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Jan. 6th, 2018 07:15 pmKristen 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 ( this partial spoiler for the second section is where I started laughing and basically did not stop until the book ended )
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.
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 ( this partial spoiler for the second section is where I started laughing and basically did not stop until the book ended )
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.
