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Re Jane
Journeying from Queens to Brooklyn to Seoul, and back, this is a fresh, contemporary retelling of Jane Eyre and a poignant Korean American debut
For Jane Re, half-Korean, half-American orphan, Flushing, Queens, is the place she’s been trying to escape from her whole life. Sardonic yet vulnerable, Jane toils, unappreciated, in her strict uncle’s grocery store and politely observes the traditional principle of nunchi (a combination of good manners, hierarchy, and obligation). Desperate for a new life, she’s thrilled to become the au pair for the Mazer-Farleys, two Brooklyn English professors and their adopted Chinese daughter. Inducted into the world of organic food co-ops, and nineteenth–century novels, Jane is the recipient of Beth Mazer’s feminist lectures and Ed Farley’s very male attention. But when a family death interrupts Jane and Ed’s blossoming affair, she flies off to Seoul, leaving New York far behind.
Reconnecting with family, and struggling to learn the ways of modern-day Korea, Jane begins to wonder if Ed Farley is really the man for her. Jane returns to Queens, where she must find a balance between two cultures and accept who she really is. Re Jane is a bright, comic story of falling in love, finding strength, and living not just out of obligation to others, but for one’s self.
For Jane Re, half-Korean, half-American orphan, Flushing, Queens, is the place she’s been trying to escape from her whole life. Sardonic yet vulnerable, Jane toils, unappreciated, in her strict uncle’s grocery store and politely observes the traditional principle of nunchi (a combination of good manners, hierarchy, and obligation). Desperate for a new life, she’s thrilled to become the au pair for the Mazer-Farleys, two Brooklyn English professors and their adopted Chinese daughter. Inducted into the world of organic food co-ops, and nineteenth–century novels, Jane is the recipient of Beth Mazer’s feminist lectures and Ed Farley’s very male attention. But when a family death interrupts Jane and Ed’s blossoming affair, she flies off to Seoul, leaving New York far behind.
Reconnecting with family, and struggling to learn the ways of modern-day Korea, Jane begins to wonder if Ed Farley is really the man for her. Jane returns to Queens, where she must find a balance between two cultures and accept who she really is. Re Jane is a bright, comic story of falling in love, finding strength, and living not just out of obligation to others, but for one’s self.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2015
124 people are currently reading
5352 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Park
4 books196 followers Patricia Park is the author of the award-winning novel, Re Jane, a Korean American retelling of Brontë’s Jane Eyre; and the YA novels, Imposter Syndrome & Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim, and the forthcoming, What’s Eating Jackie Oh? She is a tenured professor of creative writing at American University, a Fulbright scholar, an Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence, Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence, a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, and other awards. She has written for The New York Times, New Yorker, Guardian, and others. She was born and raised in Queens.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 735 reviews
May 20, 2015
Originally reviewed here @ Angieville
I was pretty excited when I first heard about Re Jane. A contemporary Korean American retelling of Jane Eyre? Yes, please. It's one of my favorite classics, and one I've had success (and some failures) with the retelling thereof. Authors do love to tinker with this tale. I've read every kind of version, from scifi and fantasy to steampunk and contemporary, and I am nothing if not up for another go. So I went into Patricia Park's debut novel with somewhat high hopes, even having heard that the Rochester character's wife was in fact alive and kicking and not at all locked up in their Brooklyn brownstone's attic. I decided to give Ms. Park the benefit of the doubt. I also love this cover. So modern, so bright, so full of promise.
Jane Re has thus far lived a lackluster life by most standards. She's spent her whole life under the thumb of her unloving and unmoving aunt and uncle, slaving away in the family grocery store at all hours and never quite managing to live up to expectations or fit into her Korean American Queens neighborhood. Finally, she graduates and, against everyone's better judgement (including possibly her own), takes a job as an au pair for a somewhat unorthodox couple in Brooklyn. The Mazer-Farley household is something of an enigma. Beth Mazer flits around bound and determined to be the most nonjudgmental of free spirits and insists her adopted Chinese daughter Devon and her fellow academic husband Ed follow suit. As Jane settles into her new home, she finds the workings of this unusual family fascinating, but the deeper entrenched she becomes, the harder it is to define just what role she is to play in their lives.
So. My favorite parts of this novel were unquestionably the early sections in which Jane describes her time in Queens, her interactions with her family, and her observations on how isolated she feels from everyone around her. I followed her willingly into the Mazer-Farley's house in her pursuit of something more, of a different kind of life. Her burgeoning relationship with the little girl Devon was, I thought, well-drawn and lovely. Unfortunately, when her relationship extended to falling in something with Ed Farley, my enjoyment came to a sound close. There was some attempt to portray how ill suited Ed and Beth were for each other, to pay lip service to the slow deterioration of their marriage, and to reserve any actual acting on their feelings for after the reader could "reasonably" be expected to have made their peace with the fact (if necessary). And the truth is that my main objections were not solely related to the fact that Jane and Ed were embarking on a relationship while all three adults (all three in possession of their right minds) were living in the same house together with an already conflicted (but brilliant) child there as well. I was actually most put off by the fact that Ed Farley was utterly lifeless and Jane seemed to lose vigor and presence in her own story (and in my mind) with every moment she spent with him.
I realize this is an updated retelling of the original, that it deviates in intentional and important ways, that it is much more about Jane's arc toward independence and self-fulfillment. But. She never resurfaces from her time with Farley. She escapes, feels remorse, and embarks on a journey to her homeland and yet her entire experience in Korea seems to whittle her down even further, until there is so little of the Jane I knew and loved in the beginning that she hardly warrants the name. She makes connections with her family and her past, yes, but it remains stubbornly unclear how these connections will inform her future life. Upon her return to America, I hoped for some revivification. I hoped for some of the wisdom and independence and control the narrative had led me all along to expect at some point. But it never came, or rather it came in name only, spelled out in so many words upon the page but containing in those words none of the actual emotion or heart one might expect to accompany a young woman coming full circle and taking up the reins of her life at last. I closed the book feeling . . . empty mainly.
I was pretty excited when I first heard about Re Jane. A contemporary Korean American retelling of Jane Eyre? Yes, please. It's one of my favorite classics, and one I've had success (and some failures) with the retelling thereof. Authors do love to tinker with this tale. I've read every kind of version, from scifi and fantasy to steampunk and contemporary, and I am nothing if not up for another go. So I went into Patricia Park's debut novel with somewhat high hopes, even having heard that the Rochester character's wife was in fact alive and kicking and not at all locked up in their Brooklyn brownstone's attic. I decided to give Ms. Park the benefit of the doubt. I also love this cover. So modern, so bright, so full of promise.
Jane Re has thus far lived a lackluster life by most standards. She's spent her whole life under the thumb of her unloving and unmoving aunt and uncle, slaving away in the family grocery store at all hours and never quite managing to live up to expectations or fit into her Korean American Queens neighborhood. Finally, she graduates and, against everyone's better judgement (including possibly her own), takes a job as an au pair for a somewhat unorthodox couple in Brooklyn. The Mazer-Farley household is something of an enigma. Beth Mazer flits around bound and determined to be the most nonjudgmental of free spirits and insists her adopted Chinese daughter Devon and her fellow academic husband Ed follow suit. As Jane settles into her new home, she finds the workings of this unusual family fascinating, but the deeper entrenched she becomes, the harder it is to define just what role she is to play in their lives.
So. My favorite parts of this novel were unquestionably the early sections in which Jane describes her time in Queens, her interactions with her family, and her observations on how isolated she feels from everyone around her. I followed her willingly into the Mazer-Farley's house in her pursuit of something more, of a different kind of life. Her burgeoning relationship with the little girl Devon was, I thought, well-drawn and lovely. Unfortunately, when her relationship extended to falling in something with Ed Farley, my enjoyment came to a sound close. There was some attempt to portray how ill suited Ed and Beth were for each other, to pay lip service to the slow deterioration of their marriage, and to reserve any actual acting on their feelings for after the reader could "reasonably" be expected to have made their peace with the fact (if necessary). And the truth is that my main objections were not solely related to the fact that Jane and Ed were embarking on a relationship while all three adults (all three in possession of their right minds) were living in the same house together with an already conflicted (but brilliant) child there as well. I was actually most put off by the fact that Ed Farley was utterly lifeless and Jane seemed to lose vigor and presence in her own story (and in my mind) with every moment she spent with him.
I realize this is an updated retelling of the original, that it deviates in intentional and important ways, that it is much more about Jane's arc toward independence and self-fulfillment. But. She never resurfaces from her time with Farley. She escapes, feels remorse, and embarks on a journey to her homeland and yet her entire experience in Korea seems to whittle her down even further, until there is so little of the Jane I knew and loved in the beginning that she hardly warrants the name. She makes connections with her family and her past, yes, but it remains stubbornly unclear how these connections will inform her future life. Upon her return to America, I hoped for some revivification. I hoped for some of the wisdom and independence and control the narrative had led me all along to expect at some point. But it never came, or rather it came in name only, spelled out in so many words upon the page but containing in those words none of the actual emotion or heart one might expect to accompany a young woman coming full circle and taking up the reins of her life at last. I closed the book feeling . . . empty mainly.
October 23, 2015
At one point Jane, as an Asian au pair in a relationship with her white, married employer set up an unfortunate comparison in my mind. Edward Rochester should not invoke Woody Allen. And the madwoman upstairs? She’s an overzealous, vegan, feminist academic. The whole thing threatens to be a little too New York. And don’t call it a retelling of Jane Eyre. It’s got tons of little Eyre Easter Eggs that provide a gleeful spark of recognition. Currer Bell! Lowood! But in the end the story and characters are their own.
I loved the bits of Korean sprinkled throughout. At my weekday lunch I’d prod my folks about their understanding of nunchi, tap-tap-hae and hon-yeol which prompted some wonderful, meandering conversations. Came for the Jane Eyre, stayed for the Korean.
I loved the bits of Korean sprinkled throughout. At my weekday lunch I’d prod my folks about their understanding of nunchi, tap-tap-hae and hon-yeol which prompted some wonderful, meandering conversations. Came for the Jane Eyre, stayed for the Korean.
August 11, 2015
I wanted to like this book. I love Jane Eyre, and I was curious about a Korean-American, modern-day take. I was also skeptical of the transition of this book to present day. The culture difference seemed a good way to show the class differences and the difficulty of the union between Jane/Rochester. But when you move Jane Eyre to present day, you know what? It gets creepy.
I think my main issue was that Jane Re had no misgivings about things becoming inappropriate between her and Ed until they were way past the point of no return. In the original material, Bertha is locked in the attic, and a secret. You can make whatever judgments you want about Rochester, but Jane in the original has no idea that Rochester is married. She feels bad enough that he might be about to be engaged to Miss Ingram, and about the vast divide between them re: class and economic status. And, although it's possible that Adele is Rochester's child (her mother was his mistress), she is not presented outright as Rochester's daughter. Even so, Jane in the original fights her emotions and is ready to flee Thornfield because of the Ingram situation. In Re Jane, Ed is married to Be(r)th(a), and the Adele in this book, Devon, is the adopted daughter of the two of them. AT NO TIME when Jane is feeling the beginnings of attraction to Ed does she say, "Whoa, I am the employee of these two, and he's married, and I'm the babysitter of their child." Falling in love with your employer despite your best efforts is a far cry from falling in love with the married father of the child you've been hired to care for. Sure, she leaves the country after they have a botched sexual encounter IN THE WIFE'S STUDY, but that's too little too late, yo. Don't get me wrong--I like flawed characters and unreliable narrators, but trying to make the bones of Jane Eyre fit in this modern retelling made everyone involved unlikable.
Jane comes off as shallow and petty--and maybe the author wanted to show Jane's emotional development by having her version of events paint the characters so black and white. Beth is a caricature, and Jane spends the first half of the book thinking how "mean" Beth is to the saintly good guy, Ed. By the end she sees Beth differently, but good god, woman.
The entire modern retelling was also a problem--if this is to be an update of Jane Eyre, then the work Jane Eyre shouldn't exist in the world that Park has created, right? Beth studies the Brontes. Okay, fine, maybe the Brontes exist, but Charlotte hasn't written Jane Eyre. But then we find out the paper Beth was delivering when Ed first met her was called "Who Let the Madwoman Out?: Bertha Mason and Nineteenth-Century (Mis)Constructs of the Female Hysteria, Madness, and the Vagina Dentata" (p. 122). THIS IS MAJORLY FUCKED UP. If Beth is so brilliant, she hasn't noticed she's Beth teaching at Mason College, married to a guy Ed, with a governess named Jane, and her office is in the attic, and she's "locked up" there all the time. Right. And don't get me started on having Jane's dad be Currer Bell. WTeverlovingF.
The good: most everything else not trying to hammer this story into the Jane Eyre mold. The conflict in Jane over being half-Korean/half-American, not knowing her parentage, not fitting in one world or the other, this was great and relatable. Her time in Korea was the best part of the book. Park's writing style is fun, and she has interesting things to say, and there are far too few voices of women of color in mainstream literature. Devon's arc was great to follow, as was the arc of Jane's relationship with Sang, her uncle.
I look forward to reading more from this author when she doesn't feel tethered to a literary gimmick.
I think my main issue was that Jane Re had no misgivings about things becoming inappropriate between her and Ed until they were way past the point of no return. In the original material, Bertha is locked in the attic, and a secret. You can make whatever judgments you want about Rochester, but Jane in the original has no idea that Rochester is married. She feels bad enough that he might be about to be engaged to Miss Ingram, and about the vast divide between them re: class and economic status. And, although it's possible that Adele is Rochester's child (her mother was his mistress), she is not presented outright as Rochester's daughter. Even so, Jane in the original fights her emotions and is ready to flee Thornfield because of the Ingram situation. In Re Jane, Ed is married to Be(r)th(a), and the Adele in this book, Devon, is the adopted daughter of the two of them. AT NO TIME when Jane is feeling the beginnings of attraction to Ed does she say, "Whoa, I am the employee of these two, and he's married, and I'm the babysitter of their child." Falling in love with your employer despite your best efforts is a far cry from falling in love with the married father of the child you've been hired to care for. Sure, she leaves the country after they have a botched sexual encounter IN THE WIFE'S STUDY, but that's too little too late, yo. Don't get me wrong--I like flawed characters and unreliable narrators, but trying to make the bones of Jane Eyre fit in this modern retelling made everyone involved unlikable.
Jane comes off as shallow and petty--and maybe the author wanted to show Jane's emotional development by having her version of events paint the characters so black and white. Beth is a caricature, and Jane spends the first half of the book thinking how "mean" Beth is to the saintly good guy, Ed. By the end she sees Beth differently, but good god, woman.
The entire modern retelling was also a problem--if this is to be an update of Jane Eyre, then the work Jane Eyre shouldn't exist in the world that Park has created, right? Beth studies the Brontes. Okay, fine, maybe the Brontes exist, but Charlotte hasn't written Jane Eyre. But then we find out the paper Beth was delivering when Ed first met her was called "Who Let the Madwoman Out?: Bertha Mason and Nineteenth-Century (Mis)Constructs of the Female Hysteria, Madness, and the Vagina Dentata" (p. 122). THIS IS MAJORLY FUCKED UP. If Beth is so brilliant, she hasn't noticed she's Beth teaching at Mason College, married to a guy Ed, with a governess named Jane, and her office is in the attic, and she's "locked up" there all the time. Right. And don't get me started on having Jane's dad be Currer Bell. WTeverlovingF.
The good: most everything else not trying to hammer this story into the Jane Eyre mold. The conflict in Jane over being half-Korean/half-American, not knowing her parentage, not fitting in one world or the other, this was great and relatable. Her time in Korea was the best part of the book. Park's writing style is fun, and she has interesting things to say, and there are far too few voices of women of color in mainstream literature. Devon's arc was great to follow, as was the arc of Jane's relationship with Sang, her uncle.
I look forward to reading more from this author when she doesn't feel tethered to a literary gimmick.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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March 2, 2015A re-telling of Jane Eyre set in modern Queens with a Korean-American protagonist? I jumped all over this with undignified fervor. Jane is an orphan who lives with her super-strict Korean uncle and his family, working in his grocery store while trying to fit in despite being half white and essentially an outcast. In a fit of rebellion, she leaves to be a live-in nanny for a women’s studies professor and her husband, the latter with whom she falls quickly in love. Tragedy strikes (not the one you’re thinking of, if you’ve read the original), and Jane flees to Korea- and here’s where Re Jane swerves away from the original in really interesting ways, becoming an examination of family, prejudice, immigrant culture, youth, and individualism. This is both a must-read for Jane Eyre-ites and a wholly new, original thing that stands firmly on its own story-telling legs. — Amanda Nelson
From The Best Books We Read In February: http://bookriot.com/2015/03/02/riot-r...
From The Best Books We Read In February: http://bookriot.com/2015/03/02/riot-r...
May 2, 2016
Jane would never ever ever EVER EVER NEVER EVER. That is fundamentally the core of the book and her character and having her do that means the author DOESN'T GET THE ORIGINAL since that is the WHOLE POINT OF THE STORY.
If this weren't on my Kindle, I would've thrown the book across the room, I swear. Just...no. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.
That would be like a Pride & Prejudice retelling where Darcy and Lizzie instantly hit it off and started dating. Or if Romeo & Juliet's families didn't hate each other. Or if Hamlet was just super happy about his uncle marrying his mom after his dad died and his dad's ghost visited him saying that he had been murdered. Would Hamlet be all, "Wow, that sucks, Dad, but Mom is super happy with Uncle Claudius now, and I'm just happy for her so probably you should go haunt somebody else"? I mean, that is how ridiculous the whole plot point in Re Jane is. If , you are no longer telling the story of Jane Eyre, but doing something else.
So basically I had to stop reading because of that. Who knew I was such a purist?
If this weren't on my Kindle, I would've thrown the book across the room, I swear. Just...no. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.
That would be like a Pride & Prejudice retelling where Darcy and Lizzie instantly hit it off and started dating. Or if Romeo & Juliet's families didn't hate each other. Or if Hamlet was just super happy about his uncle marrying his mom after his dad died and his dad's ghost visited him saying that he had been murdered. Would Hamlet be all, "Wow, that sucks, Dad, but Mom is super happy with Uncle Claudius now, and I'm just happy for her so probably you should go haunt somebody else"? I mean, that is how ridiculous the whole plot point in Re Jane is. If , you are no longer telling the story of Jane Eyre, but doing something else.
So basically I had to stop reading because of that. Who knew I was such a purist?
November 7, 2015
If this was not a retelling of Jane Eyre, I would have liked it more. That seems a contradictory thing, but, the worst parts of the book came when trying to fit Re Jane into Jane Eyre. The better parts were the cultural confusion of a Half Korean orphan raised in America faces when she returns to South Korea. I wish this was another immigrant novel, even when they are dime-a-dozen these days.
So. Re Jane (pronounced Ee Jane) is a misunderstood orphan who stays with her uncle and aunt and their two kids in Koreatown, Flushing. Jane doesn't belong anywhere, given that she looks like an alien because of her half American parentage. She also doesn't land a job, and signs up to be an au-pair for a Chinese adoptee, another misfit like herself. The parents are Ed Farley (the Rochester character), and Beth Mazer (Bertha Mason). Beth is a professor of Victorian feminism (or some such thing) and has an office in the attic. (Translate: the madwoman in the attic).
Anyway, I liked the Korean part, even with the Chandler, Monica, Rachel inserts. I also appreciated Jane's interactions with Sang and his family, and with her best friend Nina. But, since this is a retelling, I can't just let it slide without addressing the main three. There is Beth. She is a feminist, a vegan, and as such is portrayed to be completely out of touch with reality. She has no clue what makes her daughter tick, but is enthusiastic anyway. But she doesn't get a whole lot of sympathy from anyone.
I don't care for Rochester in the first place. I should have been perfectly fine with this version, except this dude has not an ounce of charisma. Rochester definitely had that - Jane had her issues with him, but the attraction was unmistakable. Why does this Jane like Ed Farley? I can only think that she liked the meaty hero sandwiches he made in the middle of godforsaken night, because none of the conversation that accompanied it, which is supposedly when Jane's heart melted, is actually in the book.
And Jane herself. I did not like her. She slept with a married man, in the woman's house, and ultimately got thanked by the woman herself (for something different, but still). I wouldn't have minded if this wasn't a contemporary Jane Eyre, but Jane Eyre worked for me because that Jane did. Conversely, Re Jane doesn't work for me because this Jane didn't. I really wish it was a normal Korean-American novel.
So. Re Jane (pronounced Ee Jane) is a misunderstood orphan who stays with her uncle and aunt and their two kids in Koreatown, Flushing. Jane doesn't belong anywhere, given that she looks like an alien because of her half American parentage. She also doesn't land a job, and signs up to be an au-pair for a Chinese adoptee, another misfit like herself. The parents are Ed Farley (the Rochester character), and Beth Mazer (Bertha Mason). Beth is a professor of Victorian feminism (or some such thing) and has an office in the attic. (Translate: the madwoman in the attic).
Anyway, I liked the Korean part, even with the Chandler, Monica, Rachel inserts. I also appreciated Jane's interactions with Sang and his family, and with her best friend Nina. But, since this is a retelling, I can't just let it slide without addressing the main three. There is Beth. She is a feminist, a vegan, and as such is portrayed to be completely out of touch with reality. She has no clue what makes her daughter tick, but is enthusiastic anyway. But she doesn't get a whole lot of sympathy from anyone.
I don't care for Rochester in the first place. I should have been perfectly fine with this version, except this dude has not an ounce of charisma. Rochester definitely had that - Jane had her issues with him, but the attraction was unmistakable. Why does this Jane like Ed Farley? I can only think that she liked the meaty hero sandwiches he made in the middle of godforsaken night, because none of the conversation that accompanied it, which is supposedly when Jane's heart melted, is actually in the book.
And Jane herself. I did not like her. She slept with a married man, in the woman's house, and ultimately got thanked by the woman herself (for something different, but still). I wouldn't have minded if this wasn't a contemporary Jane Eyre, but Jane Eyre worked for me because that Jane did. Conversely, Re Jane doesn't work for me because this Jane didn't. I really wish it was a normal Korean-American novel.
January 30, 2015
I loved this book. It's inspiration was Jane Eyre, but it does such wonderful tricks with that premise. Jane is a smart, sassy Korean-American girl from Queens. Both parents dead, she's orphaned as an infant and raised by her uncle and aunt in a household where perfection is expected, favoritism for their biological children frightening, and outright expressions of love suspect. But the uncle is a heartbreaking figure, both infuriatingly cold to Jane but underneath still desperate to see her succeed in the new world. The house Jane escapes to nanny in is that of faux-liberal academics with their fair share of ridiculous expectations, judgment of Jane's upbringing, and betrayals. The book nails both of these worlds in unexpected and hilarious ways. A great read, full of the perfect twists and complications. It challenges your assumptions too.
January 6, 2016
I love the promise of this book: a retelling of Jane Eyre with a modern Korean-American woman cast in the titular role. Literary retellings are often hit-or-miss with me, but I loved the way Patricia Park spun this particular novel. But, unfortunately, I feel that like many retellings, Re Jane just could not compare to Brontë’s original novel. When I was able to forget the derivative nature of the book, I enjoyed it, but often, and especially during the first half, it was hard to forget.
SOLID BOOK, BAD RETELLING
While I like that the author has been able to prove the “immortality” of literature by changing the circumstances of Brontë’s novel so greatly, I also think she would have just been better off by writing a novel treating the same themes that wasn’t a retelling. When I was constantly comparing this with Jane Eyre and thinking about how Park had changed the themes and characterizations and just, in general, couldn’t live up to the original, the book sucked. It sucked a lot. But when I was immersed in Jane’s story and her struggle for identity and love and independence, it was quite good.
By making this book a retelling, Park invited all sort of comparisons in which her work could only come up wanting, I think. The story of a Korean-American orphan living in Queens, trying to find her way in life, is one I like. Just toss out all those allusions to Brontë and we’re solid.
CONCERNING THE “MAD WIFE”…
I’m of two minds about the role of the Bertha Mason Rochester character Re Jane. In a modern setting, it’s obviously difficult to create the “crazy attic wife” persona believably without turning the Mr. Rochester stand-in into a horrible monster. Rather. what Park did was turn the wife character, Beth, into a overbearing, pretentious women’s studies professor whose ardent feminism is caricaturized and whose drive for her work is what pushes her husband into Jane’s arms.
Um.
That’s not really good. What this does is put Ed Farley, Beth’s husband into the role as victim, even though he’s the one committing the infidelity. Poor, poor Ed. Such a nagging, disagreeable wife, no wonder he had an affair. That just so gross. Regardless of any marital problems, Beth didn’t deserve to have her husband lie and sneak around and cheat on her. The way Re Jane suggests she did deserve those things was disgusting.
The character of Bertha Mason is probably the most difficult one in the original novel, I agree. I’ve read two modern adaptations now, and neither one has satisfied me in their treatment of this woman.
TRULY SKETCHY PROSE
Okay, so I’m just going to say I don’t think the writing in Re Jane is good.
For example, the “dear reader” asides, which are a hallmark of Jane Eyre, just felt cheesy and fake in this book. Like: “Then, ignoring those nagging voices inside me, I reached in for more. Sometime you just had to shut off your brain and do what felt right. Reader—it was delicious.” It was delicious? Really?
Then there was this truly lovely sex scene: “[His] tongue shuttling back and forth inside me, his saliva slapping the sides of my vaginal walls.” WHAT. I don’t even understand this.
And in general, Park relied heavily on summarization of events when she should have put them in-scene. Example “…after that night on the Promenade, our connection grew all the more deep.” But how did it grow stronger? In what ways? What does a stronger connection even look like for these people? I want this dramatized for me, not told to me point-blank.
RE JANE: MOSTLY A DUD
I think there were some great moments in Re Jane, and as I said, I love the concept and only wish Park had been able to do more with this. This was a different kind of immigrant story, and I liked the ways in which Jane grew over the course of the book. It was just that I couldn’t stop remembering that this was a retelling, and that as such, it was failing more than it was succeeding.
SOLID BOOK, BAD RETELLING
While I like that the author has been able to prove the “immortality” of literature by changing the circumstances of Brontë’s novel so greatly, I also think she would have just been better off by writing a novel treating the same themes that wasn’t a retelling. When I was constantly comparing this with Jane Eyre and thinking about how Park had changed the themes and characterizations and just, in general, couldn’t live up to the original, the book sucked. It sucked a lot. But when I was immersed in Jane’s story and her struggle for identity and love and independence, it was quite good.
By making this book a retelling, Park invited all sort of comparisons in which her work could only come up wanting, I think. The story of a Korean-American orphan living in Queens, trying to find her way in life, is one I like. Just toss out all those allusions to Brontë and we’re solid.
CONCERNING THE “MAD WIFE”…
I’m of two minds about the role of the Bertha Mason Rochester character Re Jane. In a modern setting, it’s obviously difficult to create the “crazy attic wife” persona believably without turning the Mr. Rochester stand-in into a horrible monster. Rather. what Park did was turn the wife character, Beth, into a overbearing, pretentious women’s studies professor whose ardent feminism is caricaturized and whose drive for her work is what pushes her husband into Jane’s arms.
Um.
That’s not really good. What this does is put Ed Farley, Beth’s husband into the role as victim, even though he’s the one committing the infidelity. Poor, poor Ed. Such a nagging, disagreeable wife, no wonder he had an affair. That just so gross. Regardless of any marital problems, Beth didn’t deserve to have her husband lie and sneak around and cheat on her. The way Re Jane suggests she did deserve those things was disgusting.
The character of Bertha Mason is probably the most difficult one in the original novel, I agree. I’ve read two modern adaptations now, and neither one has satisfied me in their treatment of this woman.
TRULY SKETCHY PROSE
Okay, so I’m just going to say I don’t think the writing in Re Jane is good.
For example, the “dear reader” asides, which are a hallmark of Jane Eyre, just felt cheesy and fake in this book. Like: “Then, ignoring those nagging voices inside me, I reached in for more. Sometime you just had to shut off your brain and do what felt right. Reader—it was delicious.” It was delicious? Really?
Then there was this truly lovely sex scene: “[His] tongue shuttling back and forth inside me, his saliva slapping the sides of my vaginal walls.” WHAT. I don’t even understand this.
And in general, Park relied heavily on summarization of events when she should have put them in-scene. Example “…after that night on the Promenade, our connection grew all the more deep.” But how did it grow stronger? In what ways? What does a stronger connection even look like for these people? I want this dramatized for me, not told to me point-blank.
RE JANE: MOSTLY A DUD
I think there were some great moments in Re Jane, and as I said, I love the concept and only wish Park had been able to do more with this. This was a different kind of immigrant story, and I liked the ways in which Jane grew over the course of the book. It was just that I couldn’t stop remembering that this was a retelling, and that as such, it was failing more than it was succeeding.
December 16, 2015
(1.5 stars) Oh man, I really wanted to like this book: not only am I half-Asian like the book’s protagonist, but I’m also a pretty big fan of Jane Eyre. Patricia Park does a wonderful job of portraying the awkward cultural space inhabited by many people of mixed race. Unfortunately, too many things in this book just didn’t work for me. (Including the writing... the prose itself was riddled with cliches and awkward similes.)
Missing fundamental parts of Jane Eyre’s personality
One of the things I love about Jane Eyre is her strong sense of right and wrong, which is a fundamental part of her personality. Now, I’m perfectly aware that Eyre’s Victorian sensibilities don’t translate to early 21st-century New York – but the actions of her Korean-American counterpart make it impossible for me to see the two characters as related.
Jane Eyre fell in love with an employer she believed to be a bachelor. When she discovered that he was, in fact, married, she miserably removed herself from the situation.
In contrast: Jane Re intentionally sleeps with a married man, betraying his well-meaning wife and destabilizing the life of his young daughter. She knows that this is a terrible, destructive thing to do, but she does it anyway. It’s pretty hard for me to stay sympathetic to Jane after this kind of betrayal.
References don’t feel “earned”
Too often, it felt like something had been placed in the story solely as a nod to Bronte, rather than flowing naturally from the plot. Ed Farley (Rochester’s NYC alter-ego) was briefly grumpy with Jane Re, but he got over it pretty fast. Their interaction was nowhere as turbulent or fascinating as Rochester’s slow courtship of Jane Eyre – and, in fact, Ed Farley’s brief grumpiness didn’t seem to have much of an effect on their romance at all.
A lot of references were too on-the-nose for my tastes. Jane's father turns out to be a man named Currer Bell. The Bertha Mason stand-in wrote a dissertation called "Who Let the Madwoman Out?: Bertha Mason and Nineteenth-Century (Mis)Constructs of Female Hysteria, Madness, and the Vagina Dentata". I mean.... it's really too on-the-nose.
Also, the narrator peppers her thoughts with “Reader” this and “Dear Reader,” that: obvious references to famous Brontean lines like “Reader, I married him.” This kind of aside makes sense in Jane Eyre since it was written as a pretend autobiography, but Re Jane makes no such claim – so what reader is Jane Re supposed to be talking to? Is she writing down her experiences as a memoir, or just silently reminiscing to herself? It’s never, ever explained.
While it’s fun to be able to pick out all the references to Jane Eyre, this novel leans too heavily on its predecessor to stand on its own.
Missing fundamental parts of Jane Eyre’s personality
One of the things I love about Jane Eyre is her strong sense of right and wrong, which is a fundamental part of her personality. Now, I’m perfectly aware that Eyre’s Victorian sensibilities don’t translate to early 21st-century New York – but the actions of her Korean-American counterpart make it impossible for me to see the two characters as related.
Jane Eyre fell in love with an employer she believed to be a bachelor. When she discovered that he was, in fact, married, she miserably removed herself from the situation.
In contrast: Jane Re intentionally sleeps with a married man, betraying his well-meaning wife and destabilizing the life of his young daughter. She knows that this is a terrible, destructive thing to do, but she does it anyway. It’s pretty hard for me to stay sympathetic to Jane after this kind of betrayal.
References don’t feel “earned”
Too often, it felt like something had been placed in the story solely as a nod to Bronte, rather than flowing naturally from the plot. Ed Farley (Rochester’s NYC alter-ego) was briefly grumpy with Jane Re, but he got over it pretty fast. Their interaction was nowhere as turbulent or fascinating as Rochester’s slow courtship of Jane Eyre – and, in fact, Ed Farley’s brief grumpiness didn’t seem to have much of an effect on their romance at all.
A lot of references were too on-the-nose for my tastes. Jane's father turns out to be a man named Currer Bell. The Bertha Mason stand-in wrote a dissertation called "Who Let the Madwoman Out?: Bertha Mason and Nineteenth-Century (Mis)Constructs of Female Hysteria, Madness, and the Vagina Dentata". I mean.... it's really too on-the-nose.
Also, the narrator peppers her thoughts with “Reader” this and “Dear Reader,” that: obvious references to famous Brontean lines like “Reader, I married him.” This kind of aside makes sense in Jane Eyre since it was written as a pretend autobiography, but Re Jane makes no such claim – so what reader is Jane Re supposed to be talking to? Is she writing down her experiences as a memoir, or just silently reminiscing to herself? It’s never, ever explained.
While it’s fun to be able to pick out all the references to Jane Eyre, this novel leans too heavily on its predecessor to stand on its own.
May 4, 2016
The story is supposedly related to Jane Eyre, with "Re Jane" being a pun, as in Jane Redux. I read that classic a long time ago, don't recall much of the plot, but feel the connection hangs largely on the modern Jane's position as a nanny for part of the story.
Myself, I'd compare it a bit more with Cinderella. As the story opens, Jane Re (a variant on the Korean surname Rhee, I suppose) is working in her uncle's grocery in Flushing, Queens, having failed to land a job in finance after graduating from Baruch (City University of New York's business school). Her Korean mother and American father died in Korea when she was a baby, so she was shipped off by the patriarch to his younger son in NYC to raise - problem solved. I dislike rehashing plots, and don't want any spoilers, so I'll give one of the latter to say that Jane comes out okay in the end. She accomplishes this by doing what feels right for her; at crunch times, that isn't often the easy way out.
I can vouch for the NYC setting details, as I went to Queens College in Flushing (as well as grad school at Baruch), so I'm certain the Korean ones are just as spot-on. There's skewering of academics and helicopter parents, along with lots of information about Korean culture, both in Asia and America. The bi-racial angle I felt was handled best with the inclusion of Devon, the girl for whom she's a nanny: Chinese adoptee, but two white American parents living in NYC, not China! One thing that seemed a tad ... grafted-on (I suppose) was 9/11 as a setting detail. I lived in Manhattan at that time, so was surprised to read about Jane calling back within hours to check on folks there, when the phone circuits were kaput for at least a couple of days (email continued working as usual). Its main use for me was to fix the era.
Listening to the audio sample, I felt the narrator was too "immigrant" sounding for Jane, who left as a baby, attending American schools her entire life, even if they spoke Korean at home. The print book was quite well written, so I'd recommend that route.
Definitely recommended!
Myself, I'd compare it a bit more with Cinderella. As the story opens, Jane Re (a variant on the Korean surname Rhee, I suppose) is working in her uncle's grocery in Flushing, Queens, having failed to land a job in finance after graduating from Baruch (City University of New York's business school). Her Korean mother and American father died in Korea when she was a baby, so she was shipped off by the patriarch to his younger son in NYC to raise - problem solved. I dislike rehashing plots, and don't want any spoilers, so I'll give one of the latter to say that Jane comes out okay in the end. She accomplishes this by doing what feels right for her; at crunch times, that isn't often the easy way out.
I can vouch for the NYC setting details, as I went to Queens College in Flushing (as well as grad school at Baruch), so I'm certain the Korean ones are just as spot-on. There's skewering of academics and helicopter parents, along with lots of information about Korean culture, both in Asia and America. The bi-racial angle I felt was handled best with the inclusion of Devon, the girl for whom she's a nanny: Chinese adoptee, but two white American parents living in NYC, not China! One thing that seemed a tad ... grafted-on (I suppose) was 9/11 as a setting detail. I lived in Manhattan at that time, so was surprised to read about Jane calling back within hours to check on folks there, when the phone circuits were kaput for at least a couple of days (email continued working as usual). Its main use for me was to fix the era.
Listening to the audio sample, I felt the narrator was too "immigrant" sounding for Jane, who left as a baby, attending American schools her entire life, even if they spoke Korean at home. The print book was quite well written, so I'd recommend that route.
Definitely recommended!
Read
December 15, 2015I so enjoyed this, and could relate very much to the cultural dynamics; lots of truths here and the author doesn't sugarcoat observations of culture and class. I haven't read Jane Eyre (unless I did in school and have since forgotten all about it), and while I don't think it's necessary to appreciate the novel, I'm sure it would have added another layer to my enjoyment.
January 30, 2015
Re Jane is an absolute treat. A re-telling of Jane Eyre with a Korean-American Jane, set in Queens, this book is full of beautiful language, strongly drawn characters, an abundance of heart, and, of course, nunchi.
April 12, 2025
This book would be stronger if it stood on its own as a coming-of-age and cultural identity story, rather than inviting constant comparison to Jane Eyre. The parallel only sets expectations it can’t meet.
The story follows Jane Re, a half-Korean, half-American young woman raised by her stern aunt and uncle in the U.S. after losing her parents. She later becomes a live-in tutor for the Farley-Mazur family in Brooklyn, caring for their adopted Chinese daughter, Devon. The household is a world apart from Jane’s upbringing, and she soon becomes romantically involved with Ed, the child’s adoptive father. Disturbed by the relationship, Jane abruptly leaves for Korea in search of her roots and her long-lost family.
Unfortunately, the connection between Jane and Ed lacks any real spark. Ed is flat and charisma-free, and the ethics of their affair are troubling—not only for the reader, but also for any emotional investment in their dynamic. Unlike the brooding magnetism between Jane Eyre and Rochester, there’s little here to root for.
Pacing is another challenge. The book feels long and meandering, with most character development jammed into the final chapters. Jane Re, our protagonist, struggles to garner sympathy. She betrays those who trust her, walks away from a child who depends on her, and rarely shows genuine warmth or insight toward those around her—including Sang, her American uncle, whose story hints at untapped emotional depth. There are moments where a more nuanced relationship between Jane and Sang tries to break through, but they never quite land.
The novel explores themes of identity, family, and cultural pressure, but these threads don’t feel fully realized. Jane’s journey to Korea seems more like an escape than growth, culminating in her deferring yet again—this time to the expectations of her Korean relatives and a new romantic interest. It’s unclear what kind of personal transformation the story is aiming for.
Even without the shadow of Jane Eyre, this novel lacks the emotional weight and character complexity needed to carry its plot. There are glimpses of something more meaningful—particularly in the themes of belonging and heritage—but they’re lost in a story that ultimately feels unresolved and emotionally distant.
The story follows Jane Re, a half-Korean, half-American young woman raised by her stern aunt and uncle in the U.S. after losing her parents. She later becomes a live-in tutor for the Farley-Mazur family in Brooklyn, caring for their adopted Chinese daughter, Devon. The household is a world apart from Jane’s upbringing, and she soon becomes romantically involved with Ed, the child’s adoptive father. Disturbed by the relationship, Jane abruptly leaves for Korea in search of her roots and her long-lost family.
Unfortunately, the connection between Jane and Ed lacks any real spark. Ed is flat and charisma-free, and the ethics of their affair are troubling—not only for the reader, but also for any emotional investment in their dynamic. Unlike the brooding magnetism between Jane Eyre and Rochester, there’s little here to root for.
Pacing is another challenge. The book feels long and meandering, with most character development jammed into the final chapters. Jane Re, our protagonist, struggles to garner sympathy. She betrays those who trust her, walks away from a child who depends on her, and rarely shows genuine warmth or insight toward those around her—including Sang, her American uncle, whose story hints at untapped emotional depth. There are moments where a more nuanced relationship between Jane and Sang tries to break through, but they never quite land.
The novel explores themes of identity, family, and cultural pressure, but these threads don’t feel fully realized. Jane’s journey to Korea seems more like an escape than growth, culminating in her deferring yet again—this time to the expectations of her Korean relatives and a new romantic interest. It’s unclear what kind of personal transformation the story is aiming for.
Even without the shadow of Jane Eyre, this novel lacks the emotional weight and character complexity needed to carry its plot. There are glimpses of something more meaningful—particularly in the themes of belonging and heritage—but they’re lost in a story that ultimately feels unresolved and emotionally distant.
April 7, 2015
Jane has lived in Flushing, Queens her entire life. After she was orphaned as a baby, her grandfather sent her from South Korea to live with her Uncle in America. She was always told it was for her own good due to the fact that her father was an American G.I. During that time, many Koreans were still racist towards biracial people. Jane doesn't see how growing up in Korea could have been any worse then the life she has in Flushing. She felt the same prejudices in America. She was, if not shunned, then kept at a distance by her peers. At home, she feels she is treated no better then an indentured servant. When she is offered the chance to work as a au pair for the Mazer-Farley family, she jumps at the chance. The Mazer-Farleys may be a little odd, but they treat her well and Jane absolutely loves their daughter, Devon. Things are great at first, then two things happen. She starts to fall in the with her employer, Ed, and there is a sudden death in her family that will send her rushing to Korea. Jane will find out the Korea of today is very different then the Korea she has heard about her entire life. It might even be the perfect place for her.
This was without a doubt the best retelling of Jane Eyre I have ever read. Park's writing is pure magic. The story never felt rushed or felt dragging at any point. The changes she made to the original story, in order to make it work for the early 2000s setting , felt right. All the characters were unique with their own distinct personalities. The American and Korean story-lines worked really well together. The only real problem I had with the book was Ed. It seems he is supposed to come of as loving and nurturing. Just a guy who had things turn out differently then plan. To me, though, he came off as manipulative and controlling. He was definitely no Mr. Rochester.
I will definitely keep an eye out for future titles by Park.
**Thank you Pamela Dorman Books/PENGUIN GROUP Viking and Netgalley for providing this in exchange for an honest review**
This was without a doubt the best retelling of Jane Eyre I have ever read. Park's writing is pure magic. The story never felt rushed or felt dragging at any point. The changes she made to the original story, in order to make it work for the early 2000s setting , felt right. All the characters were unique with their own distinct personalities. The American and Korean story-lines worked really well together. The only real problem I had with the book was Ed. It seems he is supposed to come of as loving and nurturing. Just a guy who had things turn out differently then plan. To me, though, he came off as manipulative and controlling. He was definitely no Mr. Rochester.
I will definitely keep an eye out for future titles by Park.
**Thank you Pamela Dorman Books/PENGUIN GROUP Viking and Netgalley for providing this in exchange for an honest review**
May 24, 2015
This contemporary spin on Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' gets jolt of energy from being set in the Korean enclave of Flushing, Queens. It tells the story of Jane Re, who, as a 'honhyol' (mixed American-Korean) orphan, has always felt slightly at odds with her community. Jane lives with her aunt Hannah and uncle Sang, who, with his pidgin English tough love, is the book's best character. After losing a job with a prestigious bank, Jane is forced to work at uncle Sang's humorously named FOOD, a Korean grocery store, until she takes a job as babysitter to the Mazer-Farleys, a straight-from-central-casting Brooklyn couple with an adopted Chinese daughter.
Anyone who knows 'Jane Eyre' can guess what happens from there -- except that, instead of Bronte's demure addresses to the reader ("Reader, I married him") we get something a little more contemporary ("Reader, he couldn't get it up.") At its best, Park's updating is clever and funny -- for example, the Bertha Rochester character, Beth Mazer-Farley, is a dowdy feminist academic who pulls Jane up to her attic office for weekly feminist rants (the contemporary equivalent of the madwoman in the attic). And when Jane is forced to flee the scene, she goes to Seoul in an attempt to discover a long-abandoned family and identity, and we see the ways in which Korean Queens culture has diverged from the original.
I would have liked to give this book three and a half stars, but since that isn't available I'm rounding up. I did feel that the book lost a considerable amount of steam after Jane got to Korea, and that the relationship between Jane and Ed Farley was thin and suffered in comparison to the Bronte original. (That's part of Park's complicated agenda, because basically, a straight apples-for-apples adaptation of 'Jane Eyre' would be politically incorrect.) I also thought that (barring sexual references) the writing felt like a YA novel at times.
That said, this book taught me a lot about the Korean community in NYC, including some really useful Korean expressions like "tap=tap-hae" (a feeling of social/psychological claustrophobia) and "nunchi" (the ability to empathize and smooth over a socially awkward situation). The Bronte references were also fun and set 'Re Jane' apart from such Asian-American second-generation novels as 'The Joy Luck Club' and 'Native Speaker.'
Anyone who knows 'Jane Eyre' can guess what happens from there -- except that, instead of Bronte's demure addresses to the reader ("Reader, I married him") we get something a little more contemporary ("Reader, he couldn't get it up.") At its best, Park's updating is clever and funny -- for example, the Bertha Rochester character, Beth Mazer-Farley, is a dowdy feminist academic who pulls Jane up to her attic office for weekly feminist rants (the contemporary equivalent of the madwoman in the attic). And when Jane is forced to flee the scene, she goes to Seoul in an attempt to discover a long-abandoned family and identity, and we see the ways in which Korean Queens culture has diverged from the original.
I would have liked to give this book three and a half stars, but since that isn't available I'm rounding up. I did feel that the book lost a considerable amount of steam after Jane got to Korea, and that the relationship between Jane and Ed Farley was thin and suffered in comparison to the Bronte original. (That's part of Park's complicated agenda, because basically, a straight apples-for-apples adaptation of 'Jane Eyre' would be politically incorrect.) I also thought that (barring sexual references) the writing felt like a YA novel at times.
That said, this book taught me a lot about the Korean community in NYC, including some really useful Korean expressions like "tap=tap-hae" (a feeling of social/psychological claustrophobia) and "nunchi" (the ability to empathize and smooth over a socially awkward situation). The Bronte references were also fun and set 'Re Jane' apart from such Asian-American second-generation novels as 'The Joy Luck Club' and 'Native Speaker.'
February 2, 2015
Jane, a Korean-American orphan, grows up working in her Uncle Sang and Aunt Hanna’s grocery store in a Korean neighborhood of Queens where everyone knows her business and where expectations are stifling. Home life isn’t much better, where her aunt and uncle indulge their own children but expect more from the orphan Jane, who must quell her opinions and be grateful. Her place in the family is underscored nightly when Aunt Hanna dishes out the best portions of the fish to her husband and children and serves Jane last, with just half a fish-head. The only conversation is critical, with relentless pressure to succeed. “You want something happen?” says Uncle Sang. “You gotta make happen. When other people sleeping, you suppose to be digging well.”
From this claustrophobic environment Jane escapes to what may as well be another world, though it’s only a subway-ride away: the liberal-academic home of the Mazer-Farleys, where Jane is hired to nanny for their adopted Chinese daughter. After being called back to Korea for a family death, and after a heartbreaking reunion between Uncle Sang and his own demanding father, Jane begins to understand that her uncle suffers too, and that he is as hard on himself as he is on her. What at first seemed like cruelty Jane now understands as ingrained (if outdated) custom, as well as a deep devotion to her well-being. After all, when Aunt Hanna serves Jane only half a fish head at dinner, the other half is for herself.
With beautiful writing and a smart, funny voice, Re Jane is the story of a young woman who escapes from her roots and then comes back to them, wiser, and on her own terms.
From this claustrophobic environment Jane escapes to what may as well be another world, though it’s only a subway-ride away: the liberal-academic home of the Mazer-Farleys, where Jane is hired to nanny for their adopted Chinese daughter. After being called back to Korea for a family death, and after a heartbreaking reunion between Uncle Sang and his own demanding father, Jane begins to understand that her uncle suffers too, and that he is as hard on himself as he is on her. What at first seemed like cruelty Jane now understands as ingrained (if outdated) custom, as well as a deep devotion to her well-being. After all, when Aunt Hanna serves Jane only half a fish head at dinner, the other half is for herself.
With beautiful writing and a smart, funny voice, Re Jane is the story of a young woman who escapes from her roots and then comes back to them, wiser, and on her own terms.
June 10, 2015
Best riff on Jane Eyre I've ever read (probably the third...). It's not chick-lit and it's not lightweight fan fiction. This is real literature with its explorations of what it means to be a mixed-race Korean American in both the U.S. and in Korea. Jane comes of age as she comes to terms with her racial, cultural, family, and community identities.
March 17, 2017
Since this definitely makes my list of favorite books I've read in the last few years, I'm going to review this like it's serious business. Which it is. Good books are always serious business.
The fact that Re Jane is a Korean American retelling of Jane Eyre set in New York is pretty compelling all by itself. I'm all about classic retellings! And I'm an even bigger fan of Asian Americans portrayed in fiction. I reserved judgement though, because Jane Eyre is, in fact, one of my least favorite novels of that time period. What can I say, I like my stories to be happy, not full of forbidden love and bitter melancholy.
But, Re Jane puts a new spin on Jane Eyre in the best possible way. The main character Jane (of course) lives in Flushing, Queens with her uncle's family, trying to figure out her life while working at the family grocery store. The family dynamics, the way love is expressed and disguised in often annoying ways, the close ties between everyone... I could relate. Every character, from family to friends, was written with so much genuine feeling and detail that at times, I forgot I was reading a Jane Eyre retelling. I forgot where the train was headed.
Of course, the book still went in the expected direction. Jane becomes the au-pair of the Mazer-Farleys, and catches the eye of Ed Farley. Here again, despite the family's unusual nature -- an English teacher and a professor with an adopted Chinese girl -- I bought it. It felt real. And the way the Mazer-Farleys viewed Jane's Korean family as outsiders and culturally backward. That also felt real.
I've never loved the ending of Jane Eyre, and I'll avoid saying anything about the ending of Re Jane -- except that it improved on Jane Eyre so, so much. The entire novel is a pleasure to read, but the ending really takes it to the next level. In the end, Jane truly comes to terms with her identity and desires. She finds her own path.
The cultural details, the way Re Jane parallels Jane Eyre, the engaging characters... everything about Re Jane was wonderful. Read it if you want something good in your life.
The fact that Re Jane is a Korean American retelling of Jane Eyre set in New York is pretty compelling all by itself. I'm all about classic retellings! And I'm an even bigger fan of Asian Americans portrayed in fiction. I reserved judgement though, because Jane Eyre is, in fact, one of my least favorite novels of that time period. What can I say, I like my stories to be happy, not full of forbidden love and bitter melancholy.
But, Re Jane puts a new spin on Jane Eyre in the best possible way. The main character Jane (of course) lives in Flushing, Queens with her uncle's family, trying to figure out her life while working at the family grocery store. The family dynamics, the way love is expressed and disguised in often annoying ways, the close ties between everyone... I could relate. Every character, from family to friends, was written with so much genuine feeling and detail that at times, I forgot I was reading a Jane Eyre retelling. I forgot where the train was headed.
Of course, the book still went in the expected direction. Jane becomes the au-pair of the Mazer-Farleys, and catches the eye of Ed Farley. Here again, despite the family's unusual nature -- an English teacher and a professor with an adopted Chinese girl -- I bought it. It felt real. And the way the Mazer-Farleys viewed Jane's Korean family as outsiders and culturally backward. That also felt real.
I've never loved the ending of Jane Eyre, and I'll avoid saying anything about the ending of Re Jane -- except that it improved on Jane Eyre so, so much. The entire novel is a pleasure to read, but the ending really takes it to the next level. In the end, Jane truly comes to terms with her identity and desires. She finds her own path.
The cultural details, the way Re Jane parallels Jane Eyre, the engaging characters... everything about Re Jane was wonderful. Read it if you want something good in your life.
January 31, 2016
The danger in reviewing Patricia Park's book is that in listing her many accolades BS accomplishments, you'll miss out on the smart fun of her debut novel, RE JANE.
She's not only a Fulbright scholar, but a first-time novelist who earned the author trifecta:
The New York Times Sunday Book Review named RE JANE as Editor's Choice.
NPR's Fresh Air called RE JANE "a wickedly inventive updating of Jane Eyre,"
And O, Oprah's magazine!!, writes, "Reader, you'll love her."
In RE JANE, Park has dared to re-make beloved heroine Jane Eyre into a Korean-American orphan growing up in the 00's in Queens, New York. She works at her uncle's grocery called simply, "Food."
Jane is desperate to escape the outer boroughs to Manhattan, that core borough which "blazed in its own violet light and threw scraps of shadows on the rest of us," Park writes. But when Jane's post-college promised dot.com job goes bust, she travels through Manhattan to work in hipster Brooklyn. As a nanny. To another adoptee, a Chinese-American girl, Devon.
Ironies abound, and Park skewers them all. Devon's mom--the crazy woman in the attic--is recast as a feminist, very meta professor. And Devon's dad, Rochester, is an ABD, All-But-Dissertation, English prof, languishing at a community college.
As Jane shuttles between worlds--from Korean-American Queens to Brooklyn academe to nanny-on-the-playground, to Seoul, Korea, to her return to New York--I won't say to which borough--we root for her to find her own path to that violet light.
Jane--and Park--travel the complete range of culture from high to low and back with verve and wit and tenderness.
She's not only a Fulbright scholar, but a first-time novelist who earned the author trifecta:
The New York Times Sunday Book Review named RE JANE as Editor's Choice.
NPR's Fresh Air called RE JANE "a wickedly inventive updating of Jane Eyre,"
And O, Oprah's magazine!!, writes, "Reader, you'll love her."
In RE JANE, Park has dared to re-make beloved heroine Jane Eyre into a Korean-American orphan growing up in the 00's in Queens, New York. She works at her uncle's grocery called simply, "Food."
Jane is desperate to escape the outer boroughs to Manhattan, that core borough which "blazed in its own violet light and threw scraps of shadows on the rest of us," Park writes. But when Jane's post-college promised dot.com job goes bust, she travels through Manhattan to work in hipster Brooklyn. As a nanny. To another adoptee, a Chinese-American girl, Devon.
Ironies abound, and Park skewers them all. Devon's mom--the crazy woman in the attic--is recast as a feminist, very meta professor. And Devon's dad, Rochester, is an ABD, All-But-Dissertation, English prof, languishing at a community college.
As Jane shuttles between worlds--from Korean-American Queens to Brooklyn academe to nanny-on-the-playground, to Seoul, Korea, to her return to New York--I won't say to which borough--we root for her to find her own path to that violet light.
Jane--and Park--travel the complete range of culture from high to low and back with verve and wit and tenderness.
July 15, 2021
4.5 bumping up to 5 stars because I think this book has some undeserved negative reviews. If you go in expecting an updated Jane Eyre, you WILL be disappointed (I blame the book's marketers). Re Jane has some parallels to Jane Eyre (and some delicious Easter eggs if you know the original story), but it is basically a coming-of-age story about a half-Korean, half-white woman living in Queens and trying to figure out who she is after her big plan of joining a financial firm falls apart. As a daughter of immigrants who grew up in Queens myself, I loved it. This book is also about race, family, female friendship, gender identity, female empowerment, and class. A book told from the p.o.v. of a native New Yorker who is not a stereotype or the butt of anyone's jokes. Truly a unicorn! Highly recommended!
October 22, 2018
I loved this. Readers expecting a paint-by-numbers adaptation of Jane Eyre will be disappointed. Readers interested in a nuanced examination of identity, place, culture, and family will find much to be engaged by. Park did a great job bringing to life inter- and intra-cultural, ethnic, and racial dynamics, bringing in different perspectives despite the limitations of Jane's first-person POV.
Also:
Also:
August 13, 2020
Going in, I knew this was about a Korean-American girl in Flushing, but I didn't realize until the familiar names started to mount up that this story is heavily Jane Eyre-influenced. I say influenced and not a retelling, because many names and some of the major story points transfer, but most of Re Jane is a Korean-American coming-of-age story.
Jane Re is half-Korean, half- American, but growing up with her Korean aunt, uncle and cousins in Flushing. I loved the setting, with so many familiar details. Windows on the World really was the fancy place to take visiting relatives. Later on, "Dan’s ESL Coffeehouse" posts jobs for traveling ESL teachers, and ESL students choose their names from Friends. (I taught abroad slightly after Jane did, with Carries and Mirandas in with the Monicas and Rachels.)
In the original, Mr Rochester isn't really a great boyfriend, I mean, locking his wife away and then the attempted bigamy should pretty much disqualify him from heartthrob status, right? Here, Ed here is exactly the kind of guy you'd imagine flirting with the babysitter behind his wife's back. Instead of telling his wife that he doesn't care about organic food, he and Jane sneak his daughter Devon bright-colored ices and McDonalds dinners whenever Beth's not around. This comes off much less forbidden-romance and more cringe.
I guess I didn't see Beth as deserving of any of the awful things that happened to her. Ed's wife, Dr Beth Mazer, is a women's studies' prof at Mason College, and the idea of feminist academic who drinks wheatgrass juice and doesn't shave felt like an underdeveloped stereotype. In some ways, I think Beth's sloppy style is meant to set up a contrast to Jane's hyperpolished Korean coworkers, but a woman who dares to look her age just doesn't feel villainous to me.
It's really when Jane goes to Korea that the story gets moving -- the Rochester romance is so cringy that I wanted her to marry perfectly-fine Changhoon just to stay away from him. (I knew he was the underwhelming St. John match, but still.) In Korea, the story of her family, and then some of the disparate pieces of her identity start to come together. This is really the strongest and most engaging part of the novel. I also enjoyed how we saw characters grow and develop over time, not just Jane. Little Devon grows up, uncle Sang changes too, and Jane's Brooklyn friend Nina finds her own path, with connections to the old neighborhood.
Engaging coming-of-age and immigration story, with great scenes of older Brooklyn and Queens, but the central romance falls flat.
Jane Re is half-Korean, half- American, but growing up with her Korean aunt, uncle and cousins in Flushing. I loved the setting, with so many familiar details. Windows on the World really was the fancy place to take visiting relatives. Later on, "Dan’s ESL Coffeehouse" posts jobs for traveling ESL teachers, and ESL students choose their names from Friends. (I taught abroad slightly after Jane did, with Carries and Mirandas in with the Monicas and Rachels.)
In the original, Mr Rochester isn't really a great boyfriend, I mean, locking his wife away and then the attempted bigamy should pretty much disqualify him from heartthrob status, right? Here, Ed here is exactly the kind of guy you'd imagine flirting with the babysitter behind his wife's back. Instead of telling his wife that he doesn't care about organic food, he and Jane sneak his daughter Devon bright-colored ices and McDonalds dinners whenever Beth's not around. This comes off much less forbidden-romance and more cringe.
I guess I didn't see Beth as deserving of any of the awful things that happened to her. Ed's wife, Dr Beth Mazer, is a women's studies' prof at Mason College, and the idea of feminist academic who drinks wheatgrass juice and doesn't shave felt like an underdeveloped stereotype. In some ways, I think Beth's sloppy style is meant to set up a contrast to Jane's hyperpolished Korean coworkers, but a woman who dares to look her age just doesn't feel villainous to me.
It's really when Jane goes to Korea that the story gets moving -- the Rochester romance is so cringy that I wanted her to marry perfectly-fine Changhoon just to stay away from him. (I knew he was the underwhelming St. John match, but still.) In Korea, the story of her family, and then some of the disparate pieces of her identity start to come together. This is really the strongest and most engaging part of the novel. I also enjoyed how we saw characters grow and develop over time, not just Jane. Little Devon grows up, uncle Sang changes too, and Jane's Brooklyn friend Nina finds her own path, with connections to the old neighborhood.
Engaging coming-of-age and immigration story, with great scenes of older Brooklyn and Queens, but the central romance falls flat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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July 16, 2021I've read this book once before, soon after it came out, but am once again flummoxed by the difficulty of combining editions, so I may have just erased my previous Goodreads data. Rereading it in 2021 as I contemplate a move to South Korea and continue to think about the Brontes is a great reminder of how much each reader brings to a book, or in other words how subjective the process of reading really is.
Previously I found the Korean aspect of this story interesting; this time it seemed not merely interesting but fascinating and urgent, to be filed under "things I need to know." I continue to think that using the framework of "Jane Eyre" to tell the story of a Korean-American orphan in late 1990s-early 2000s New York City is a great idea; also that the Jane Eyre references could have been more subtle than they were and it still would have worked just as well, probably better.
Previously I found the Korean aspect of this story interesting; this time it seemed not merely interesting but fascinating and urgent, to be filed under "things I need to know." I continue to think that using the framework of "Jane Eyre" to tell the story of a Korean-American orphan in late 1990s-early 2000s New York City is a great idea; also that the Jane Eyre references could have been more subtle than they were and it still would have worked just as well, probably better.
October 10, 2015
I love "Jane Eyre", so when I read that this book was a modern-day retelling of that classic tale, I was excited and anticipated reading it. Then I actually read it, and, well...
Jane Re is an orphan who lives with her uncle and his family in a large and close-knit Korean-American community in Flushing, Queens. She is half Korean and half American; her mother (so Jane has always heard) fell hard for an American GI who left her with infant Jane. Her uncle is rather a harsh taskmaster who owns a small grocery store where Jane works (thanklessly, it goes without saying). Jane has lost a job in finance and sees no way out of her current reduced circumstances, so when a friend shows her a classified ad for an au pair job in Brooklyn, she jumps at the chance to make a change.
Jane gets the au pair job and moves into the family's brownstone. Her charge, Devon, is an adopted child from China; the parents, Ed and Beth, a high school teacher and college professor, respectively. Beth is desperately trying to get tenure, finish a book, and micromanage Devon's upbringing, all at the same time. She and Ed have reached the point where they are well and truly tired of each other, but still hanging together; he has no patience with her feminist posturing and kissing up to academic superiors; she has no tolerance for his blue-collar background and constant search for perfection in his teaching and domestic endeavors.
Inevitably (if you recall the original Jane), our Jane falls for Ed. And this is where the book went wrong for me.
There isn't enough rationale for the failure of this marriage. Plenty of couples go through rough patches; plenty grow tired of each other or fall into doldrums without resorting to cavorting with the help. There's not enough shown of what Ed's appeal is to Jane. Okay, she's ready for and actively seeking change and maybe some excitement, something of her very own, but again, plenty of people go through times like those without falling into an affair with their bosses. Ed is simply not a compelling enough figure to make Jane's attraction to him believable. He subverts his wife's dietary strictures by taking Devon and Jane to McDonald's while Beth is asleep; he and Jane spend hours sitting at the kitchen table in the wee hours eating sandwiches and talking (and THIS is where I wanted more -- if these conversations made Jane fall for Ed, they should be more detailed); he covers for Jane when Beth discovers Devon has eaten an Italian ice (REFINED SUGAR -- MIGHT AS WELL HAVE GIVEN THE KID METH). But we don't see into Jane's heart enough to make me feel in the least comfortable with an emotional affair conducted while Beth is in bed alone (though not, regrettably, locked in the attic, but that IS where her office is located so there's that) and a child is also in the mix. The way it's handled feels like, okay, they NEED to fall in love so now they have.
Jane does have second thoughts and a death in her family on the eve of 9/11 calls her to Korea, where she meets an aunt and uncle she never knew, finds work as an English teacher, has a romance with a more suitable partner than Ed, and learns the truth about her parents. Finally making a decision about where she belongs, Jane returns to the United States, deals with the fallout of her misbegotten romance, and begins to make a life for herself on her own terms.
This wasn't funny enough to be a satire, though there are moments where family dynamics are sharply depicted and where ethnic groups' customs are contrasted that are at least amusing. It does do a good job of updating the "Jane Eyre" story to a time and place where young women's options are far more plentiful and varied than they were when Bronte wrote the original. But I needed more justification for an illicit love affair that blew up a family and drove Jane to banish herself from the country. The center of the novel didn't hold for me.
Jane Re is an orphan who lives with her uncle and his family in a large and close-knit Korean-American community in Flushing, Queens. She is half Korean and half American; her mother (so Jane has always heard) fell hard for an American GI who left her with infant Jane. Her uncle is rather a harsh taskmaster who owns a small grocery store where Jane works (thanklessly, it goes without saying). Jane has lost a job in finance and sees no way out of her current reduced circumstances, so when a friend shows her a classified ad for an au pair job in Brooklyn, she jumps at the chance to make a change.
Jane gets the au pair job and moves into the family's brownstone. Her charge, Devon, is an adopted child from China; the parents, Ed and Beth, a high school teacher and college professor, respectively. Beth is desperately trying to get tenure, finish a book, and micromanage Devon's upbringing, all at the same time. She and Ed have reached the point where they are well and truly tired of each other, but still hanging together; he has no patience with her feminist posturing and kissing up to academic superiors; she has no tolerance for his blue-collar background and constant search for perfection in his teaching and domestic endeavors.
Inevitably (if you recall the original Jane), our Jane falls for Ed. And this is where the book went wrong for me.
There isn't enough rationale for the failure of this marriage. Plenty of couples go through rough patches; plenty grow tired of each other or fall into doldrums without resorting to cavorting with the help. There's not enough shown of what Ed's appeal is to Jane. Okay, she's ready for and actively seeking change and maybe some excitement, something of her very own, but again, plenty of people go through times like those without falling into an affair with their bosses. Ed is simply not a compelling enough figure to make Jane's attraction to him believable. He subverts his wife's dietary strictures by taking Devon and Jane to McDonald's while Beth is asleep; he and Jane spend hours sitting at the kitchen table in the wee hours eating sandwiches and talking (and THIS is where I wanted more -- if these conversations made Jane fall for Ed, they should be more detailed); he covers for Jane when Beth discovers Devon has eaten an Italian ice (REFINED SUGAR -- MIGHT AS WELL HAVE GIVEN THE KID METH). But we don't see into Jane's heart enough to make me feel in the least comfortable with an emotional affair conducted while Beth is in bed alone (though not, regrettably, locked in the attic, but that IS where her office is located so there's that) and a child is also in the mix. The way it's handled feels like, okay, they NEED to fall in love so now they have.
Jane does have second thoughts and a death in her family on the eve of 9/11 calls her to Korea, where she meets an aunt and uncle she never knew, finds work as an English teacher, has a romance with a more suitable partner than Ed, and learns the truth about her parents. Finally making a decision about where she belongs, Jane returns to the United States, deals with the fallout of her misbegotten romance, and begins to make a life for herself on her own terms.
This wasn't funny enough to be a satire, though there are moments where family dynamics are sharply depicted and where ethnic groups' customs are contrasted that are at least amusing. It does do a good job of updating the "Jane Eyre" story to a time and place where young women's options are far more plentiful and varied than they were when Bronte wrote the original. But I needed more justification for an illicit love affair that blew up a family and drove Jane to banish herself from the country. The center of the novel didn't hold for me.
October 9, 2018
The coming of age of Korean/Caucasion young woman, her first loves, her trip to Korea to learn more about her mother's side of the family, and her affair with a married man. She came to
America to live with her Korean Uncle and Aunt after her parents were killed in a fire. The uncle was very demanding and expected perfection at all times. The main story from my point of view is whether she is a Korean that will return to live full time in Korea or whether she is a Korean American girl living in Queens, NY.
America to live with her Korean Uncle and Aunt after her parents were killed in a fire. The uncle was very demanding and expected perfection at all times. The main story from my point of view is whether she is a Korean that will return to live full time in Korea or whether she is a Korean American girl living in Queens, NY.
June 21, 2016
I'm easily suckered in by a modern rewrite of a classic novel, but equally easily disappointed by them. I have a special place in my heart for Jane Eyre, which made this an altogether more dangerous undertaking. In spite of this, Re Jane pleasantly surprised me. Set in Flushing, Queens, Jane is a Korean orphan. She grows up with a critical Uncle, and takes a job as an au pair for an academic couple and their adopted Chinese daughter. I first realised how compelling this novel was, when I realised I wasn't trying to match every moment and character to their corresponding double in the original novel. Re Jane is an engaging narrative in its own right. It is a story of identity, and what makes us belong to people or place. It is also a novel about the complexities of relationships, getting them wrong and trying to make it right. There was a patch in the middle where I felt Park lost focus on the story she was trying to tell. Jane's time in Korea lagged for me, her relationship with Changhoon too superficial, and the tension between herself and Nina poorly developed/explained. In spite of this, I was absorbed in this novel. It is both honest to the sentiment of Bronte's work, and an equally original modern tale.
October 29, 2015
Purists, beware! In this modern tale retelling of Bronte's classic, Jane not only has sex, but she knowingly commits adultery. To say the least, this is not your mother's "Jane Eyre."
I had a few problems, none major, with this updated version of "Jane Eyre" but, for the most part, I found it very enjoyable. Jane Re is an orphan from Korea, living with her uncle and aunt in Flushing, Queens. She becomes an au pair for a couple in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, taking care of their adopted Chinese born daughter. Many lovely shout outs to the Jane fans ("Jane Eyre" is my all time favorite book but I love when authors attempt to update the classics).
Jane Eyre is not only a great heroine; she might very well be THE great heroine. Jane Re is a fun and very flawed character. She couldn't touch our Jane with a ten foot pole. Approach her with this in mind, and no one will get hurt. When she begins her relationship with Ed/Rochester, his wife is very present, no unknown madwoman in the attic. I found this difficult to take, until I reminded myself, this is not Jane Eyre. Independent book, different character.
I had a few problems, none major, with this updated version of "Jane Eyre" but, for the most part, I found it very enjoyable. Jane Re is an orphan from Korea, living with her uncle and aunt in Flushing, Queens. She becomes an au pair for a couple in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, taking care of their adopted Chinese born daughter. Many lovely shout outs to the Jane fans ("Jane Eyre" is my all time favorite book but I love when authors attempt to update the classics).
Jane Eyre is not only a great heroine; she might very well be THE great heroine. Jane Re is a fun and very flawed character. She couldn't touch our Jane with a ten foot pole. Approach her with this in mind, and no one will get hurt. When she begins her relationship with Ed/Rochester, his wife is very present, no unknown madwoman in the attic. I found this difficult to take, until I reminded myself, this is not Jane Eyre. Independent book, different character.
July 9, 2015
What a great debut novel. I loved this book (I am a little prejudiced as I have an adopted Korean daughter). I loved the parts that take place in Korea, especially the scene where Emo takes Jane shopping and everything is wrapped, paid for and handed to them without Jane even trying anything on. One of my funniest memories of Korea. There were hints of Jane Eyre, Orphan, falling in love with an older man, being an au pair, Beth with her dusty office in the attic. But Park so got Jane, seeing inside of her, a girl who just can't find her place in America because she is only half Korean, and trying to become more Korean in Korea. This is a really well written book, and I sobbed at the ending.
I loved the uncle and how he really did not know how to interact with Jane, and I loved all the Korean words and nuances.
I loved the uncle and how he really did not know how to interact with Jane, and I loved all the Korean words and nuances.
April 29, 2015
This is being touted as a modern retelling of Jane Eyre and it IS, but it is a very loose retelling. I think that that changes made are for positive and you don't have to had read Jane Eyre to enjoy this. I liked the exploration of Jane as a mixed race girl growing up in Flushing and I think a lot of what is explored in this story is very true for many Asian immigrants & the next generation. However, I felt like parts of this book felt very disconnected and I felt like a lot of the minor characters weren't strongly developed. But I still enjoyed it and wanted to see how it would all end for Jane, although a certain aspects of the story were a little bit obvious to see coming.
October 4, 2015
A re-telling of Jane Eyre set in Queens? Yes, please!
Jane Re is an orphan, half Korean half white, who lives with her Korean uncle and his family in New York.
The relationship with her family isn't the best and she's desperately trying to brake free from the stigma attached to not being completely Korean and find herself in the world.
Being a Jane Eyre aficionado I loved that this book had so many ties to the original while being a whole new thing!
Jane Re is an orphan, half Korean half white, who lives with her Korean uncle and his family in New York.
The relationship with her family isn't the best and she's desperately trying to brake free from the stigma attached to not being completely Korean and find herself in the world.
Being a Jane Eyre aficionado I loved that this book had so many ties to the original while being a whole new thing!
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