Re Jane: A Novel

Written by Patricia Park

Narrated by Diana Bang

“Re Jane is snappy and memorable, with its clever narrator and insights on clashing cultures.”—Entertainment Weekly

For Jane Re, half-Korean, half-American orphan, Flushing, Queens, is the place she’s been trying to escape from her whole life. Sardonic yet vulnerable, Jane toils, unappreciated, in her strict uncle’s grocery store and politely observes the traditional principle of nunchi (a combination of good manners, hierarchy, and obligation). Desperate for a new life, she’s thrilled to become the au pair for the Mazer-Farleys, two Brooklyn English professors and their adopted Chinese daughter. Inducted into the world of organic food co-ops and nineteenth–century novels, Jane is the recipient of Beth Mazer’s feminist lectures and Ed Farley’s very male attention. But when a family death interrupts Jane and Ed’s blossoming affair, she flies off to Seoul, leaving New York far behind.

Reconnecting with family, and struggling to learn the ways of modern-day Korea, Jane begins to wonder if Ed Farley is really the man for her. Jane returns to Queens, where she must find a balance between two cultures and accept who she really is. Re Jane is a bright, comic story of falling in love, finding strength, and living not just out of obligation to others, but for one’s self.

Journeying from Queens to Brooklyn to Seoul, and back, this is a fresh, contemporary retelling of Jane Eyre and a poignant Korean American debut.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Audio
• Release date: May 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9780698404083

Reviews for Re Jane

[sanyamakadi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is my least favorite of Patricia Park's novels, largely because the plotline of the nanny having an affair with the husband, told from the nanny's point of view in which we are supposed to be on her side, definitely doesn't do it for me.

[drfuriosa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fresh examination of the governess who learned to respect herself. The examination of language and culture is a plus. 4.5 stars.

[eachurch-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A touching, funny, and clever novel about family, love, what is means to be yourself, and how difficult it can be to figure out how to live as yourself. Park's writing is clear, mischievous, and compelling. I wanted to know what Jane was going to make of her life.

[ishanella · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

strong start, ok finish but overall good debut.

[gayla.bassham · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you know Jane Eyre well, it's fun to read the book and pick out all the parallels. In the end, though, it felt like the references were the main point of the novel; I wasn't sure exactly what else Park was trying to say with her book.

[reallifereading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I complained on Goodreads and Litsy about the way this book is marketed as a Jane Eyre retelling. Which makes a reader come into it with certain expectations, especially a ‘what would Jane do?’ kind of perspective. Perhaps it’s better to say that it’s loosely inspired by Jane Eyre, that this half-Korean young woman, a recent college grad, trying to find her own way in the world and out from under the thumb of her uncle, who has raised her, who owns a small supermarket. She takes on a job as an au pair for an adopted Chinese girl and falls for her boss. No one dies in this book but Jane eventually flees the US and returns to Seoul and that is when the book really opens up for me. This perspective of seeing Korea through the eyes of a returning overseas Korean. But that may just be me, as I tend to be interested in the narrative of returning diaspora.

[memccauley6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting modern take on Jane Eyre, this version is more about Korean-American Jane finally learning to accept herself, her family, and her cultural heritage than about the romance with “Mr. Rochester”. The Rochester character, Ed Farley, is not very well-developed anyway and I was frankly wondering what Jane saw in him, besides the fact that he was the first person to ever show her any kindness. A much, much better re-interpretation of Jane Eyre than Sloane Hall, but nevertheless I find it hard to believe it would stand on its own as a novel without the literary connection. For a better modern re-telling of Jane Eyre, check out “Jane” by April Linder… or my absolute favorite version, the science fiction re-telling “Jenna Starborn” by Sharon Shinn.

[froxgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm always pretty lame when it comes to books that parallel/modernize other and older books/plays, so any Jane Eyre references in this excellent book blew right by me. But it's a great story standing on its own, of making a place where there isn't one set for you. Jane is half American, half Korean, and lives with her uncle and aunt in Flushing, Queens, where they runs a produce store and pressure Jane to achieve every goal that such elders have for their progeny - Ivy league, lawyer or doctor, marriage to someone with "prospects". Jane heads in different directions - to an au pair job in Brooklyn, to Korea, and back to the US.

Her journey is so confusing, so contradictory, so difficult - that although her background may be unusual to the reader, her reactions and decisions are not. I loved being introduced to two Korean expressions - tap-tap-hae and nunchi - that I am considering adding them to my vocabulary as a tribute to Patricia Park and her brilliant debut novel.

[pgchuis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kind of a re-telling of Jane Eyre and also not. Jane Re is half Korean, half-American and has been brought up in flushing by her Korean uncle Sang and his wife after her mother dies when she was a baby. Jane has been led to believe that her father abandoned her mother and has felt shame, a constant sense of not being truly Korean and a sense of obligation to Sang for saving her from an orphanage. The story begins when Jane finishes college and, after a job in finance falls through, goes to work as an au pair for the Farleys, mainly to escape from Sang, with whom she has a difficult relationship.

The relationship between Jane and Sang was, I thought, the best thing about this book. It was so very realistically portrayed in all its faults and quirks and Jane is constantly re-evaluating it. Beth, the mother of the child Jane baby-sits, was another excellent character; initially an object of ridicule for Jane, her true value is appreciated at the end. In the middle of the book Jane moves to Seoul to live with her extended family and there are many thought-provoking stories about culture and where you truly belong. Jane learns that there are different kinds of Koreans and different versions of the very language.

The ending was a little disappointing, but really made sense in the context of the story as it had unfolded. I really can't recommend this book highly enough.