laprunminta reviewed In the Quick by Kate Hope Day
Review of 'In the Quick' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Major spoilers ahead!!
I really liked a few things about this book. The tie-ins to Jane Eyre were delightful and spare. The aunt getting rid of Jane/June was, well, kind of understandable after June burns most of the house down by experimenting. And, the brooding Mr. Rochester is on a planet, alone, and it's only after a fire in the night that you realize his role.
I loved how June is so believably interested in science. I loved the difference in the narration and her agency from when she is 12 to when she's an adult. She goes from narrating as some sort of alien examining human life to competently living her own.
There were a few things I didn't like. The book ends abruptly, maybe making room for a sequel. The love interest is rather monstrous, but less morally excusable than Mr. Rochester is. Because of this, it's not …
Major spoilers ahead!!
I really liked a few things about this book. The tie-ins to Jane Eyre were delightful and spare. The aunt getting rid of Jane/June was, well, kind of understandable after June burns most of the house down by experimenting. And, the brooding Mr. Rochester is on a planet, alone, and it's only after a fire in the night that you realize his role.
I loved how June is so believably interested in science. I loved the difference in the narration and her agency from when she is 12 to when she's an adult. She goes from narrating as some sort of alien examining human life to competently living her own.
There were a few things I didn't like. The book ends abruptly, maybe making room for a sequel. The love interest is rather monstrous, but less morally excusable than Mr. Rochester is. Because of this, it's not a romance. I had no hope of a happy ending in the usual sense. (Tbh I kind of wished the love interest would die off.) Perhaps this was intentional: the only way in which the book/series could have a happy ending is if June fixes her uncle's technology and saves the crew that's in jeopardy. That's pretty feminist, and maybe that's the point? June's looking for family and her accomplishments let her find it? Maybe.
For what it's worth, the lack of quotes didn't bother me. It wasn't simply that the author dropped them. It seems like she means to allow the narrator to paraphrase, and I thought that was a cool way to experience things from the narrator's perspective more than usual. We don't know what the other characters actually said, as we would if they were quoted. We only know June's interpretation.
