Le problème avec Jane ("The Problem with Jane"), a beautiful coincidence
First day of 2017: I'm in Mexico, in a luxurious all-inclusive, and I've just finished a novel on an e-reader for the first time. This is it, I'm hooked.
I received this beautiful Kobo from my mother for Christmas. It fits in the palm of my hand, I can put it in my coat pocket, but more importantly, I can borrow books from the BAnQ with it. It seriously revolutionizes my way of life. I don't have to go anywhere or pay for books anymore.
I also have a Kindle (I'm well surrounded), but Kindle has an agreement with Amazon, so I can only buy books from Amazon. Or sync with my Instapaper app, which is what I was doing. But my Kobo is with the Pocket app, which I think is nicer. Who wants a Kindle?
It took me a long time though to successfully borrow something with my Kobo. Several hours of tinkering. I didn't have anything specific in mind, I just wanted to try it, so I typed the first name that came to mind in the search bar: Jane. Author, title, it didn't matter. And I borrowed the first available book, Le Problème avec Jane.
It reminds me of when I was little. To choose my books, I would walk between the shelves in the children's section, close my eyes, and point to a book at random. I would pick up 10 of them in this method. Slowly, I ended up reading all the significant children's and teen authors using this method. Word of mouth is good, but you have to start somewhere.
Once again, this method worked. I came across a delight that I would have had no way of knowing otherwise. Catherine Cusset, do you know her? That's what I thought.
It's a good concept. Jane finds a manuscript in her mailbox entitled The Problem with Jane. She reads it, only to be shocked to find that her life is described in detail. Very intimate details, that only a few close friends can know. From chapter to chapter, she changes suspects. Her ex? An old friend? A crazy colleague?
The content of his life is nothing extraordinary, and I admit I have a soft spot for it. Ordinary stories of ordinary people. It makes it easier to identify with them. Jane could have been me. She grows up, she has experiences, she has a love, then another, she thinks it will last forever, it doesn't, she wants a child, it never comes. She makes a blunder, the consequences of which she doesn't see until much later...
This time, I will not advise you to read this novel, but rather to do as I did: borrow a book blind. Read the first chapter, and if you don't like it, leave it alone. There are millions of books available to you. You can't know them all, but you can't love them all either.
Catherine Cusset
4,34 $
