Title: Janeology
Author: Karen Harrington
Pages: 256
Yearly Count b: 68
One woman, who is known by Jane, but is bits and pieces of so many different relatives. Just like any of us, we have our fathers smile, our mother's hair, but do we inherit more than that? For Jane, an emergency room nurse, a compassionate mother and loving wife to suddenly snap and harm her children there must be something wrong, but what? A court case will come to the conclusion that Jane does earn herself the insanity plea, she then goes to a mental institution. Her husband Tom is left to continue on with life just as she left it, while grieving and holding on to his teaching position. One prosecutor gets it in his mind that Tom is partially guilty as well, for "failure to protect" . Tom and his attorney will begin a journey to learn much more about Jane's family than they had expected, and more than anyone would ever want to know. Do all the little broken pieces from Jane's predecessors make Jane one whole person, or is she a conglomeration all of their past hurts, crimes and pain?
Oh, goodness....this was good. I was starving from a break from my regular international fiction and this was perfect. It was just enough shake up for me to get me back into the groove. I adore Karen Harrington's writing, it is beautiful. The plot of Janeology could not be more gripping, and the characters are believable and true. Harrington does an exquisite job at character development, and develops even the ancestors of Jane with a deep and thorough precision. I did not find the book predictable or cliche or even similar in storyline to something I had already read! Janeology is the good unique, the unique that we would all like to be if we had the courage to be ourselves. Janeology spiked my curiosity and took me deeper and deeper into the storyline.
How do moms kill their kids? How is that nurturing instinct not there to protect even above their own protection? We see it in bears, in cats, and even in chickens. It would seem like it is innate, or an instict. But if it isn't does that mean those kids are in danger? This book made me think and made me wonder. Such an interesting premise!
What didn't I like about the book? Well, I am not super into the book cover, too science fiction for me. I would have preferred a photo of the relics or a mosaic of tons of black and white photos. The only other thing that I am unsure of is the title. However with both of those things mentioned, I think it caters to the sci-fi audience, I am used to the pretty covers of novels. That is as bad as it gets for this book, the cover and the title....the rest is beautiful, captivating, shocking and a plot that will keep you with it the whole while.
Karen Harrington's web page, filled with facts and details from writing Janeology
Karen Harrington's super fun and funny blog
Other blogger views of Janeology:
Booking Mama
Maw Books
Have you reviewed it too?? Give me your link.
Because today is blog awareness, because Karen Harrington believes in it (she authored a children's book for the My Stuff Bags Foundation), and because it is an amazing organization I want to mention My Stuff Bags, and the My Stuff Bags Foundation.
This foundation was established to help children who are taken from their homes because of an abusive or dysfunctional situation, and placed into other homes...many times they need out fast, and can take nothing with them. This is where My Stuff Bags comes in, they fill these bags with personal items such as homemade blankets, books, stuffed animals, journals, toiletries in order to give these kids a little semblance of normality, of routine.
You can do so many things to help with this organization. There is even a template for making blankets, if you have never done it before, or you can send stuffed animals, or hats, cash or journals.
Watch this video to get more of an idea about the super-neato things My Stuff Bags is doing:
