Review: Jane Was Here

Jane Was Here by Sarah Kernochan

Summary: A mysterious young woman called Jane appears in a small New England town. She claims a fragmentary memory of growing up in this place, yet she has never been here before in her life. Searching for an explanation, she arrives at the unthinkable: that she is somehow connected to a beautiful girl who disappeared from the town in 1853. Is she recalling a past life? Jane becomes convinced of it. As she presses onward to find out what happened in this town over 150 years ago, strange and alarming things begin happening to some of the town’s inhabitants. A thunderhead of karmic justice gathers over the village as Jane’s memories reawaken piece by piece. They carry her back in time to a long-buried secret, while the townspeople hurtle forward to a horrific event when past and present fatally collide.

My Thoughts: Um, I’m not sure what to say. It was a struggle for me to get into this book. It’s divided into three parts, the first of which was really, really hard for me to care about. I didn’t really meet any characters I cared all that much for. No one is really much of a decent person – everyone has some dark, horrible thing. I found I couldn’t really care for most of the characters. And I felt like things were all over the place. It took a long time for me to figure out why we jumped from here to there to him to her, etc. I remember at one point wondering what the heck is actually going on in this bizarre narrative. I almost gave up on this book; if I hadn’t agreed to review it, I definitely wouldn’t have finished. But, it did get better.

The second part is a series of letters that were written almost 200 years ago. That means they’re written in a more formal language. They are interesting, and tell us a LOT of what we need to know to fully understand a significant part of the story. The more formal language isn’t all that hard to read; it just takes a bit longer until your brain adjusts. LOL These letters made me care a bit more about the story, the characters, and finding out how it would all come together.

The final part kept me reading. It was interesting, fast-paced, and not in the least bit confusing. I think at this point the reader knows enough about everyone that s/he no longer feels confused by everything thrown at him/her. I still can’t say I cared all that much about these people – except maybe Brett. I thought the way everything played out was quite interesting, and mostly satisfactory.

Despite my liking the third part of the book, I can’t say I liked the whole book all that much. Will I read this again? Highly doubtful. Would I recommend this? Probably not. Although, this makes me think a little about Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving, which is odd, because I liked that a lot more.

Anyway, I think I was expecting a more exciting read from start to finish, and didn’t really get that. Still, overall, people seem to enjoy Jane Was Here. Make sure to check out more tour stops to see other opinions and reactions!

Source: Received through Crazy Book Tours for review.

Read It: Get your own copy HERE. (This is a Book Depository link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission at no cost to you. Your support is appreciated!)

Tour Info: For the main page for this blog tour, including more reviews of this book on other blogs, visit the tour post HERE.

Challenges: Counts for the 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge.

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FTC Disclosure: All items reviewed were either obtained by me for my own enjoyment or sent (from the author, publisher, publicist, via tour sites, etc.) in exchange for an honest review. I receive no monetary compensation for my posts. All opinions expressed are my own.

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