skygiants | (no subject)

Kristen Cashore's Jane, Unlimited is definitely one of the weirdest books, if not the weirdest book, I read in 2017. It is a grand experiment and I admire it enormously for being so bizarre with such dedication even if I'm not sure it ... works .....??

In the grand tradition of the gothic novel, Jane, Unlimited begins when plucky orphan Jane is invited by a glamorously wealthy and directionless college friend, Kiran Thrash, to her family's MYSTERIOUS MANSION on an ISOLATED ISLAND. Jane wouldn't be interested in going ... except her glamorous oceanic photographer Aunt Magnolia, who died tragically in an hiking accident the previous year, made her promise never to turn down an invitation to the GLAMOROUS MYSTERIOUS MANSION!

And thus Jane goes, along with her collection of unfinished umbrellas (Jane's hobby is making weird artistic umbrellas) (just roll with it)

Aunt Magnolia's Mysterious Message is just the first of many mysteries at Tu Reviens. Additional mysteries feature:
- who stole the priceless work of art?
- and who stole the other priceless work of art?
- and why is Kiran's dreamy twin brother Ravi so stressed about it?
- and why isn't Kiran and Ravi's dad stressed about it at all?
- and why did the family of medical researchers disappear from New York City?
- and why do their kids appear to be in the mansion?
- and why are some of the guests sneaking around at night with guns?
- and what does the housekeeper know about Aunt Magnolia?
- and what are the secrets of the rest of the household help, including the Broodingly Hot Gardener (Kiran's estranged love interest) and his Equally Hot Nerd Girl Sister (Jane's new crush?)
- and where has Kiran and Ravi's stepmom disappeared to?
- and why is Kiran and Ravi's actual mom in a tower off by herself muttering about multiple dimensions?
- and why does the household dog follow Jane everywhere she goes?
- and why is there a smallpox outbreak on the mainland???

You might think this is a lot of mysteries! YOU WOULD BE CORRECT.

After setting up all this plot, the book presents Jane with a convergence point at which she can follow either Kiran, Ravi, the housekeeper, a hypothetical disappeared child carrying a piece of stolen art, or the dog. At this point this turns into a Five Times Jane Uncovered One Of The Mysteries of Tu Reviens fic, leaping from the Gothic into a half-dozen other genres with the greatest of ease.

In the first pathway, Jane discovers who is behind the art theft! This is reasonable and totally to be expected as a plot development.

In the second pathway, Jane discovers that the housekeeper and her husband are members of an international organization called ESPIONS SANS FRONTIERES that provides non-partisan aid, support, and therapy to spies around the world!

In the third pathway, things get extremely weird.

In the fourth pathway, things somehow get even weirder.

In the fifth pathway things are significantly more comprehensible but also now we're in a nineties fantasy novel?

The fact that this is one of the less weird things to happen tells you a lot about the book. I have no idea what to make of it or whether there is in fact much of a point beyond 'the infinite possibility of the multiverse is MINDBLOWING, y'all!' but I sure as heck was entertained by the ride.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sovay

I have no idea what to make of it or whether there is in fact much of a point beyond 'the infinite possibility of the multiverse is MINDBLOWING, y'all!' but I sure as heck was entertained by the ride.

Are the different pathways narratively satisfying, or just wild rides?

From:

starlady

Just wild rides, imo. I found the whole thing frustratingly twee. Because Cashore refuses to make any authorial choices, it comes off like nothing matters.

From:

skygiants

Honestly it felt like one off those Yuletide massive crossover fics where the author picks five canons that they like and just throws them in, and if you happen to know them, great! and otherwise that section is going to be very puzzling to you! "This is the one where Jane Eyre is in The Yellow Wallpaper!" And, I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoy those kinds of fics a lot.

From:

kore

"This is the one where Jane Eyre is in The Yellow Wallpaper!"

.....................SOLD //facepalm

From:

skygiants

Then this is DEFINITELY a book for you!!

From:

kore

I WILL TAKE IT AS A LATE BDAY/XMAS PRESENT

From:

hebethen

I think she could definitely have pushed it further than she did, but IMO one of the strengths of AU-type writing -- quintuply so when you're smashing five of 'em together all at once -- is using difference to show, by contrast, the constants at the core of your multiverse. For instance Ivy is always Jane's anchor, to whichever degree that their relationship is able to develop -- and that says something!

From:

skygiants

Yeah, she's definitely able to use the structure to play around with that a fair bit, but I could have stood to see more of it, especially in some of the versions where the other characters appear less (we don't get much of Kiran in the back half of the book, for example, I think maybe because Cashore thinks her thread is resolved in the second pathway and is less interested in her? But I'm still interested in her!)

From:

starlady

The Jane/Ivy relationship was definitely my favorite part of the book. And I totally agree about your point about AUs and constraints--I think that's the type of thing I just don't read published fiction for. That's the kind of thing I look for in fanfic. :)

From:

skygiants

Yeah, I wouldn't call it ... a narratively satisfying book ..... In a lot of ways it feels more like a fun writing experiment than a novel. But parts of it made me laugh INCREDIBLY hard.

Edited Date: 2018-01-07 03:35 am (UTC)

From:

sovay

But parts of it made me laugh INCREDIBLY hard.

Well, that's something. Can I ask about the '90's fantasy novel?

From:

skygiants

You may! Here's some blank space in case anyone doesn't want spoilers:

The last section is the one where it turns out the household dog is a MAGICAL dog who comes from a fantasy world, which is connected to the house through a painting portal. He's come through the painting portal looking for his soulbonded human and look! It's Jane! He found her!

In the fantasy world, the house is owned by a duchess, and the dog can talk.

From:

sovay

He's come through the painting portal looking for his soulbonded human and look! It's Jane! He found her!

Okay, then!

From:

conuly

Good doggie!

From:

starlady

Weird random question: did you figure the dog thing out before the last section? Because I said to my roommate around page 50 that the dog was going through through the painting into another world, because I thought it was obvious, but she told me it was a spoiler and I couldn't explain how I'd figured it out. It felt very Diana Wynne Jones-ish to me.

From:

aquamirage

Have I told you yet that Kristin Cashore re-wrote this book three times in three different POVs, making the entire thing even more completely bananas

From:

skygiants

WHAT? What were the other POVs??? I'm trying to figure out how you could even structure it without Jane being the protagonist!

From:

jadelennox

For a long time it was in second person (addressing Jane), and you could choose the order of the sections as you read them.

From:

kore

Ohhh I NEED that version. It sounds totally like the CYOA books I loved as a kid.

From:

starlady

I think I would have liked that version better.

From:

conuly

Is this a love it or hate it sort of thing?

From:

skygiants

F suspect it's more like "find the weird structure entertaining and hilarious" or "find the weird structure frustrating and pointless."

From:

conuly

Thinking about it. Thanks.

From:

rachelmanija

Is there an in-narrative reason for the 5 things, like she goes through a portal five times or time reverses itself in the house or, uh, something, or does it just turn into 5 things for 0 reason?

From:

skygiants

Non-spoiler answer: Kind of?

Spoiler answer: There is an interdimensional portal that leads to alternate universes which she goes through in one timeline, thus strengthing the point that all five timelines are possible variant timelines in the infinite multiverse.

However, in the timeline where she goes through the portal, it doesn't reflect back at all on the other timelines in the book and she instead ends up in an AU in which everyone is involved in a very serious space battle.

From:

rachelmanija

Spoiler answer: There is an interdimensional portal that leads to alternate universes which she goes through in one timeline, thus strengthing the point that all five timelines are possible variant timelines in the infinite multiverse.

Got it, that makes sense.

...but she doesn't go through it five times? The five endings just... happen?

However, in the timeline where she goes through the portal, it doesn't reflect back at all on the other timelines in the book and she instead ends up in an AU in which everyone is involved in a very serious space battle.

I have been sitting here trying to express my level of WTF at this and failing. Probably I need emojis of a shocked face, an explosion, a stop sign, and a poodle.

From:

jadelennox

Probably I need emojis of a shocked face, an explosion, a stop sign, and a poodle.

That would be a great summary of the book.

Here is an emoji review:
🏝️🎨🕵🏿🕵️‍♀️👻🏠👾🚀🖼️🐶

From:

rachelmanija

Honestly I think I have to read this. It sounds amazing and not at all what I'd have expected from Cashore.

From:

conuly

Good to see that she's stretching as a writer, though. You must post a review if you read it, because I need more input before *I* dive in.

From:

skygiants

READ IT, I would love to see your thoughts.

From:

conuly

However, in the timeline where she goes through the portal, it doesn't reflect back at all on the other timelines in the book and she instead ends up in an AU in which everyone is involved in a very serious space battle.

Huh.

From:

jadelennox

It started as a choose your own adventure book, although it isn't one anymore, and a lot of the narrative reason is that this is a house FULL OF MYSTERIES and depending on the protagonist's choices, she'll learn different things.

For me the whole thing hangs together brilliantly, and my only real frustration is that the plot line in which she and her BFF resolve some awesome character growth moments is not also the one where she hooks up with the awesome girl, therefore in my mind she can't have both at once.

From:

kore

It started as a choose your own adventure book, although it isn't one anymore

OMG sob (I just love those books).

From:

skygiants

I can't remember if it's the first or the second plotline that ends with Kiran, Ravi and Jane all sitting around having character growth, but that was my favorite ending; I'm very invested in the Thrash Twins.

I do wonder how it would read differently if it was set up from the start as a CYOA -- I really enjoyed it, but I think in some ways it would work better for me if it was, and from the start it was clear that we were being invited to play around in that genre.

You know what actually would be an amazing format for this book, also: IMMERSIVE THEATER. Someone should make it a Sleep No More!

From:

laleia

I've been lurking and reading your reviews for a while (like ... a couple of years?) now and have never commented, I don't think, but I HAVE to comment about this.

So I just finished this book a few days ago, coincidentally enough! And like ... so, I didn't look up anything about this book before I read it. I saw that it was a new book by Kristin Cashore, I was a huge fan of her Seven Kingdoms trilogy, I immediately put it on hold at the library without reading a synopsis, and the library auto-checked it out.

Reading this book is a VERY interesting experience when you know nothing at all going into it. I mean, when I first read the beginning segment, I distinctly remember thinking to myself that because I hadn't read the synopsis, I didn't know what genre the book was, and then wondering whether it was going to end up urban fantasy or coming-of-age, or what-have-you.

Especially when I got to the end of the first possible universe and started the second, I got SUPER confused at first and by the time I figured out what was going on, it kind of blew my mind. I mostly like the conceit - I agree that everything just got weirder and slightly more confusing, and I would have been more satisfied by an ending that tied the five universes together. I'm still not entirely sure I understand how everything works.

From:

skygiants

Hi and welcome!! Yeah, I just BET this book was an even weirder experience if you go in knowing absolutely nothing. I at least had picked up the vague sense that it was about alternate universes, and several people had explicitly told me it was an extremely weird book, and even so I was not at all prepared for what I got. I was sort of ready all through the second possible universe, but then we hit the third and that felt like a complete left turn out of anything I'd expected.

From:

cinaed

I looooooved this book, and how it just got weirder and weirder.

Admittedly, you're probably right that there wasn't really a point to it other than a million odd things happening at once, but it still ended up being one of my favorite books of the year.

From:

skygiants

I'm not sure it was one of my favorites, but I did enjoy it enormously (and I liked it even better once I got to the author's not at the end when she was like 'yeah, this is just a bunch of references to stuff I think is cool! HERE'S ALL THE STUFF I THINK IS COOL.')

From:

obopolsk

TBH, your framing of this book as a Five Things fic makes me like it a lot more. I'm just going to think of it that way going forward.

From:

sheliak

That sounds tremendously entertaining! I kind of want to seek it out now, although I suppose that my lack of familiarity with Gothics might detract from the experience a bit.

From:

skygiants

I honestly think it would be an enjoyably wild ride regardless of any background knowledge! Gothics are definitely not the only genre that she's playing with.