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Being Jade
A tragic death. A family divided. Only truth can set them free.
Banjo Murphy is killed on the night he finally walks away from his wife, Jade, after twenty-five years of her adultery. In the aftermath, Banjo is bewildered to discover he still exists, and in despair he watches Jade collapse into deep depression and his daughters, Lissy and Cassandra, struggle with their unexpected loss.
Lissy is tortured by the mystery surrounding her father’s death. What compelled Banjo to leave the night he died? And why won’t Jade talk about what happened? Despite their volatile relationship, Lissy believes her parents’ love to have been enduring, but sensible.
Cassandra sees things differently. When Cassy discovers a sketchbook chronicling Jade’s affairs, the truth of their parents’ relationship begins to unfold and Lissy’s loyalties are divided.
Searching for answers, Lissy contacts Jade’s ex-lovers. And watching from afar, Banjo aches as he discovers what these men meant to Jade – until Lissy’s quest reveals an explosive truth …
One that will finally set their family free.
Banjo Murphy is killed on the night he finally walks away from his wife, Jade, after twenty-five years of her adultery. In the aftermath, Banjo is bewildered to discover he still exists, and in despair he watches Jade collapse into deep depression and his daughters, Lissy and Cassandra, struggle with their unexpected loss.
Lissy is tortured by the mystery surrounding her father’s death. What compelled Banjo to leave the night he died? And why won’t Jade talk about what happened? Despite their volatile relationship, Lissy believes her parents’ love to have been enduring, but sensible.
Cassandra sees things differently. When Cassy discovers a sketchbook chronicling Jade’s affairs, the truth of their parents’ relationship begins to unfold and Lissy’s loyalties are divided.
Searching for answers, Lissy contacts Jade’s ex-lovers. And watching from afar, Banjo aches as he discovers what these men meant to Jade – until Lissy’s quest reveals an explosive truth …
One that will finally set their family free.
- GenresAustralia
275 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2014
6 people are currently reading
145 people want to read
About the author
Kate Belle
6 books112 followersKate is a multi-published author of dark, sensual love stories that will mess with your head. Her interests include talking to strangers, collecting unread books, and ranting about the world’s many injustices. She writes regularly about women, relationships, sexuality and books on her blog, The Ecstasy Files. She is also the creator of the Eros in Action writing sex workshop.
Kate lives, writes and loves in Melbourne with her small family and very annoying pets. The Yearning was released in 2013 to rave reviews. Being Jade is her second novel.
Blog/website: http://www.ecstasyfiles.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/katebelle.x
Twitter: @ecstasyfiles https://twitter.com/ecstasyfiles
Kate lives, writes and loves in Melbourne with her small family and very annoying pets. The Yearning was released in 2013 to rave reviews. Being Jade is her second novel.
Blog/website: http://www.ecstasyfiles.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/katebelle.x
Twitter: @ecstasyfiles https://twitter.com/ecstasyfiles
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October 4, 2015THIS. BOOK !!
. . THIS FUCKING BOOK !!!!
. . . . . .. GAWD!!!!! I should hate it . Jade and Banjo bear a few characteristics I strongly detest . SELFISHNESS and POWERLESSNESS (what a cop out). So why in the ever loving hell of all that is holy am I pondering between a 4 or 5 rating? . . . . Its simple! I find Kate Belle storytelling to be unapologetic(she doesn't make excuses for her characters), realistic, unfiltered, genuine and absolutely riveting.
Now please excuse me while I ponder my rating and how the fuck to review this ...
Full to review to come. EVENTUALLY.
** Sil, I owe you a million Tom Hardy's lips thank you kisses** MWAH!!
. . THIS FUCKING BOOK !!!!
. . . . . .. GAWD!!!!! I should hate it . Jade and Banjo bear a few characteristics I strongly detest . SELFISHNESS and POWERLESSNESS (what a cop out). So why in the ever loving hell of all that is holy am I pondering between a 4 or 5 rating? . . . . Its simple! I find Kate Belle storytelling to be unapologetic(she doesn't make excuses for her characters), realistic, unfiltered, genuine and absolutely riveting.
Now please excuse me while I ponder my rating and how the fuck to review this ...
Full to review to come. EVENTUALLY.
** Sil, I owe you a million Tom Hardy's lips thank you kisses** MWAH!!
May 17, 2014
Well, Kate Belle is just going to have to write this review for me because I can’t find the words to describe the power of this story. There’s an intriguing plot, vividly drawn characters and mesmerizing prose that sweeps you along until you are almost singing the words aloud. Then there’s Kate’s clever, clever, clever narration that hooked me from the start. I read this novel in one day. (Most unlike me!)
I loved Kate’s debut (The Yearning) even though it was outside my ‘usual’ genre. For me personally, Being Jade is even better and most definitely sublime women’s fiction. I hope Kate’s talent is recognised this year and short-listed somewhere among this year’s literary awards.
I loved Kate’s debut (The Yearning) even though it was outside my ‘usual’ genre. For me personally, Being Jade is even better and most definitely sublime women’s fiction. I hope Kate’s talent is recognised this year and short-listed somewhere among this year’s literary awards.
Want to read
April 11, 2014A new book from Kate Belle?
It's a must read for me!
It's a must read for me!
August 14, 2016
After twenty-five years of marriage, Banjo Murphy finally walks out on his wife, Jade, unable to forgive her for what seems to be yet another betrayal. Hours later his broken body is discovered by the side of the road, the victim of a hit and run, and his family is shattered by the unexpected loss. As Jade withdraws into silence, seeking solace in chemical oblivion, his youngest daughter, Melissa, seeks answers to the mystery surrounding her father's death...and the truth about his life.
"Who was the Jade these lovers knew? What did her mother need to live beyond the confines of their family? What did she gain from all those other men? How much had her father known? Why had he stayed and what made him leave the night he died?"
With death, Banjo is finally in possession of the perspective that eluded him in life. Drifting in the ether he comes to understand his wife's behaviour and to forgive her the failings that tortured him during their marriage.
"I realise now it was as difficult for Jade to be who she was as it was for the rest of us to live with her"
But for his youngest daughter, Melissa, there is too much unsaid and unknown. With Jade refusing to talk, Lissy tries to find answers in her mother's sketchbook which chronicles the affairs Jade indulged in over the course of her parents marriage.
I have conflicting feelings about Jade that are never fully resolved. I admire the way in which she is unapologetically true to her self, to her own needs and desires, regardless of the judgement of others. Yet Jade's demand for freedom comes at a steep emotional cost to those that love her best, namely Banjo and their daughters.
In exposing a woman who defies what is expected of her, Being Jade raises provocative questions about how authentic we truly are in our relationships with others, and with ourselves. The author challenges the notion of unconditional love, exploring the ways in which we narrow the definition to suit our own purposes, and how this family comes to understand and accept love isn't as simple and everyone wants it to be.
A searing portrait of the complexities of love, intimacy and truth Being Jade is an eloquent and powerful piece of storytelling from author Kate Belle.
June 26, 2014
I hated this book. I'm not sure if it was the characters in it (I hate Jade) or all that it made me feel. So I'm giving it 4 stars because it made me feel too much.
June 14, 2014
Mesmerizing.
I have a great love of a difficult heroine-someone who makes me work my arse off to relate, who doesn't conform to traditional stereotypes and who penultimately ends up making me evaluate my own views of the world.
Jade, the heroine in Being Jade is one of those characters. She's the definition of "difficult to know." Her characterization and motivation are much like-for want of a better metaphor-layers of an onion. At times you won't like her or agree with her choices, at times you will applaud her for standing up for who she is, but what you're left with overall is an incredible feeling of authenticity.
This is one of those books that really digs into the dynamics of a marriage and family and what that means to the individual. It's like Ms. Belle has pulled out the guts of the roles of wife, woman, mother, husband, man and father and is challenging the reader to take a look and then examine their reaction.
I wont give a plot summary because this is definitely one of those books where you should start with an open mind and no preconceptions. But what I will tell you is that the writing is amazing, the characters are so vivid they lodge in your imagination fully formed and the ending is a masterpiece.
I have a great love of a difficult heroine-someone who makes me work my arse off to relate, who doesn't conform to traditional stereotypes and who penultimately ends up making me evaluate my own views of the world.
Jade, the heroine in Being Jade is one of those characters. She's the definition of "difficult to know." Her characterization and motivation are much like-for want of a better metaphor-layers of an onion. At times you won't like her or agree with her choices, at times you will applaud her for standing up for who she is, but what you're left with overall is an incredible feeling of authenticity.
This is one of those books that really digs into the dynamics of a marriage and family and what that means to the individual. It's like Ms. Belle has pulled out the guts of the roles of wife, woman, mother, husband, man and father and is challenging the reader to take a look and then examine their reaction.
I wont give a plot summary because this is definitely one of those books where you should start with an open mind and no preconceptions. But what I will tell you is that the writing is amazing, the characters are so vivid they lodge in your imagination fully formed and the ending is a masterpiece.
June 15, 2014
Last year, I was mesmerised by Kate Belle’s The Yearning, which has one of the most fitting endings to a book that I’ve ever read. Naturally, I was ecstatic when a copy of her new novel, Being Jade, landed on the doorstep. It didn’t take for me to get stuck into this book, which is mesmerising. Once you’ve started it, you’ll find it very difficult to stop reading.
The book opens in an unusual fashion, in the first person of Banjo, who is dead. Why is he dead? What happened? You’ll just have to wait as Banjo has a story to tell first. The story of him and Jade, the love of his life since her was a young boy. Jade’s always been the only woman for him, but Jade won’t be tied solely to Banjo. She loves him, but she needs her freedom. On occasions, she takes lovers. What do these men mean to Jade and how do they define her relationship with Banjo? It’s something that Banjo found very difficult to deal with in life; will he get his peace in death? His daughter Lissy is determined to find Jade’s lovers after Jade becomes unwell, much to the disgust of her sister Cassy. Surely there’s nothing to understand here…it’s just Jade’s way to be provocative, deliberately ruffling the feathers of all around her…
Being Jade is a fascinating character study. Jade is somewhat of an enigma initially, but as I read more of her background and the deep love she has for Banjo and her children, I felt I could relate to her more. I don’t think she’s a character that one person could ever get to know fully – she has far too many layers and too many aspects of her personality for just one person to see, but I felt I could accept what she had done with her life because it was her nature. Jade raises a lot of questions with how sexuality and how women’s sexuality is perceived – why is a women with lovers a slut, and a man a stud? Why is a nude male art and a nude woman pornography? Why do we accept these divides between the sexes? I felt that Jade was a feminist in the way she pushed boundaries of sexuality and women’s roles, but I don’t think she’d appreciate me calling her that! Jade is Jade, a true individual, who appreciates the beauty in everyone and is explicitly kind across race, loss and love.
Her children, Lissy and Cassy are opposites. Each has the characteristics of Banjo and Jade, combined in the way that produces fireworks. Cassy, like Jade, is stubborn, but can’t see the numerous viewpoints that make up a person. Lissy has Jade’s kindness on display, but lacks her daring. Her children reflect just what an amazing character Jade is. The emotional journeys as the three women collide and ultimately love without the stabilising influence of Banjo is palpable. Banjo was the common factor that loved and helped these different women get along – he’s a truly good man, who is accepting but strong.
Kudos must also go to Christabella Designs, who produced that beautiful cover. The colours of the title are divine – a honey beige versus a true jade tint. Jade herself also looks just as I pictured her and I love the strength of her purple eye shadow against the red lips. This is powerful makeup, but Jade doesn’t need this – she’s a new powerful character in fiction.
If you like Tim Winton, I strongly suggest you read Being Jade. Kate Belle captures a similar essence of setting, depth of feeling and in creating complex characters that remain beside you long after the story is finished.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster for the copy of this book.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
The book opens in an unusual fashion, in the first person of Banjo, who is dead. Why is he dead? What happened? You’ll just have to wait as Banjo has a story to tell first. The story of him and Jade, the love of his life since her was a young boy. Jade’s always been the only woman for him, but Jade won’t be tied solely to Banjo. She loves him, but she needs her freedom. On occasions, she takes lovers. What do these men mean to Jade and how do they define her relationship with Banjo? It’s something that Banjo found very difficult to deal with in life; will he get his peace in death? His daughter Lissy is determined to find Jade’s lovers after Jade becomes unwell, much to the disgust of her sister Cassy. Surely there’s nothing to understand here…it’s just Jade’s way to be provocative, deliberately ruffling the feathers of all around her…
Being Jade is a fascinating character study. Jade is somewhat of an enigma initially, but as I read more of her background and the deep love she has for Banjo and her children, I felt I could relate to her more. I don’t think she’s a character that one person could ever get to know fully – she has far too many layers and too many aspects of her personality for just one person to see, but I felt I could accept what she had done with her life because it was her nature. Jade raises a lot of questions with how sexuality and how women’s sexuality is perceived – why is a women with lovers a slut, and a man a stud? Why is a nude male art and a nude woman pornography? Why do we accept these divides between the sexes? I felt that Jade was a feminist in the way she pushed boundaries of sexuality and women’s roles, but I don’t think she’d appreciate me calling her that! Jade is Jade, a true individual, who appreciates the beauty in everyone and is explicitly kind across race, loss and love.
Her children, Lissy and Cassy are opposites. Each has the characteristics of Banjo and Jade, combined in the way that produces fireworks. Cassy, like Jade, is stubborn, but can’t see the numerous viewpoints that make up a person. Lissy has Jade’s kindness on display, but lacks her daring. Her children reflect just what an amazing character Jade is. The emotional journeys as the three women collide and ultimately love without the stabilising influence of Banjo is palpable. Banjo was the common factor that loved and helped these different women get along – he’s a truly good man, who is accepting but strong.
Kudos must also go to Christabella Designs, who produced that beautiful cover. The colours of the title are divine – a honey beige versus a true jade tint. Jade herself also looks just as I pictured her and I love the strength of her purple eye shadow against the red lips. This is powerful makeup, but Jade doesn’t need this – she’s a new powerful character in fiction.
If you like Tim Winton, I strongly suggest you read Being Jade. Kate Belle captures a similar essence of setting, depth of feeling and in creating complex characters that remain beside you long after the story is finished.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster for the copy of this book.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
lost-interest
April 25, 2016dnf.
I studiously avoid books with any mention of infidelity though sometimes, I'd challenge myself to try and read them. Most times, I failed... prime examples being Freedom and now this... Thankfully, this was a giveaway at a book expo so I didn't actually spend any money in acquiring this so I don't feel that guilty in giving it a shove.
I must say that the main character here, Jade, has had some horrific childhood but I just couldn't understand and as it's such a painful subject to me (childhood trauma I'd never got over), I don't think I'd ever understand. Think about your children, folks! Don't think that it's not going to affect them because anything & everything you do WILL.
I've flicked to the end of the book because the blurb included the phrase, '...finally set their family free', so I had to check the ending to see whether I can stomach the 2/3 of book left but... I cannot. Faithfulness. Fidelity. This is a CORE value to me and I cannot see it abused.
There is no rating for this book because I do not usually rate any books I dnf.
I studiously avoid books with any mention of infidelity though sometimes, I'd challenge myself to try and read them. Most times, I failed... prime examples being Freedom and now this... Thankfully, this was a giveaway at a book expo so I didn't actually spend any money in acquiring this so I don't feel that guilty in giving it a shove.
I must say that the main character here, Jade, has had some horrific childhood but I just couldn't understand and as it's such a painful subject to me (childhood trauma I'd never got over), I don't think I'd ever understand. Think about your children, folks! Don't think that it's not going to affect them because anything & everything you do WILL.
I've flicked to the end of the book because the blurb included the phrase, '...finally set their family free', so I had to check the ending to see whether I can stomach the 2/3 of book left but... I cannot. Faithfulness. Fidelity. This is a CORE value to me and I cannot see it abused.
There is no rating for this book because I do not usually rate any books I dnf.
May 14, 2014
I read an advanced copy of this today. Started this morning, not entirely sure from the blurb if I'd like it. However I was hooked from page 1 and read any spare minute (and a few that weren't spare! - sorry family, you didn't really need to eat, did you?!) until I finished it.
This is a very powerful read. I ran the emotional rollercoaster with my view of the characters, particularly Jade. It's hard to say too much without giving anything away, but this book, these characters, will stay in my mind for a long time.
Highly recommend!
This is a very powerful read. I ran the emotional rollercoaster with my view of the characters, particularly Jade. It's hard to say too much without giving anything away, but this book, these characters, will stay in my mind for a long time.
Highly recommend!
June 27, 2014
Being Jade is a near faultless, emotion-rich portrayal of love, family and the clarity brought by grief.
From the moment he sees her across the school yard, Banjo Murphy loves Jade. Though they come from vastly different backgrounds with potentially divergent futures, Jade and Banjo marry and have a family. But settling down is not within Jade’s ability and Banjo must confront how much he is willing to sacrifice for the sake of the passionate and elusive woman he cannot live without.
From the outset we learn Banjo has died. Unable to leave Jade, even in death, he hovers around her, observing and remembering, and at times peeking into her past through her memories, gaining insights he never had in life. The narration is shared by his youngest daughter, Lissy, whose unconditional love for her mother has made her blind to the truth. What she does when she discovers that truth is startling. At times Belle’s prose is lyrical. With a few careful sentences she can elicit emotion that leaves you breathless with anger or clutching a balled-up tissue. Jade is painted with subtlety and compassion, revealing a complex woman, darkly sensual and restless, driven to seek love in all of its facets. It would be easy to see her as selfish – even her grief is a messy, inward thing that drains those around her – yet Banjo’s love is a precious gift, stable and sure, to which she has clung throughout their tumultuous life together. Jade is a woman whose spirit cannot be held, no matter how light or loving the tether.
Being Jade is an incredibly moving tale that will make you ponder at what point individual needs give way to the needs of loved ones.
NB: With thanks to Simon and Schuster Australia for my review copy of Being Jade.
From the moment he sees her across the school yard, Banjo Murphy loves Jade. Though they come from vastly different backgrounds with potentially divergent futures, Jade and Banjo marry and have a family. But settling down is not within Jade’s ability and Banjo must confront how much he is willing to sacrifice for the sake of the passionate and elusive woman he cannot live without.
From the outset we learn Banjo has died. Unable to leave Jade, even in death, he hovers around her, observing and remembering, and at times peeking into her past through her memories, gaining insights he never had in life. The narration is shared by his youngest daughter, Lissy, whose unconditional love for her mother has made her blind to the truth. What she does when she discovers that truth is startling. At times Belle’s prose is lyrical. With a few careful sentences she can elicit emotion that leaves you breathless with anger or clutching a balled-up tissue. Jade is painted with subtlety and compassion, revealing a complex woman, darkly sensual and restless, driven to seek love in all of its facets. It would be easy to see her as selfish – even her grief is a messy, inward thing that drains those around her – yet Banjo’s love is a precious gift, stable and sure, to which she has clung throughout their tumultuous life together. Jade is a woman whose spirit cannot be held, no matter how light or loving the tether.
Being Jade is an incredibly moving tale that will make you ponder at what point individual needs give way to the needs of loved ones.
NB: With thanks to Simon and Schuster Australia for my review copy of Being Jade.
June 27, 2014
My View:
This is the perfect book club read – elegantly written, contemporary issues including the universal question about how do we define love and the perimeters of that love.
This is such an eloquent, sensual and visually stunning read…Kate Belle where is the art to go with the book? You described the works so passionately and richly I could see the images in my own minds eye – this is a joy to experience. Kate Belle plays the devil’s advocate in this novel when she creates our protagonist, Jade, who leads an unconventional life, has unconventional relationships, creates unconventional art and challenges the role of and image of women in modern society. This novel is rich with ideas and provides so many challenges to the stereotypical notion of contemporary woman that it is sure to bring fervour and excitement to any book reading community.
I think the most thought provoking question presented in this narrative is about the capacity to love and to love more than one person at a time, a behaviour taboo in most of today’s modern world. If I love you does that diminish or enhance my ability to love others and should we put restrictions on our capacity to love? What a great debate to be had here!
A fantastic read on so many levels; complex, engaging, intriguing, mesmerising. Enjoy!
This is the perfect book club read – elegantly written, contemporary issues including the universal question about how do we define love and the perimeters of that love.
This is such an eloquent, sensual and visually stunning read…Kate Belle where is the art to go with the book? You described the works so passionately and richly I could see the images in my own minds eye – this is a joy to experience. Kate Belle plays the devil’s advocate in this novel when she creates our protagonist, Jade, who leads an unconventional life, has unconventional relationships, creates unconventional art and challenges the role of and image of women in modern society. This novel is rich with ideas and provides so many challenges to the stereotypical notion of contemporary woman that it is sure to bring fervour and excitement to any book reading community.
I think the most thought provoking question presented in this narrative is about the capacity to love and to love more than one person at a time, a behaviour taboo in most of today’s modern world. If I love you does that diminish or enhance my ability to love others and should we put restrictions on our capacity to love? What a great debate to be had here!
A fantastic read on so many levels; complex, engaging, intriguing, mesmerising. Enjoy!
May 17, 2014
The pages of Kate Belle’s new novel, Being Jade, contain magic. Compelling magic that forces the turning of the next one. Magic that haunts you between reading sessions, and long after the covers have been closed and the book assigned its spot on your shelves.
Kate’s prose is as intelligent and poetic as any literary novel, but equally it has a down-to-earth rawness that draws you in, unlaces your boots and sits you down with a good, strong cuppa. It seems strange to say that about an erotic story but while the sex scenes are magnificently drawn, they meld so seamlessly into the narration they’re almost invisible, as explicit as they are.
I loved Kate’s first novel, The Yearning, and expected more of the same. But while Being Jade has similar strength to it, it’s different. Better. It’s like Kate has found her feet in the literary arena and if this is a sign of things to come, I cannot wait for more.
Kate’s prose is as intelligent and poetic as any literary novel, but equally it has a down-to-earth rawness that draws you in, unlaces your boots and sits you down with a good, strong cuppa. It seems strange to say that about an erotic story but while the sex scenes are magnificently drawn, they meld so seamlessly into the narration they’re almost invisible, as explicit as they are.
I loved Kate’s first novel, The Yearning, and expected more of the same. But while Being Jade has similar strength to it, it’s different. Better. It’s like Kate has found her feet in the literary arena and if this is a sign of things to come, I cannot wait for more.
April 10, 2015
I respect every author for their effort and creativity and love for writing. And as much as I appreciated the unusual storyline, this book made me want to rip my hair out and punch a wall!
There are so many things I couldn't understand, like; does any person on planet earth with half a brain just accept being treated with such disrespect and have their dignity stepped on for years on end so willingly? And why was that painting displayed in the first place?
This book frustrated me to bits, Banjo's submission, Jades unwillingness to talk or move or help her daughters understand, Lissy not standing up for herself, and the idea portrayed that its acceptable and forgivable to cheat on your partner if the person you are sleeping with is suicidal or a drug abuser that 'needs help' or if that person is helping you in some sick, weird way. Its an unacceptable message to send to this already almost moral-less world! Shame, shame, shame.
There are so many things I couldn't understand, like; does any person on planet earth with half a brain just accept being treated with such disrespect and have their dignity stepped on for years on end so willingly? And why was that painting displayed in the first place?
This book frustrated me to bits, Banjo's submission, Jades unwillingness to talk or move or help her daughters understand, Lissy not standing up for herself, and the idea portrayed that its acceptable and forgivable to cheat on your partner if the person you are sleeping with is suicidal or a drug abuser that 'needs help' or if that person is helping you in some sick, weird way. Its an unacceptable message to send to this already almost moral-less world! Shame, shame, shame.
March 11, 2024
not sure if i loved this book or hated it but that is what makes a novel good or does it? definitely makes you think what borderlines right or wrong.
very conflicted. i raged and cried. well written.
very conflicted. i raged and cried. well written.
January 23, 2015
Just. No.
February 22, 2021
I thought that this book would be a murder mystery/thriller. The cover art was beautiful and so I picked it out at a bargain book store.
Being Jade is about a family living in the fictional town of Uldunga New South Wales, Australia. Jade and Banjo have been married for 20 years living with the rumour and gossip of a small town. The town believes that Jade has been unfaithful to Banjo throughout their marriage. One night, after a fight Banjo storms out, leaving Jade at home. Banjo is killed by a hit and run and is never able to reunite with his family again. As Banjo adjusts to being omnipresent he witness the chaos that ensues for his family after his death, for Jade and his two daughters, Lissy (Melissa) and Cassie (Cassandra). Trying to find answers about what happened that night and with Jade catatonic over Banjo's death, Lissy begins delving into her mother's past betrayals and the men she has committed these with. What Lissy discovers could hurt the family more, or it could finally set them free.
This book is unimaginably heart breaking and heavy. It is not often I am affected by fictional grief but this book did such a great job of capturing it and exploring it. It was dark and moody and for me, it felt realistic to the days after a sudden death in the family.
It hit even closer for me because the town in which Being Jade is set is Urunga New South Wales Australia, only about 20 minutes drive from my own home town. Kate Belle captures the area so beautifully to the point where I felt like I was back there throughout most of this book. Sadly though Kate Belle also captures the town rumour mill which I can also confirm is rampant in these small coastal towns. Knowing the area and the people in around this area just added so much realism to this book and I felt that Kate Belle did a fantastic job of portraying this part of Australia.
Being Jade is dark and moody, tragic and beautiful. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something that is a little bit different compared to the normal dramatic fiction. It will break your heart and put it together again, a story about love, a story about family and a story about the truth and the secrets we keep to protect the ones we love.
Being Jade is about a family living in the fictional town of Uldunga New South Wales, Australia. Jade and Banjo have been married for 20 years living with the rumour and gossip of a small town. The town believes that Jade has been unfaithful to Banjo throughout their marriage. One night, after a fight Banjo storms out, leaving Jade at home. Banjo is killed by a hit and run and is never able to reunite with his family again. As Banjo adjusts to being omnipresent he witness the chaos that ensues for his family after his death, for Jade and his two daughters, Lissy (Melissa) and Cassie (Cassandra). Trying to find answers about what happened that night and with Jade catatonic over Banjo's death, Lissy begins delving into her mother's past betrayals and the men she has committed these with. What Lissy discovers could hurt the family more, or it could finally set them free.
This book is unimaginably heart breaking and heavy. It is not often I am affected by fictional grief but this book did such a great job of capturing it and exploring it. It was dark and moody and for me, it felt realistic to the days after a sudden death in the family.
It hit even closer for me because the town in which Being Jade is set is Urunga New South Wales Australia, only about 20 minutes drive from my own home town. Kate Belle captures the area so beautifully to the point where I felt like I was back there throughout most of this book. Sadly though Kate Belle also captures the town rumour mill which I can also confirm is rampant in these small coastal towns. Knowing the area and the people in around this area just added so much realism to this book and I felt that Kate Belle did a fantastic job of portraying this part of Australia.
Being Jade is dark and moody, tragic and beautiful. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something that is a little bit different compared to the normal dramatic fiction. It will break your heart and put it together again, a story about love, a story about family and a story about the truth and the secrets we keep to protect the ones we love.
June 24, 2014
Jade and Banjo have been married for twenty-five years when he walks out. Their youngest daughter Lissy comes home and once again finds them squaring off against each other, in the middle of an argument. It’s something she’s seen many times before and she leaves them to it, an action she will come to regret.
Because Banjo has never walked out before. But this time he does and he is killed, the victim of a hit and run. This leaves Jade and their children Cassy and Lissy to grieve and Banjo can only watch on unseen helplessly as Jade collapses into a deep depression. Lissy feels the ultimate guilt in having left – maybe she could’ve done something, stopped the argument. Now she seeks to pull her mother out of her terrible depression. She discovers a sketchbook and is shocked to discover that it chronicles her mother’s numerous lovers, the affairs she had over her parents long marriage. Lissy and Cassy are divided on their opinions of what their mother was doing and what was really going on in the marriage between Banjo and Jade.
Lissy uses the sketchbook to try and help her mother, inviting her former lovers to come and see her, hoping that one of them can penetrate through the deep fog that surrounds Jade. As each man visits and recounts his experiences with Jade, Lissy begins to learn more and more about her mother, her reasoning and her character. And in a corner, Banjo watches, discovering the truth in death that he could never quite bring himself to believe in life…
It is really very fitting that Kate Belle’s guest post for me (which you can read here) deals with how she’s throwing aside the star rating system when she reads books. Because although I star-rate books on goodreads and give them a numerical rating out of 10 on the blog, I do find plenty of books that it’s difficult to assign that number too. And this book, Being Jade is definitely one of them. And it’s not because I don’t like it – books I don’t like are easy to rate! It’s just that this is a very complex book, full of wonderfully difficult characters and it is a book that challenges social boundaries and forces a reader to think outside of what might be their comfort zone. I’m well aware that as I read this, my feelings for Jade were mostly based on social constructs, of what a wife and mother is ‘supposed’ to be. And I’m both. This book isn’t afraid to hold that up and then tear it back down.
Jade was raised by her prostitute mother who died of a drug overdose when Jade was a teenager. From there she was taken in by Banjo’s family. It is clear that Banjo has always loved Jade….loved her madly, to the point of distraction. They were married very young, but it wasn’t too long before Banjo discovered that Jade had had, and would always want/need to have, other men or lovers. He found this very difficult to live with but ultimately chose to remain with Jade because it was better than life without her. He wanted to keep his dignity, that she be very discreet and that she not tell him. But it wasn’t very hard to him to figure out. He began to learn the patterns and when Jade often left the home for several days either to work on or show her art, it was nearly always a given that she was meeting other men. This included when she was 8 months pregnant with one of their daughters, and continued after their daughters were born.
I struggle with books that contain infidelity because I’m so against it myself. And yes, that might make me a product of society, etc but it is my idea and wish that the person I have chosen, also chooses just me. So whilst at times, I did feel for Banjo because he loves Jade so much and her actions do cause him great pain, at the same time…he’s an adult. He chose to remain in the relationship and accept that part of Jade that needs other people to fuel her creativity and feed/heal her soul. However I found that the fact that it adversely affected their children made my feelings towards Jade more negative, because they didn’t choose it. They didn’t choose to have a mother that disappeared for days at a time, that the town gossiped cruelly about. None of it was their fault and yet they suffered for it too. I know that says more about the society as a whole as well, that Jade did become such fodder for talk, but also, her absences did impact on her children. No one sacrifices everything but it is the general expectation that your children will mostly come first, in their early and formative years anyway. Jade doesn’t accept this – she puts herself first, she does what she needs to do. One hand I admired her for always staying true to herself, for not bowing to the social pressure after she became a mother but on the other hand…..I did wonder what she really and truly thought about the impact her absences had on their children.
Which brings me to my original statement about this book – how do I rate it? When I finished this book, I agonised for some time, deliberating about what to give it when I added it to my Goodreads, which is what I do whenever I finish a book. 5 stars is “I loved it” – but I’m not sure I can honestly say that I loved it. I think it is a wonderful, challenging story. The writing is very good – probably fantastic. It made me feel a wide range of emotions as I read it from dislike to admiration to sadness to anger to pity. Most times I found Jade a bit too selfish – and I’m not saying this is essentially a bad thing, because she was doing what she needed to do to be true to herself, it’s just that I couldn’t agree with many of her decisions nor could I really believe that her actions came to be seen almost as everyone’s saving grace. I think this would be a fantastic book to recommend to my bookclub because I can already picture the discussion we would have on it. I can see it being passionate and lengthy and people debate the character and actions of not only Jade but also Banjo. Sometimes I recommend a book to someone saying, “read this, I think you’ll love it”. But with this one I’d say “read this, it will challenge you and I’d love to hear your thoughts”.
Because Banjo has never walked out before. But this time he does and he is killed, the victim of a hit and run. This leaves Jade and their children Cassy and Lissy to grieve and Banjo can only watch on unseen helplessly as Jade collapses into a deep depression. Lissy feels the ultimate guilt in having left – maybe she could’ve done something, stopped the argument. Now she seeks to pull her mother out of her terrible depression. She discovers a sketchbook and is shocked to discover that it chronicles her mother’s numerous lovers, the affairs she had over her parents long marriage. Lissy and Cassy are divided on their opinions of what their mother was doing and what was really going on in the marriage between Banjo and Jade.
Lissy uses the sketchbook to try and help her mother, inviting her former lovers to come and see her, hoping that one of them can penetrate through the deep fog that surrounds Jade. As each man visits and recounts his experiences with Jade, Lissy begins to learn more and more about her mother, her reasoning and her character. And in a corner, Banjo watches, discovering the truth in death that he could never quite bring himself to believe in life…
It is really very fitting that Kate Belle’s guest post for me (which you can read here) deals with how she’s throwing aside the star rating system when she reads books. Because although I star-rate books on goodreads and give them a numerical rating out of 10 on the blog, I do find plenty of books that it’s difficult to assign that number too. And this book, Being Jade is definitely one of them. And it’s not because I don’t like it – books I don’t like are easy to rate! It’s just that this is a very complex book, full of wonderfully difficult characters and it is a book that challenges social boundaries and forces a reader to think outside of what might be their comfort zone. I’m well aware that as I read this, my feelings for Jade were mostly based on social constructs, of what a wife and mother is ‘supposed’ to be. And I’m both. This book isn’t afraid to hold that up and then tear it back down.
Jade was raised by her prostitute mother who died of a drug overdose when Jade was a teenager. From there she was taken in by Banjo’s family. It is clear that Banjo has always loved Jade….loved her madly, to the point of distraction. They were married very young, but it wasn’t too long before Banjo discovered that Jade had had, and would always want/need to have, other men or lovers. He found this very difficult to live with but ultimately chose to remain with Jade because it was better than life without her. He wanted to keep his dignity, that she be very discreet and that she not tell him. But it wasn’t very hard to him to figure out. He began to learn the patterns and when Jade often left the home for several days either to work on or show her art, it was nearly always a given that she was meeting other men. This included when she was 8 months pregnant with one of their daughters, and continued after their daughters were born.
I struggle with books that contain infidelity because I’m so against it myself. And yes, that might make me a product of society, etc but it is my idea and wish that the person I have chosen, also chooses just me. So whilst at times, I did feel for Banjo because he loves Jade so much and her actions do cause him great pain, at the same time…he’s an adult. He chose to remain in the relationship and accept that part of Jade that needs other people to fuel her creativity and feed/heal her soul. However I found that the fact that it adversely affected their children made my feelings towards Jade more negative, because they didn’t choose it. They didn’t choose to have a mother that disappeared for days at a time, that the town gossiped cruelly about. None of it was their fault and yet they suffered for it too. I know that says more about the society as a whole as well, that Jade did become such fodder for talk, but also, her absences did impact on her children. No one sacrifices everything but it is the general expectation that your children will mostly come first, in their early and formative years anyway. Jade doesn’t accept this – she puts herself first, she does what she needs to do. One hand I admired her for always staying true to herself, for not bowing to the social pressure after she became a mother but on the other hand…..I did wonder what she really and truly thought about the impact her absences had on their children.
Which brings me to my original statement about this book – how do I rate it? When I finished this book, I agonised for some time, deliberating about what to give it when I added it to my Goodreads, which is what I do whenever I finish a book. 5 stars is “I loved it” – but I’m not sure I can honestly say that I loved it. I think it is a wonderful, challenging story. The writing is very good – probably fantastic. It made me feel a wide range of emotions as I read it from dislike to admiration to sadness to anger to pity. Most times I found Jade a bit too selfish – and I’m not saying this is essentially a bad thing, because she was doing what she needed to do to be true to herself, it’s just that I couldn’t agree with many of her decisions nor could I really believe that her actions came to be seen almost as everyone’s saving grace. I think this would be a fantastic book to recommend to my bookclub because I can already picture the discussion we would have on it. I can see it being passionate and lengthy and people debate the character and actions of not only Jade but also Banjo. Sometimes I recommend a book to someone saying, “read this, I think you’ll love it”. But with this one I’d say “read this, it will challenge you and I’d love to hear your thoughts”.
April 26, 2020
I read an advanced copy of this today. Started this morning, not entirely sure from the blurb if I'd like it. However I was hooked from page 1 and read any spare minute (and a few that weren't spare! - sorry family, you didn't really need to eat, did you?!) until I finished it.
This is a very powerful read. I ran the emotional rollercoaster with my view of the characters, particularly Jade. It's hard to say too much without giving anything away, but this book, these characters, will stay in my mind for a long time.
Highly recommend!
This is a very powerful read. I ran the emotional rollercoaster with my view of the characters, particularly Jade. It's hard to say too much without giving anything away, but this book, these characters, will stay in my mind for a long time.
Highly recommend!
September 12, 2019
Being Jade is one of the most expressive books I've ever read. Written from the veiwpoint of banjo who has been killed, and the children he has left behind. It chronicles Jade's life and journey with what seems to be bipolar and severe depression.
It is a book that has stayed with me well after reading
It is a book that has stayed with me well after reading
January 16, 2015
Note: this review contains mild spoilers.
“People argue about death” is the opening line of Kate Belle’s novel Being Jade. It might just as well have been, “People argue about love”. For, although grief over a death sets the book’s narrative in motion, many of the questions it raises are about love or, more precisely, whether love and infidelity are compatible. Does fidelity in a relationship matter? Does it make a difference if the couple is married? The woman pregnant? If they have children? The length of time they’ve been together?
Being Jade begins with the first person point of view of Banjo, husband to Jade, father of Cassy and Lissy. Banjo has just been killed in a hit-and-run on a lonely stretch of road on the north coast of New South Wales. The novel explores the mystery of why he was walking there alone, who hit him and why the driver absconded. As Banjo comes to terms with his death, we see his grief over his loss of life, and particularly of his beloved wife Jade, a temperamental artist he fell in love with as a teenager, married at eighteen and lived with for nearly thirty years. Because of Banjo’s grief, the focus of the novel is on Jade, the object of his devotion, and the source of much of his suffering and of that of his children. We learn of Jade’s troubled childhood, her affairs, her serial abandonment of her children when they were small, her drinking and drug-taking; as well as her artwork which features her lovers in outrageously erotic – if not pornographic – detail.
The point of view of the novel alternates between Banjo and his younger daughter Lissy. Through Lissy, we watch as Jade falls into catatonic depression after the funeral. Is it, as Lissy wants to believe, a sign of the depth of her mother’s love and grief at the loss of her soulmate? Or is the truth, as her older sister Cassy suggests, that the depression stems from their mother’s guilt over her own destructive behaviour, a typical narcissistic self-dramatising of a woman who always needs to be the centre of attention?
Being Jade is provocative. Among the questions it poses are, why does society continue to hold double standards for men and women? Why is it shocking when women embrace their sexuality and demand sexual freedom, when they leave their children in the care of the children’s father, when they have multiple partners? And why are representations of a vagina still so confronting?
While the figure of Jade provides the focus of the novel, the emotional and, for me, psychological core is about grief. Not only does it portray the grief experienced over a loss of life, but also the grief one feels when having to come to terms with someone’s otherness, their insistence on being themselves, no matter what harm they might cause to those they love. For this reason, I was uncertain of the ending. Towards the climax, we see deeper into Jade’s affairs, a twist enabled by Banjo’s ghostly status as he sees her memories. Here Banjo appears to accept a new “truth” of her behaviour, that – far from being monstrous – it was loving, even redeeming.
This is one of the areas where I found the novel problematic. (The other was Jade’s portrayal in terms of her Asian-ness, but that’s for another discussion.) Banjo’s – and, through him, the reader’s – revised understanding of Jade has a huge emotional payoff with the girls’ discovery of a particular painting. But it appears to reinscribe Jade in the whore/Madonna trope which the rest of the novel seems at pains to question (with the “Madonna” aspect being figurative – restorative of fallen men – rather than maternal).
Are there sufficient hints of Banjo’s fallibility as a narrator to throw this longed-for redemption of Jade into doubt? Perhaps. Enough to suggest that this view of Jade might be a wish fulfilment for Banjo and Lissy (as well as the reader and perhaps author). In this alternative reading, Banjo and Lissy could be seen as doing what they have always done: choosing to see their all-too-human wife/mother how they want her to be, not who she really might be. And who might she be? A beautiful, talented, self-absorbed and selfish bitch. And what’s wrong with that? Women can be bitches, right? We’re human. What makes this a harder version to accept is that the only points of view we see are from characters whose values are at least influenced by small-town expectations of acceptable roles and behaviour of women.
In the end, I can’t decide which view of Jade does greater justice to the story, the character and women in general. For me, Jade remains a cipher, like the Korean symbol that provides the signature mark of her artwork; a compelling character, rendered in at times beautiful prose, central to a story that kept me reading long into the night and had me wanting to talk about it afterwards. The sign of a good, thought-provoking book.
This review first appeared on my blog and formed part of my contribution to the 2104 Australian Women Writers Challenge.
“People argue about death” is the opening line of Kate Belle’s novel Being Jade. It might just as well have been, “People argue about love”. For, although grief over a death sets the book’s narrative in motion, many of the questions it raises are about love or, more precisely, whether love and infidelity are compatible. Does fidelity in a relationship matter? Does it make a difference if the couple is married? The woman pregnant? If they have children? The length of time they’ve been together?
Being Jade begins with the first person point of view of Banjo, husband to Jade, father of Cassy and Lissy. Banjo has just been killed in a hit-and-run on a lonely stretch of road on the north coast of New South Wales. The novel explores the mystery of why he was walking there alone, who hit him and why the driver absconded. As Banjo comes to terms with his death, we see his grief over his loss of life, and particularly of his beloved wife Jade, a temperamental artist he fell in love with as a teenager, married at eighteen and lived with for nearly thirty years. Because of Banjo’s grief, the focus of the novel is on Jade, the object of his devotion, and the source of much of his suffering and of that of his children. We learn of Jade’s troubled childhood, her affairs, her serial abandonment of her children when they were small, her drinking and drug-taking; as well as her artwork which features her lovers in outrageously erotic – if not pornographic – detail.
The point of view of the novel alternates between Banjo and his younger daughter Lissy. Through Lissy, we watch as Jade falls into catatonic depression after the funeral. Is it, as Lissy wants to believe, a sign of the depth of her mother’s love and grief at the loss of her soulmate? Or is the truth, as her older sister Cassy suggests, that the depression stems from their mother’s guilt over her own destructive behaviour, a typical narcissistic self-dramatising of a woman who always needs to be the centre of attention?
Being Jade is provocative. Among the questions it poses are, why does society continue to hold double standards for men and women? Why is it shocking when women embrace their sexuality and demand sexual freedom, when they leave their children in the care of the children’s father, when they have multiple partners? And why are representations of a vagina still so confronting?
While the figure of Jade provides the focus of the novel, the emotional and, for me, psychological core is about grief. Not only does it portray the grief experienced over a loss of life, but also the grief one feels when having to come to terms with someone’s otherness, their insistence on being themselves, no matter what harm they might cause to those they love. For this reason, I was uncertain of the ending. Towards the climax, we see deeper into Jade’s affairs, a twist enabled by Banjo’s ghostly status as he sees her memories. Here Banjo appears to accept a new “truth” of her behaviour, that – far from being monstrous – it was loving, even redeeming.
This is one of the areas where I found the novel problematic. (The other was Jade’s portrayal in terms of her Asian-ness, but that’s for another discussion.) Banjo’s – and, through him, the reader’s – revised understanding of Jade has a huge emotional payoff with the girls’ discovery of a particular painting. But it appears to reinscribe Jade in the whore/Madonna trope which the rest of the novel seems at pains to question (with the “Madonna” aspect being figurative – restorative of fallen men – rather than maternal).
Are there sufficient hints of Banjo’s fallibility as a narrator to throw this longed-for redemption of Jade into doubt? Perhaps. Enough to suggest that this view of Jade might be a wish fulfilment for Banjo and Lissy (as well as the reader and perhaps author). In this alternative reading, Banjo and Lissy could be seen as doing what they have always done: choosing to see their all-too-human wife/mother how they want her to be, not who she really might be. And who might she be? A beautiful, talented, self-absorbed and selfish bitch. And what’s wrong with that? Women can be bitches, right? We’re human. What makes this a harder version to accept is that the only points of view we see are from characters whose values are at least influenced by small-town expectations of acceptable roles and behaviour of women.
In the end, I can’t decide which view of Jade does greater justice to the story, the character and women in general. For me, Jade remains a cipher, like the Korean symbol that provides the signature mark of her artwork; a compelling character, rendered in at times beautiful prose, central to a story that kept me reading long into the night and had me wanting to talk about it afterwards. The sign of a good, thought-provoking book.
This review first appeared on my blog and formed part of my contribution to the 2104 Australian Women Writers Challenge.
Read
October 5, 2020DNF at 30 pages. I’m not down for cheating regardless of reasoning so I’m out.
December 27, 2021
This would have been good if the story wasn't so dumbass and boring. Just no.
September 18, 2014
Reviewed for Confessions From Romaholics
One sentence summary: Kate Belle has done it again taking the unconventional and making it a realistic and thought provoking book .
Kate Belle is an author whose work I have admired for some time, ever since I read her first two books nearly two years ago. Since then she has gone from strength to strength and I was excited to receive a copy of Being Jade from the publisher. She has a way with words and weaves a story that you believe in despite the unconventional ideas and provoking thoughts in her books. With Being Jade it is a love story like no other as this is no romance novel. It's more then that, it is a thought provoking story about remaining true to yourself and the love story is entwined into it. By doing this Belle shows that everything is not black and white and provides insights that makes us rethink and take a look in our own hearts
Being Jade tells the story of Jade a woman who falling apart in the midst of tragedy that brings up secrets that she rather have buried in the past. Secrets we want to know as it tearing her family apart and causing her daughter to seek answers. Jade may be the painter in this book , but the storyteller of this book is Banjo who paints a portrait that has many hidden layers.
Banjo is your everyday typical Aussie bloke and you have to question why he is the storyteller. Jade is the opposite vibrant and a free spirit. Banjo is her anchor so why walk after 25 years after suffering the adultery and all, only to be killed in a tragic accident. Leaving us with questions to be answered as he seemed to have enough love for them both, to overlook the problems that exist in their relationship
So we meet him as a spirit and his beloved Jade has sunk into depression. Depression is no trivial matter and their daughters are a loss on how to help their mother. They know their mother loved their father in her own way despite the adultery, which they are discovering at the same time as we are and desperate to unlock Jade’s mind so they can help her. But their morals and judgement are hampering their efforts.
Is love enough, though in this day and age where a judgement can be made in a split second and once made be hard to change. I say yes after reading this book , as there much more to the picture we are presented. Being Jade sums up the book perfectly. Being her is not easy as she has lot on her plate and her childhood has shaped her to become who she is and it's hard to change habits that you had for ever.
5 couples and look forward to the next piece of work that this author produces. Belle is storytelling master and I wish this book didn’t end. It hard to comprehend this book has been written any other way as it was magic. She has an amazing prose and it's easy to fall into this book and flying through without taking a break.
For more of my reviews, visit Confessions From Romaholics.And drop by the blog's Facebook page
One sentence summary: Kate Belle has done it again taking the unconventional and making it a realistic and thought provoking book .
Kate Belle is an author whose work I have admired for some time, ever since I read her first two books nearly two years ago. Since then she has gone from strength to strength and I was excited to receive a copy of Being Jade from the publisher. She has a way with words and weaves a story that you believe in despite the unconventional ideas and provoking thoughts in her books. With Being Jade it is a love story like no other as this is no romance novel. It's more then that, it is a thought provoking story about remaining true to yourself and the love story is entwined into it. By doing this Belle shows that everything is not black and white and provides insights that makes us rethink and take a look in our own hearts
Being Jade tells the story of Jade a woman who falling apart in the midst of tragedy that brings up secrets that she rather have buried in the past. Secrets we want to know as it tearing her family apart and causing her daughter to seek answers. Jade may be the painter in this book , but the storyteller of this book is Banjo who paints a portrait that has many hidden layers.
Banjo is your everyday typical Aussie bloke and you have to question why he is the storyteller. Jade is the opposite vibrant and a free spirit. Banjo is her anchor so why walk after 25 years after suffering the adultery and all, only to be killed in a tragic accident. Leaving us with questions to be answered as he seemed to have enough love for them both, to overlook the problems that exist in their relationship
So we meet him as a spirit and his beloved Jade has sunk into depression. Depression is no trivial matter and their daughters are a loss on how to help their mother. They know their mother loved their father in her own way despite the adultery, which they are discovering at the same time as we are and desperate to unlock Jade’s mind so they can help her. But their morals and judgement are hampering their efforts.
Is love enough, though in this day and age where a judgement can be made in a split second and once made be hard to change. I say yes after reading this book , as there much more to the picture we are presented. Being Jade sums up the book perfectly. Being her is not easy as she has lot on her plate and her childhood has shaped her to become who she is and it's hard to change habits that you had for ever.
5 couples and look forward to the next piece of work that this author produces. Belle is storytelling master and I wish this book didn’t end. It hard to comprehend this book has been written any other way as it was magic. She has an amazing prose and it's easy to fall into this book and flying through without taking a break.
For more of my reviews, visit Confessions From Romaholics.And drop by the blog's Facebook page
June 5, 2014
Being Jade is a beautifully written, occasionally erotic and occasionally dark tale of a woman who lives by her own rules and challenging notions of what it means to love and what it truly means to be loyal to another person. Australian author Kate Belle (who wrote the brilliant novel, The Yearning,) creates an interesting portrait of a marriage through her characters Banjo and Jade. When the novel opens, we meet Banjo as a ghost. He is recently deceased, killed in an accident shortly after walking out on his wife of more than twenty years. As Banjo tells us his side of the tale, we learn that the pair met when they were in their early teens. He has always been the stable one, from a good, charitable family. Jade was the ratty one, the daughter of an unnamed prostitute. Jade blossoms a little under the gentle guidance of Banjo's family, but we soon discover that her eventual marriage to Banjo will not be a traditional one. As Jade explains when questioned about one of her affairs, 'Banjo, I love you but you have to understand, my body is mine. You can't own and control me.' (p.60).
Banjo reluctantly accepts Jade's infidelities. As the novel progresses, moving back and forward between the past and the present--sometimes with a first person narrative from Banjo and sometimes with a third person narrative from the perspective of their younger daughter Lissy, we learn more of Jade and her affairs and the impact that it has on the entire family. It is something Banjo reluctantly accepts, something that sickens their older daughter Cassy and something which younger daughter Lissy tries hard to understand. The second half of the book, where Jade is inconsolable through her grief at losing Banjo, slowly shows us Jade's side of the story via Jade's artwork and Lissy's meetings with the men that her mother had relationships with. The identity of the final man, the one Jade dared to bring home, along with an unseen piece of artwork, are stunning but beautiful revelations.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one and the glimpse it gave us of a unique woman and her family. The writing flows well and the scenes shift easily back and fourth between past and present. The author does a brilliant job of subtly challenging traditional notions of family and fidelity, as well as showing that sometimes there can be more than one side of the story. Brilliant and highly recommended.
Finally, a big thank you to Simon and Schuster for my review copy.
Banjo reluctantly accepts Jade's infidelities. As the novel progresses, moving back and forward between the past and the present--sometimes with a first person narrative from Banjo and sometimes with a third person narrative from the perspective of their younger daughter Lissy, we learn more of Jade and her affairs and the impact that it has on the entire family. It is something Banjo reluctantly accepts, something that sickens their older daughter Cassy and something which younger daughter Lissy tries hard to understand. The second half of the book, where Jade is inconsolable through her grief at losing Banjo, slowly shows us Jade's side of the story via Jade's artwork and Lissy's meetings with the men that her mother had relationships with. The identity of the final man, the one Jade dared to bring home, along with an unseen piece of artwork, are stunning but beautiful revelations.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one and the glimpse it gave us of a unique woman and her family. The writing flows well and the scenes shift easily back and fourth between past and present. The author does a brilliant job of subtly challenging traditional notions of family and fidelity, as well as showing that sometimes there can be more than one side of the story. Brilliant and highly recommended.
Finally, a big thank you to Simon and Schuster for my review copy.
September 15, 2014
Being Jade by Kate Belle has taken me on one of the most heartfelt and emotional journey’s I’ve experienced from a book so far this year.
I am a tear drenched, ragged mess of emotional goo, surrounded by soggy tissues and desperately in need of a restorative cup of tea.
I am emotionally spent.
I am exhausted.
I am overwhelmed by a myriad of emotions and feelings.
But mostly, I am elated at the author’s ability to make me feel so damn much.
Jade is a selfish bitch.
She thinks of herself first, her children, her lovers, and when pushed to, her husband. But all is not as it seems in Jades life.
Jade is an enigma, a misunderstood and lost soul.
She dances to the beat of her own drum, and nobody really seems to understand her.
Banjo, her husband has flashes of clarity, sees her true self, but he is so caught up being the good father, the great provider, the best man he can be, he forgets that Jade isn’t like other women. Jade requires constant attention and she’s hard work emotionally, but Banjo loves her and so goes above and beyond to make everything perfect for her, and Jade is seemingly happy for everyone else to put in all the effort – and then there are her numerous infidelities and frequent absences that further strain the family. Through it all, Banjo is the glue that holds them all together.
Being Jade is full of emotionally disabling writing that left the page, spearing my heart with its intense and honest grief. At times those emotions were hard to stomach, causing an almost physical pain that wouldn’t ease and I can’t praise Kate Belle enough for invoking my response; she is a master manipulator of words, thoughts and feelings and I am beyond impressed with her talented writing.
This fierce and raw story will stay with me for quite some time to come, 5 stars.
I am a tear drenched, ragged mess of emotional goo, surrounded by soggy tissues and desperately in need of a restorative cup of tea.
I am emotionally spent.
I am exhausted.
I am overwhelmed by a myriad of emotions and feelings.
But mostly, I am elated at the author’s ability to make me feel so damn much.
Jade is a selfish bitch.
She thinks of herself first, her children, her lovers, and when pushed to, her husband. But all is not as it seems in Jades life.
Jade is an enigma, a misunderstood and lost soul.
She dances to the beat of her own drum, and nobody really seems to understand her.
Banjo, her husband has flashes of clarity, sees her true self, but he is so caught up being the good father, the great provider, the best man he can be, he forgets that Jade isn’t like other women. Jade requires constant attention and she’s hard work emotionally, but Banjo loves her and so goes above and beyond to make everything perfect for her, and Jade is seemingly happy for everyone else to put in all the effort – and then there are her numerous infidelities and frequent absences that further strain the family. Through it all, Banjo is the glue that holds them all together.
Being Jade is full of emotionally disabling writing that left the page, spearing my heart with its intense and honest grief. At times those emotions were hard to stomach, causing an almost physical pain that wouldn’t ease and I can’t praise Kate Belle enough for invoking my response; she is a master manipulator of words, thoughts and feelings and I am beyond impressed with her talented writing.
This fierce and raw story will stay with me for quite some time to come, 5 stars.
September 16, 2014
I bought Kate Belle's novel “Being Jade” on Thursday afternoon, and from page one I was hooked. This story spoke to me like no other book I can recall. I finished part one on Thursday night, only closing my computer because I had to work on Friday. Part two and three were read voraciously after late night shopping last night. I was so happy and yet so sad when I finished the book this morning. I could not put it down. I was compelled to finish it, to devour it. My need to know the full story was almost as driven as the characters themselves. Yet I feel a loss, because although I desperately wanted to know the conclusion, I did not want this delicious story to end.
In the book, Kate talked about the three years it took her to write this wonderful story, and how it almost killed her in the process. After having experienced her journey from a readers point of view, I can understand why. It felt to me as if she were giving birth. That is the best way I can explain it. I read through each chapter watching the contractions twist the tale, sometimes moving forward, sometimes pulling back, till finally the teary ending pushes this exquisite child from her writers womb.
I loved her voice, or rather several voices, in this book. Her characters were alive for me, I can almost reach out and touch them now. Each one so distinct, each one so damaged in their own unique way by circumstances outside of their control.
I loved the story, the settling and the descriptive writing style. I was there, in Serendipity , in the Gallery, plucking vegetables from the fertile soil, by the side of the road, and siting on the old weather worn park bench. I had such a clear picture of the story I even had a dream about it last night.
I can understand why someone would want to transfer this unique story into film.
I only hope they do it justice.
In the book, Kate talked about the three years it took her to write this wonderful story, and how it almost killed her in the process. After having experienced her journey from a readers point of view, I can understand why. It felt to me as if she were giving birth. That is the best way I can explain it. I read through each chapter watching the contractions twist the tale, sometimes moving forward, sometimes pulling back, till finally the teary ending pushes this exquisite child from her writers womb.
I loved her voice, or rather several voices, in this book. Her characters were alive for me, I can almost reach out and touch them now. Each one so distinct, each one so damaged in their own unique way by circumstances outside of their control.
I loved the story, the settling and the descriptive writing style. I was there, in Serendipity , in the Gallery, plucking vegetables from the fertile soil, by the side of the road, and siting on the old weather worn park bench. I had such a clear picture of the story I even had a dream about it last night.
I can understand why someone would want to transfer this unique story into film.
I only hope they do it justice.
June 30, 2019
This is the type of story that I normally wouldn’t like but the writing style was engaging and I thought it was overall a good read.
December 11, 2015
I was given this novel at a book fair without knowing anything about the author, Kate Belle. When I opened it up and started reading, I found a voice and characters that I was interested in. The writing and characters engaged me quickly - so much so that I continued reading to the end, despite the story not quite delivering the insight I wanted, or perhaps it was more that I didn't buy the premise of Jade's infidelities. The subject matter of Jade's damaged character and how this impacts the family is weighty and well drawn, but casting her as an unrecognized heroine was a step to far for me. As was the sex!
Had I known more about Kate Belle, I should have expected the sex. What I discovered was that Belle writes sex well - which is just as well as there is an awful lot of it - and most of it rather voyeuristically observed through Jade's memories by her dead husband. However as it really got going, I felt like I had inadvertently wandered off the garden path into a nudist colony and I didn't want to be there (or for others to know what I had stumbled across!).
That said, I'm writing this review because I really liked Belle's writing. Her imagery captivated me: "Jade's home was a frightening place with lies floating through the air amid the dust"; "And all the while her mother floated among them like a hologram". Whilst I found the sophistication of Banjo's voice inconsistent with his character, I liked the voice and the use of interesting writing techniques which I think she managed adeptly.
So whilst I would be very circumspect in recommending "Being Jade'to others, Belle writes well and clearly has a well deserved following in her genre.
Had I known more about Kate Belle, I should have expected the sex. What I discovered was that Belle writes sex well - which is just as well as there is an awful lot of it - and most of it rather voyeuristically observed through Jade's memories by her dead husband. However as it really got going, I felt like I had inadvertently wandered off the garden path into a nudist colony and I didn't want to be there (or for others to know what I had stumbled across!).
That said, I'm writing this review because I really liked Belle's writing. Her imagery captivated me: "Jade's home was a frightening place with lies floating through the air amid the dust"; "And all the while her mother floated among them like a hologram". Whilst I found the sophistication of Banjo's voice inconsistent with his character, I liked the voice and the use of interesting writing techniques which I think she managed adeptly.
So whilst I would be very circumspect in recommending "Being Jade'to others, Belle writes well and clearly has a well deserved following in her genre.
January 24, 2015
This is a book that really made me think, about my own feelings towards love, emotions, marriage, adultery and family. Being Jade is a book that stirs up deep emotions inside you and does not let go, long after finishing the book. At its crux, the book is about the twenty five year relationship between Jade and Banjo. It is a complicated relationship, which has suffered under the strain of Jade’s less than conventional family upbringing and her penchant towards committing adultery. Despite these obvious strains, Banjo and Jade share a strong love for one another and their two daughters Lissy and Cassandra. When Banjo is tragically killed, Jade falls into a deep depression, leaving daughters Lissy and Cassandra to pick up the pieces. Lissy is convinced there is more to her Father’s death than they know. Cassandra then finds a book of her Mother’s exposing her years of affairs. The girls are determined to find answers to their parent’s volatile relationship and this means contacting the lovers detailed in their Mother’s book. The consequences of this gradual unravelling of the truth behind their Mother Jade’s secret life is the hope that the family will finally be set free by the mysterious past that has haunted them. A beautifully raw read, combined with well written prose and distinctive character voices, I cannot praise author Kate Belle enough for writing a book that made me think and feel so deeply.
May 4, 2015
BEING Jade is Kate Belle’s second book. I fell in love with her writing in her debut, The Yearning, and while Being Jade has some challenging characters, I equally loved this book.
Explaining to one’s husband why you love a book about infidelity is fraught with complications, and without Belle’s way with words, I am at a loss to define just how she delves into the parameters of love and commitment with such aplomb.
It is the story of a married couple – loyal, dependable Banjo and his “wild” wife, Jade – who is ripped apart after Banjo dies tragically after an argument. But mystery surrounds their last encounter, one that his daughters will try to untangle as their mother sinks into a coma-like depression.
Some will determine this as erotica and others will undoubtedly read it as a feminist work. But despite there being much more sex in this, it was less about mind-blowing sex and more about how much of ourselves we forfeit to meet other people’s expectations.
What I took away from Being Jade, aside from the sad truth about what happened that fateful day, was a message about relationships.
Belle laments our tendency to believe people owe us certain things simply because they are our mother, brother, sister, father. Whoever. As if we have some claim on who they are because of a blood relationship or marriage certificate.
Being Jade will stay with you long after you’ve closed the book. Bring on the next one, Kate!
www.petajo.com
Explaining to one’s husband why you love a book about infidelity is fraught with complications, and without Belle’s way with words, I am at a loss to define just how she delves into the parameters of love and commitment with such aplomb.
It is the story of a married couple – loyal, dependable Banjo and his “wild” wife, Jade – who is ripped apart after Banjo dies tragically after an argument. But mystery surrounds their last encounter, one that his daughters will try to untangle as their mother sinks into a coma-like depression.
Some will determine this as erotica and others will undoubtedly read it as a feminist work. But despite there being much more sex in this, it was less about mind-blowing sex and more about how much of ourselves we forfeit to meet other people’s expectations.
What I took away from Being Jade, aside from the sad truth about what happened that fateful day, was a message about relationships.
Belle laments our tendency to believe people owe us certain things simply because they are our mother, brother, sister, father. Whoever. As if we have some claim on who they are because of a blood relationship or marriage certificate.
Being Jade will stay with you long after you’ve closed the book. Bring on the next one, Kate!
www.petajo.com
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