Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Texts from Jane Eyre - Mallory Ortberg

Texts from Jane Eyre
Title: Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters
Author: Mallory Ortberg
Publication Date: 11/4/14
Pages: 226
Genre: Satire / Fiction
How I Found It: Unabridged Chick
Date Completed: 5/5/15

Summary: Characters from literature of all eras (ancient to classic to modern) communicate in imaginative text conversations. 

What I Thought: This book is exactly what I anticipated, and delightfully so. It plays exactly to my sense of humor. To the chagrin of my husband, I prefer intellectual humor - anything where pre-existing knowledge is required to understand the joke. Ortberg delivers exactly that. If you are unfamiliar with the source material, these witty conversations will make little sense to you. If, however, you have read whatever literature Ortberg happens to be pulling from at that moment, then you may find yourself laughing out loud as I did. 

I skipped over any chapter centered on characters or literature with which I am unfamiliar. For all my exposure to literature, I was a bit surprised by how many of those chapters popped up. Had I written the same book, I would have gone with some more "standards" from the literary lexicon. More things people are likely to have read in high school and fewer works primarily specific to literary scholars. Of course, if literary scholars are not reading this book, then no one else is, so maybe Ortberg knows her audience better than I realize.

Ortberg keeps the chapters short, which is nice. Rather than deluging the reader with extensive amounts of one character at once, she intersperses the conversations between those of other characters. My favorite conversations hailed from Pride and Prejudice and some more modern works such as the Harry Potter series. All in all, this was a fun read and perfect for killing time at the airport (which happens to be when I read it).

Quote I Loved: "I told you what I was gonna name my bakery if we ever get out of here right? I'm gonna name it The Hunger Grains." -Peeta from The Hunger Games

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Will I Re-Read: Doubtful
If You Liked This Try: Taking What I Like

A Reduced Review: Characters from literature throughout the ages connect via modern communication in this witty, imaginative collection.

1 comment:

  1. Glad you had fun with this one!! Most recently, the Emily Dickinson poems had me in stitches.

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