Young Jane Young
Review of the novel by Gabrielle Zevin
A simple and clear story line. The characters come alive. This is a witty, fun and quick read.
The author is a chameleon. She gets inside the minds of her characters and invites her audience to do the same. That’s her superpower. Forget “appropriation.” We’re all people. Everyone can be anyone. Our common humanity. That’s why we read and why we write. And Zevin writes very well.
She is also masterful at expressing truisms well. For example:
“ I believed a mother must act like the woman she wanted her daughter to become.” p. 104
“Embeth’s special power was what Jorge referred to as ‘negative empathy — she could always imagine the worst thing a person might be thinking.” p. 179–180
“A good dessert is meant to trick you into forgetting about the bad meal that came before.” p. 181
“To take care of something is to love it.” p. 288
“A girl who slept with a politician goes into politics herself. There are second acts in American political life.” p. 294
