Jane - April Lindner

sábado, 27 de novembro de 2010

0 comentários

The Story: Jane Moore´s life is not so easy. She has always been family´s ugly duck, has recently lost her parents and doesn´t have any money, what made her leave college, where she was studying.
Without any other option, she got a job as a nanny at Thornfield Park, mansion of Nico Rathbury, a rock-star, typical bad boy, father of a little and lovely daughter, that doesn´t receive much of his attention.
Nico knows many futile women, only interested in his money and fame, and because of this he gets facinated for strong and at the same time sweet Jane´s personality and tries to keep her close, turning her into a close friend. Inevitably, they end up falling in love, but Nico has his secrets, and some of them may destroy his romance with Jane for forever.


My Opinion: I wrote a completely different review for this book, but I decided to download BBC´s mini-series Jane Eyre and I changed this text. Deservedly.
First of all, I have to affirm that April Lindner is very brave. For those who doesn´t know "Jane" is a retelling of Jane Eyre, that I´m ashamed to say that I´ve never read. But I had an idea of how big and wonderful Charlotte Bronte´s book is (by the way, what great sisters they were) and of April Lindner´s intteligence.
"Jane" is amazing! She got the most important scenes from the original story (as I could watch in the series) and turned them into a modern book, but tasting as a classic. A new masterpiece, a new story of a timeless tale.
There are some differences between both books. First of all, Jane happens in actual days and the male character is a musician. The girl that Jane babysits is Nico´s daughter, he´s not her tutor and there´s the press and the band. But we have the same essence, the gothic atmosphere is present and we recognize the same Jane, so strong, with her honest opinions, the Jane that changes, that blooms when falls in love. Well, I have to stop here so as not to tell the whole story.
This is a story that I´ll always remember, unforgettable. And I want to thank the author for giving me the oportunity to read her wonderful book, by sending me its ARC.


How many stars? *****

Soundtrack: Although I know it´s not the perfect melody, everytime I had Jane in my hands, I started to sing: Diary of Jane by Breaking Benjamin - and as Nico was a rock star, it´s worthy!!!




Stranded - J.T. Dutton

segunda-feira, 22 de novembro de 2010

1 comentários

The Story: In Heaven, Iowa, nothing is as it seems. People hide their secrets and there´s a church that control their thoughts and deeds. And that´s where Kelly Louise will live.
And that´s in Heaven, this town so full of principles, that a little baby is found dead, a newborn, in the middle of the street. And nobody knows who´s the mother that abandoned her.
Besides her mother, Kelly lives with a conservative grandmother and a cousin of her age, but with entirely different personalities. While one of them is very cool, talks naturally about sex and makes her own mistakes, Natalie, the cousin, is very religious, follows all the rulles imposed by her grandmother and is repressed in every way.
But Natalie has a secret. Something that can change the way people see her and something that can prove that looks can be deceiving.
My Opinion: "Stranded" is known as a Young Adult book, but I´d say that it´s much more than that. When I started reading it, I thought I would encounter a teen drama, like The O.C. (that I really love). But I was completely mistaken. The story is strong, but the author tells it in a very soft and funny way and I got surprised.
Kelly and her cousin Natalie are very different, as I said, but there are some similarities between them. Although Natalie seems conformed with the life she lives, at every oportunity, she shows herself trapped in a cocoon, longing for freedom. Deep inside, she envies Kelly, that´s the family´s black sheep, at least in theory.
Natalie had a very hard life, and it makes us feel sorry for her (even when she acts like a bitch) and these difficults that he had been through made me understand her attitudes and justify her weird behavior for a girl her age.
To me, Stranded was a book with a beautiful moral that teaches us not to judge anybody by appearance. Human being are much more complex then they appear and you may never know a person, no matter how long you know her.
Recomended!


How many stars: ****



Sondtrack: Unfold by Marie Digby.



"I don´t wanna go on living
Being so afraid of showing
Someone else my imperfections."