#re jane

[kimblestudies]

[inwhichiread]

It's high time that the MTA invested in some new train cars. But then I'd have to get to know a new train, and I'm certain some part of me would mourn the loss of the old, for all its flaws. After years of riding the 7, I've grown familiar with its herky-jerkiness, learning to accept its particular rhythms instead of fighting against them - or running away. And to realize, despite it all, that it has good intentions.

Re Jane, Patricia Park

[inwhichiread]

'It takes a certain kind of person to go through immigration. You get broken. Only the strongest can put themselves back together again. But even then [...] you can never return to what you were before.

Re Jane, Patricia Park

[inwhichiread]

“Growing up, I often felt I would've been treated better if I were a hundred percent one or the other. If I were all Korean, I could have just blended in. If I were all white, I wouldn't have been met with the same curious stares - What are you? - the same assumptions about my mother's past. To be almost seemed to be worse than being not at all.” 

Re Jane, Patricia Park

[theirresponsiblereader]

Reposting Just 'Cuz -- Re Jane by Patricia Park

Reposting Just ‘Cuz — Re Jane by Patricia Park

So, I couldn’t get anything written tonight — but wanted to get something up, so for no real reason, here’s a post from 5 years ago (or so) —

Re Jane

by Patricia Park Hardcover, 338 pg. Pamela Dorman Books, 2015

Read: July 6 – 8, 2015

There are two ways to look at this book — as a retelling of Jane Eyre and as a novel on its own terms. It’s clearly indebted to Jane Eyre — frequently, the…

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[neverresolvedapia350-blog]

People who look like Jane in Re Jane are definitely considered very good looking in Korea! Jane’s aunt was very right... 

Jeon Somi whose father is Canadian and mother is Korean is very popular in Korea. People who speak English and Korean, like Somi, are very desirable in the entertainment industry because they can reach more audience members. Inclusion through language can speak across nationalities.

-Lorraine Chang

[eastasiansonwesternscreen]

daniel dae kim is also set to produce an adaption of patricia park's re jane which has a korean-american woman protagonist!! it's a great book and i especially recommend it to diasporic and/or biracial people

Hi! Thanks for the info! I didn’t know about that, will keep an eye on this project too, it sounds great!

[shiraglassman]

Review: RE JANE, Korean diaspora fiction

Re Jane by Patricia Park goes way beyond its "modern reboot of Jane Eyre in the Korean diaspora" elevator pitch to reimagine the familiar story with new layers, new resolutions, and new themes. It was so readable that I swallowed it whole in one day while trying to intensely rest from a cold; every time I tried to nap like I was supposed to be, no, I just had to get back to the book! Jane's story takes place primarily in Flushing, where I once had family, and since it's set in the early 2000's, various New York-centered national news events that my relatives experienced are part of the narrative. That part was validating for me as a reader because I haven't read a whole lot of books like that yet. I've seen writing advice that talks about not 'dating' your contemporary fiction by peppering it with very your-year-specific references, but I firmly disagree. I think time is just as important to setting as place, and I love things that are steeped in their settings. Park made different narrative choices from Bronte, but by the time she got there they were the choices I was hoping she was going to make, so kudos to her for making the audience want what they get before they get it--one of the marks of good authorship. Far from being a primary second lead, the Rochester analog often sinks into the background as Jane's family and female friends become the focal point of her interactions. Don't read this as a Jane/Rochester 'shipper from the original; read this for the "finding your place in the world and your people" narrative, the richly depicted cultural details, and the love song to Queens, NYC. Some people might be off-put by the occasional "cute" reference to the original, like the Bertha analog teaching at "Mason" university, or the Rochester analog being offered a teaching position in Rochester, NY, but I like that kind of thing. Also, and I'm rolling my eyes at myself because my bar is apparently set this low, but in the past few weeks I've read a few cis/het novels and this is the only one whose LGBT side characters weren't there to provide tragic backstory. (There was a walk-on in one scene talking about looking for cute guys. It wasn't presented as anything other than a neutral, as a realistic part of the fabric of early 2000's NYC. THIS IS HOW YOU INCLUDE US. Thank you.) I really do want to thank Park for that since reading two books in a row where things got worse and worse for us was bringing me down.