fairly recent terms. To use those terms would actually have been historically inaccurate.

I want to speak about the love interest in the book which if you have read Jane Eyre you know exactly who it is. Though none of the characters' names are the same except for Jane's first name. Mr. Thornfield is wonderful. He is so much better than Mr. Rochester. There were questionable things about Mr. Rochester that make him a bit problematic and semi manipulative. Mr. Thornfield is not like that at all. He still has is issues and flaws. An interesting character is never perfect but Mr. Thornfield is just wonderful.

I honestly really want a sequel to this book so I can just read about Jane and Mr. Thornfield solving local crimes together. I am so bummed that there isn't.