The Evolution of Jane

Rating:
Summary: Well-written fable
Review: "The Evolution of Jane" is a novel that is at times brilliant, at times maddeningly pedestrian. The premise, of twentysomething Jane Schwartz's trip to the Galapogos after a divorce, is at once fascinating and flawed. While on the trip, Jane muses on her lost friendship with her cousin and soul mate,Martha, who just happens to be the tour guide on the trip through the Galapogos. The novel weaves back and forward between Jane and Martha's childhood in Connecticut, and their present trip together.

One of the problems with the novel is the narrator's voice. We are supposed to believe she and her cousin are currently in their mid-twenties, but I think their thoughts, behavior and values seem better aligned with characters twice that age.

Another problem is the character of Martha, who is vaguely drawn at best. Is she self-absorbed, elusive, narcissistic? We see so little of her, and yet the novel hinges on questions of her character. We are left to believe Jane's conclusion that Martha was not the friend Jane thought she was. But is this true? The ending was too vague for my taste.

The novel shines, though, when the author draw parallels between the evolution of the species and the evolution of families and individuals. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was inspired to hit the Natural History museum and to call my travel agent after reading about Jane's travels in the islands of Darwin's discoveries.

Rating:
Summary: The Necessity of Friendship
Review: "The Evolution of Jane" is a novel that is at times brilliant, at times maddeningly pedestrian. The premise, of twentysomething Jane Schwartz's trip to the Galapogos after a divorce, is at once fascinating and flawed. While on the trip, Jane muses on her lost friendship with her cousin and soul mate,Martha, who just happens to be the tour guide on the trip through the Galapogos. The novel weaves back and forward between Jane and Martha's childhood in Connecticut, and their present trip together.

One of the problems with the novel is the narrator's voice. We are supposed to believe she and her cousin are currently in their mid-twenties, but I think their thoughts, behavior and values seem better aligned with characters twice that age.

Another problem is the character of Martha, who is vaguely drawn at best. Is she self-absorbed, elusive, narcissistic? We see so little of her, and yet the novel hinges on questions of her character. We are left to believe Jane's conclusion that Martha was not the friend Jane thought she was. But is this true? The ending was too vague for my taste.

The novel shines, though, when the author draw parallels between the evolution of the species and the evolution of families and individuals. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was inspired to hit the Natural History museum and to call my travel agent after reading about Jane's travels in the islands of Darwin's discoveries.

Rating:
Summary: The Evolution of Jane is slow & sure.
Review: As something to do to get over her divorce Jane sets sails for the Galapagos Islands on a tour, where she finds her erstwhile best friend, rekindles her passion for botany, new friends & has an epiphany about her life. Jane is a reader, observant of life around her. Unfortunately she has little humor still, this was a strange & different read, filled with absorbing details about the person who penned the works that did & still does cause major tectonic shifts in the ways we think about ourselves, our lives & all living things. I relished gleaning so much about Darwin & the momentous ideas for which he is now an icon. END

Rating:
Summary: The Necessity of Friendship
Review: I was surprised by some of the negative reviews Cathleen Schine's new book had the misfortune to garner. I enjoyed _The Love Letter_ very much and found _The Evolution of Jane_ to be a further evolution of the author's skill and talent. Jane's parents treat her to a trip to the Galapagos islands after her divorce is finalized. Rather than escaping from one failed relationship she is faced with another--her best friend from childhood, Martha, picks Jane and her group up at the airport and announces that she will be their tour guide. Here, where the whole concept of evolution began, Jane faces a more difficult puzzle than why "a husky is not the same species as a wolf but is the same species as a Pekingese"--why her relationship with Martha ended. It goes into a complex discussion on the nature of friendship, whether it is necessary to the human species and if it is why did Martha forget her? Jane's whininess is amusing and any one who likes Darwin will like the description of the Galapagos. A more-than-enjoyable read!

Rating:
Summary: Evolution of the Novel
Review: My book group read this book and will meet next week to discuss it. I found it to be a welcomed break-away from a conventional novel. The balance of Non-fiction/fiction was superbly crafted. Ms Shine's wit and wisdom is both provocative and entertaining. Don't we all know a Jane somewhere? Or perhaps have a little of Jane's quirky narcisism lurking in ourselves that we cringe to acknowledge? I would venture that it's this dark truth, along with the risk-taking departure from conventional format, that readers find disturbing. But if you shake off preconception, it's a terrific read. Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and Thought Provoking
Review: Needs no review. A wonderful escape to a thought provoking trip, weaved with love, and family disapointment, yet ultimately an extremely good read.

Rating:
Summary: provocative and quite interesting....deeper than most!
Review: The title and setting of this story is what attracted me to read it. But once the underlying story began, of Jane's childhood, I wished that the entire novel had been on that topic. I enjoyed the lush scenery, and the descriptions of the Galapogos, which is what made me choose this book in the first place, but I think the two plots would have been better had they been separate. And to be honest, the flashback sequences were what I enjoyed most. There was too much of a gap in between stories. One minute-- Jane is 14, then she is 25. On the whole, I enjoyed the book, it was a great summer vacation read, and a fast one, but I was looking for more. Intertwining the two stories into one meant leaving out details. This was the only disappointment. Read it and I think you'll agree.

Rating:
Summary: Evolution: It's only a theory, after all
Review: Up to the penultimate chapter of the book, I was extremely enthusiastic about The Evolution of Jane. It is the first novel I've read by Schine, and I was impressed by the mixed voice of levity, sentimentality, and great human sensitivity. Most of all, lines and whole passages caused me to laugh out loud. A few of her tropes, however (her mother's catchword "Chaos," the pivotal pool tragedy, Darwin's "nature red in tooth and claw," and Jane's general whininess), began to chafe with repetition. Most disappointing was the ending. It came in a rush, without much reflection or discourse, an abrupt departure from the previous flow of the book, which at its best philosophized lightly and at its worst dwelled. The onset of Ecuadorean illness, which I will spare both past and future readers, was particularly sickening. The book, in my opinion, DE-volved from this episode on. Most irritating, however, was Martha. Martha's irritating-ness served a purpose up to Jane's epiphany about thier lost friendship, but after the epiphany Martha continued to be irritating - her aloof, intractable, affable yet grating indifference to one and all - and this made the novel and the heroine both... irritating. Yet, this is not intended to be a wholly negative review. I do recommend the book for anyone in the mood for a very engaging read that is nevertheless not sustainable.